‘I wouldn’t have left home for Trump’s America’

Fifty years ago, Martina Navratilova left everything she knew in the Communist Czechoslovakia to start a new life in the United States.

After that, she was a 18-year-old high school student, and she was one of the most prominent goal in the Cold War-and would continue to become one of the most tennis players.

But in her talk to the BBC, she says she is afraid of the United States now, “She will not allow me to enter.”

“I am not loyal [US President] Donald Trump says, adding that she is concerned that the United States has become a “holistic” country.

Since President Trump took office in January, he had his administration Comprehensive migration raids carried outExciting Protests in parts of the country. He also created a travel ban for Citizens from 12 countriesAnd there were reports on Tourists detained on the border.

“If you are still in the same position [as in 1975] She had to live somewhere, will not be America, because it is not a democracy at the present time. “

When you talk about American policy, the frustration of Navratilova is clear. She believes that people have not noticed what she says is a situation that gets worse gradually.

She adds that the United States is “definitely a shift against immigrants.”

“I mean, people are at risk by internal security, and they are going out because they are not completely on board with Donald Trump’s agenda … because they do not accept the ring,” she says.

She says that this decision in the United States in 1975 was not an easy decision. It describes the presence of a “ideal” childhood that grows in Revnice, in modern Czechia, with a loving family she was leaving. “I never knew when to see my parents again – or if I see them.”

But doing so is the path of navratilova life. She told a press conference at the time that she left Czechoslovakia because she wanted to become first in the world in tennis – and that she “could not do so under these conditions at home.”

I have already ranked first – both individual women for 332 weeks, and doubled women for 237 weeks. It is now widely considered one of the greatest tennis players in the world.

Navratilova is a dual United States and Czech citizen, and still lives in the United States with her wife, model Julia Limova. Do you worry, in the current political climate, can lose its nationality?

“Everything is in the air now, and this is the basic point. Everyone is on eggshell, does not know what will happen.”

However, there is one very unjust topic that she previously said that she agreed to President Trump’s participation – sexual transformer participation in sports.

Navratilova is firm in its belief that the inclusion of women in women’s tennis is “wrong”.

She says she does not agree to the rules of the current World Tennis Association (WTA), which can transform sexually in the country participating in women’s games if they provide a written and signed advertisement that they are female or non -bilateral, and that testosterone levels were less than a certain limit for two years, and that they maintain the levels of testosterone.

She says she feels that transit women have biological advantages in women’s sports – the belief that is being discussed strongly.

“There should be no rejection, nor should there be a bullying, but male bodies need to play in male sports. They can still compete. There is no ban on transwomen in sports. They just need to compete in the appropriate category and it is the male category. It is simple,” she says.

She adds: “By including male bodies in the women’s championship, and now someone does not enter the championship – the woman does not enter the championship because the male has taken her place now.”

In December of last year, the British Handbron Association It changed its rulesThis means that sexually transformed women are no longer able to play in some local tennis tournaments.

In April, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of a woman depends on biological sex. In response to a question about whether she feels tennis should follow the progress of the UK court, she says: “100 %”

Navratilova responded to whether we should “spend more time sympathize with” converts “, but this still does not give them the right to sex -based spaces in women.”

Navratilova has been open about her battles with cancer over the past fifteen years.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer for the first time in 2010, at the age of 52. Then, after 13 years, he returned – along with a second, completely related cancer in her throat.

“The way she discovered, she went like this,” says Navratilova. “I like,” Oh, this lymph node is slightly larger. “After two weeks, it is still bigger.”

After the examination, doctors also caught the second cancer in her chest.

“We got the results, which is cancer,” she says. “And I am like,” Oh my God, I will die. “

Although she says the treatment was “hell”, she feels “everything good” now.

She laughs: “Wood roads are all clear, and there are no side effects at all – unlike red wine still does not taste, so I went sideways towards Tequilla and Vodka.” “I am lucky. He was hell, but the heels were great.”

Has Navratilova cancer change at all?

“Cancer taught me to really appreciate every day, which I was doing to a large extent anyway,” she says. “But the most important of all, because the little things are not repaired.” It is repaired. “

AMOL Rajan: Navratilova Martina on BBC 2 at 19:00 on June 18, and On the BBC IPlayer.