"I learned to stay away from people who didn't give me energy": Martina Navratilova's mindset changed after cancer diagnosis

Martina Navratilova admitted that she has changed her mentality after winning her battle against mentality with people 'who don't give her energy' no longer in her life. The 18-time Grand Slam champion was diagnosed with throat and breast cancer earlier this year, but was given the all clear in March.

It is the second time that Navratilova has defeated cancer having undergone treatment for early stage breast cancer in 2010. Opening up on a recent podcast, she said that she was even of the point of view that she was planning to get a new car to drive in the last year of her life.

As well as fearing that it could be a death sentence after a bad prognosis, but it also gave her perspective that certain things in her life are just not that important with the cancer diagnosis coming to the foray.

"The second time I was diagnosed, I said: 'I could die in a year or less'," she said during a recent appearance on podcast 'On with Kara Swisher'.

"The doctor who diagnosed me told me it could be in the lungs, kidneys or liver, which meant it could also be in the brain. Before I knew exactly where she was, I was terrified that she might be a death sentence.

"Once we find out she wasn't, the prognosis is very good, but it still puts things in perspective, no doubt. When health is at a crossroads like this, everything else takes a back seat.

"First of all, you need to be healthy. I learned to stay away from people who didn't give me energy, who took it away from me. At the same time, I try to energize people, but it has to be a symbiotic situation, not a one-way street. The moment I was told, I went into total panic for three days, thinking maybe I wouldn't be there next Christmas. I came up with a list of things I wanted to do. And it may seem very superficial, but I thought about which car I wanted to drive in the last year of my life."