Game Face
11
The 1980s and 1990s: Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf
While the mean age of nationally ranked players was higher in the 1980s than it had ever been, the mean age of
Top 10 and Top 20 women was at its lowest in more than 20 years. Between 1980-1984, 136 women players under 18
were nationally ranked, compared to 55 from a decade earlier. Furthermore, there were 128 nationally ranked female
players in both the 16 and under and 14 and under categories. The youth phenoms of the decade were starting a ruckus,
causing analysts to wonder “at what age it will end?” (Galenson, 1995, p. 2). Youth phenoms were not new to the 1980s
and 1990s, but these two decades had their share of young stars.
The 1980s represented rivalries, in some cases youth vs."old" age, and the 1990s represented the donning of a
new era for women’s tennis. In an article written by Joel Stein, Jennie James, Amanda Bower, Martina Hingis and Lindsey
Davenport, published on September 3, 2002, the authors report that women’s tennis had overtaken the sport with strength,
athleticism and a new attitude. With the start of a new decade in 1990s, the birth of the heavy hitters in the game began.
Monica Seles became well known for her grunts, and Steffi Graf became known for her ability to shred an opponent in
under an hour. Rivalries, however, were the name of the game in the early 1980s, and the rivalry between between Chris
Evert and Martina Navratilova that spanned more than a decade is undoubtedly one of the best known in the history of the
game. Yet, during the years of competition between the two, Navratilova's coverage in the press was markedly different.
Martina Navratilova
Navratilova was considered a foreigner, and despite her defection to the United States from Czechoslovakia, she
struggled to gain acceptance by fans and by the press. When she first started playing on the professional tour, her sexual
orientation was speculated on, and when it became fairly clear to fans that she was a lesbian, her star power seemingly
decreased even more.
Cahn (1993) says that sexual deviance has linked “mannishness” to lesbianism and says that in some cases,
female athleticism has been explicitly connected to “boyish athleticism” (p. 347). Cahn (1993) says “the paradox of
women’s sports history is that the mannish athlete was not only a figure of homophobic discourse but also a human actor
engaged in sexual innovation and struggle” (p. 364). Even though Navratilova found success on the court much of the time,
she often fought a larger battle in the press room and on the newspaper pages the next day. As an individual, she was
detached because she was a foreigner and a homosexual to boot. She was rarely a crowd favorite, especially when she was
playing against Evert. Earlier coverage of Navratilova described her as being second in line to the throne. Consider the
report of Barry Lorge on September 5, 1978 after Round of 8 at Wimbledon:
Going into this summer's Wimbledon final against Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova was a queen without
a scepter, a champion without a portfolio. She had won eight of 11 tournaments and 56 of 59 matches, but
Convention