TENNIS

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA, tennis great, December 5, 2007
CZIKOWSKY: What drove you to go into tennis and excel? Did you have drive parents and coaches when you were young? Did you enjoy learning and playing tennis, and was there ever a period when you rebelled or give it up for awhile?
NAVRATILOVA: I love playing tennis and I loved learning new things, I loved the evolution of the game and having to figure out new techniques and new tactics.
I thought I was burned out in ’89 but after just taking a couple of weeks off I realized how much I still loved the game and kept playing and the rest is history.
Nobody pushed me, I loved the game.
CZIKOWSKY: What are your views on Putin and the direction he is leading Russia?
NAVRATILOVA: When one man becomes more important than the country he’s supposed to be leading, this will always create a problem. All you have to do is look at history.
CZIKOWSKY: What is the work that you are going to be doing with the AARP? NAVRATILOVA: We’ll be doing interactive, online chats; we will be doing exercise tips and videos on the aarpfitness.com Web site; I’ll be doing appearances at member events and maybe some programming for TV, and there’s more to come on that end. Mostly it will be about inspiring others to live the live that I have lived for themselves.

BILLIE JEAN KING, retired tennis player, June 10, 2008
CZIKOWSKY: If you were competing today, who are some of the players you would most look forward to playing against and why?
KING: I like any player that challenges me to get better. Champions always want to get better. They love to be challenged. If I were playing at the same level that I played in my day against today’s top players, the only way I would get a point is if they double-faulted! :)
HOWEVER, if I was born in this generation I think I would have been right in the thick of it.