Martina Navratilova will end her five-year retirement when she plays doubles
at the Madrid Open in Spain with partner Mariaan de Swardt of South Africa.
The tournament will be a first step in her belated bid for a record-tying
20th Wimbledon title.
The 43-year-old tennis great previously announced she would play at the
All-England Club and at Eastbourne, a Wimbledon tuneup. She and de Swardt also
will play the French Open.
The appearance in Madrid comes less than two months before Navratilova is
inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
"I'm sure Wimbledon will be the last one," Linda Dozoretz, Navratilova's
spokeswoman, said Monday, adding: "But if she wins ..."
The $170,000 Madrid Open will be played on red clay May 22-28. The
tournament comes a week before the French Open, the year's second Grand Slam
tournament, also on red clay.
De Swardt said last week the two would play the doubles at the French Open.
"I'm really excited playing with Martina at Roland Garros and at the other
events," de Swardt said. "In my mind, she is the greatest athlete. I know
that I can still learn a lot from her and I know for sure that she is still
playing great tennis. She is in better shape than 70 percent of the women on
tour, including myself."
Navratilova and de Swardt have never played on the WTA Tour together, but
combined last year when they were teammates in World TeamTennis.
Navratilova won seven women's doubles titles at Roland Garros, including
five in a row from 1984 to 1988 with Pam Shriver. She has not played the French
Open since 1994.
Navratilova has won 19 titles at Wimbledon, one shy of the record set in
1979 by Billie Jean King. Navratilova was King's partner then. Of Navratilova's
19 Wimbledon titles, seven were in doubles.
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