Martina Navratilova Interviewed By Yahoo! Sports Radio About Tennis And Dancing With The Stars

Steve Czabon of Yahoo Sports Radio interviewed Martina Navratilova. She and Tony will be rehearsing where she lives in Aspen, Colorado this week. They talk of her tennis accomplishments. She recalls her 74 wins in a row, etc. and her commitment and will to “prepare”. She says “winning” hasn’t been as important as “always doing and giving her best” which she plans to give to the dance floor. She would rather ‘play well and lose’ versus ‘playing lousy and win’.

Martina mentions Chris Evert and says she wouldn’t have been as good of tennis player without her and vice versa for how they “pushed” each other at the time. Chris was also one of the first of her friends to tweet and text her to tell her she was ‘a brave woman’ for doing Dancing With The Stars and wished her luck.

On why she decided to do Dancing With The Stars, Martina says the show has been asking her to dance for a number of years and Martina always said “no”. She’s always loved to dance, but, in heels and in front of people was one of her greatest fears. As an Ambassador to AARP, she’s always encouraging people to get out of their comfort zone and facing your fears, so she decided to do the same (“walk the talk”) and be an example by finally saying “yes” to Dancing With The Stars.

Martina also raves about Tony Dovolani in the interview and how fantastic he is. She’s “embracing” everything about dancing on the show …even the heels.

As for the other cast members, she thinks they are all terrified and the playing field is pretty even.

So far, Martina and Tony have been rehearsing 3-4 hours a day for 6 days a week. She discusses the differences between dancing and playing tennis so far.

Lots more of this super interview with Martina here.

Personal note: It’s interesting she and Tony are rehearsing in Aspen, Colorado this week. Let’s just say, living and training in “higher elevations” can have it’s advantages when it comes to sports, etc. 😀

ADDING: By the way, Howard Stern made a recent crack about Martina wearing a suit instead of dress on Dancing With The Stars. Below is how she replied. From USA Today. I’m loving this…

The tennis legend has responded with a tweet that may further pique Stern’s curiosity.

“I hear my favorite radio guy Howard is wondering whether I will wear pants or a dress,” wrote Navratilova. “Howard — expect the unexpected!!”

Navratilova also addressed the general expectation that she won’t perform all that well: “So I hear I am the underdog for winning dwts. Been a while since I’ve been an underdog, but that’s cool. We will be ready come the 18th!”