Navratilova discusses recovery and bond with Chris Evert during cancer battle

Martina Navratilova updates her health status in the fight against cancer after an emotional moment at the US Open. The 18-time Grand Slam champion spoke on Sky Sports about her diagnosis of throat and breast cancer in 2023.

This is not the first time the former world No. 1 has faced cancer, as it has reappeared several times over the past years. This time, Navratilova confessed that she hopes to avoid more setbacks in her recovery. The American first received a diagnosis in 2010.

During the US Open broadcast, Sky Sports presenter Gigi Salomon asked Navratilova how she was doing: "I'm great, thank you! Very nice to be here. Feeling a lot better this year than last year, so all systems go. I just got here a couple of hours ago. I had my yearly check-up, and it's all clear, so a big relief yesterday."

The legendary former tennis player underwent preventive radiation treatment after being cancer-free in 2023. At one point in 2022, Navratilova was being treated by the same doctors as her friend and rival during their careers, Chris Evert, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer that year.

"We were ringing the same bell, and I’m like: 'This is the kind of competition we don’t really want.' But I must say, Chris has been just a star. She has supported me so much through this as I supported her a year ago, but little did I know that it was going to be reciprocated. She’s been great."

"You have to be in game mode, and so that’s where having been a champion athlete comes in pretty handy. I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn’t realize it was going to be as hard as it really was."

The 4-time US Open champion spoke about the difficulties she faced, especially with weight loss, and how she received support from Evert during the toughest moments: "I love to eat, and eating was the hardest part of this whole treatment," she added. "I lost 15 pounds, not because I wanted to, but because I just couldn’t get enough food in my body."

"The radiation, the proton therapy affects your throat and the mouth, and there is a lot going on, and it started closing up. I couldn’t even yawn. Chris gave me this little necklace, and I was wearing it for a while, then I took it off and replaced it,” Martina Navratilova added. "When Chris got sick, I put it back on. I’m like: 'I’m not going to take this off until she gets well.' So, I never took it off. I finally had to take it off to put the mask on, to get the radiation, I had to take this off, so I finally put it back on again today,” she concluded.