Navratilova Adds Coach and Wife to List of Titles

It was a big December for Martina Navratilova. At age 58, she was married for the first time, to Julia Lemigova, 42. She also became a professional tennis coach for the first time, agreeing to join the team of the Polish star Agnieszka Radwanska, who has entertained many with her large bag of tricks but has yet to win a Grand Slam title.

Navratilova won 59 in her groundbreaking career - 18 of them in singles - with her last coming in 2006 at the U.S. Open, in mixed doubles with Bob Bryan. She now joins the fast-expanding club of former champions working with today's leading players.

This will be a part-time role for Navratilova, who wants to limit her travel because of family commitments, which include being a stepmother to Lemigova's two daughters. Navratilova, who lives in Miami, said she agreed to work with Radwanska through Wimbledon and will complement her full-time coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski.

Navratilova spoke en route to Sydney, where she joined Radwanska in preparation for the Australian Open, which starts Monday in Melbourne.

Q: You said in the past that you'd be open to coaching if the opportunity arose. Was Radwanska one of the players you thought you could help?

A: I've thought about a bunch of players, and she definitely would have been one of them because she has got all the shots. It's not like I need to teach her the shots, maybe more when to use them. Different players bring different challenges, but she was definitely on my radar. I just didn't think she would ask. I wasn't going to pursue anybody, but if it happened, it happened, and if it didn't, then it didn't. I figured it would happen eventually.

Q: Why? Because of all the ex-stars now coaching in the men's game?

A: I think so. I think they pushed the ball forward. Look at Madison Keys now working with Lindsay Davenport. It only makes sense that the former champions would pass on that knowledge. You can't learn that in a book what Lindsay went through, what Billie Jean King went through, what I went through, what Chrissie Evert went through - winning these Grand Slams and being No. 1 and all that. Nobody can teach that. You can imagine what they're feeling, but you don't know what they're feeling because you haven't been there. You can try to learn it from a book, but the former No. 1s talk about it from personal experience; there's no substitute for that.

Q: I asked Evert last year why more female champions hadn't joined the coaching ranks. She said that you had family and business commitments.

A: My life is very well managed. I have a lot on my plate and at the same time there were still holes, and what I do and where I am dovetails nicely with what Agnieszka needs. I don't think I could be a coach for a Madison Keys because she needs somebody more hands-on. But Agnieszka is almost a finished product. She just needs a little fine-tuning here and there, kind of like Ivan Lendl did with Andy Murray. He wasn't there day in and day out. I can still contribute even if it's part time. Obviously, it would be better to be full time, but I can't, and a little bit of something is better than nothing. I guess that's what Agnieszka felt. She's got a great coach, a great hitting partner and a really good team of people she is working with. I was an extra link, I guess, not necessarily the missing link, but an extra link.

Q: How was your time together before the season?

A: We only had five days in Miami. It was more of a getting to know each other and seeing how she responds to stuff that I'm telling her. Technically, she's fantastic. But there's little tweaks, nothing major, just tweaks here and there. We all have habits that we don't even know we have, and sometimes the coach doesn't see it because he's there every day. When I worked with Billie Jean King and Craig Kardon and we would be working on something, Billie would show up and say, "What about this?" Neither one of us had seen it.

Q: As your television commentary makes clear, analysis is one of your strengths. Anything you feel you have to fight in yourself to be a great coach?

A: I think it's like TV: It's when to say something. You don't want to say too much, but you want to contribute. So it's just paring it down to what's really essential. Because I'm such a perfectionist and I demand it in myself and I can't expect it from anybody else, that holding back is the thing. I don't want to scare anybody with too much, too intense or whatever. It's a fine line and depends on how the player reacts. I'm still getting to know Agnieszka, and she's still getting to know me. It's a learning process, but it's learning what to say and when, and sometimes when not to say it.

Q: Has marriage changed your life?

A: I want to write an article about it, how much it changes your life. And I've talked to other couples. You just feel much stronger. For me, it's: Don't mess with my relationship. Don't mess with my family. It really gives you validation and gives you kind of a wall that you can lean on if something happens.

Just the other day I was at a doctor's office filling out a form, and for the first time I wrote married instead of single, and then I wrote Julia's name in case of an emergency contact, and then where it asked for relationship, I wrote wife, and it was like wow, OK, this is cool. Nobody can mess with that. You don't have to explain. There it is, and the legal protections you get from being married are astronomical. It's like 1,600 different laws that protect you. Julia and I are not any more committed to each other than we were before our marriage. But in the eyes of the law we are, and that's great. And the kids feel a lot better about it, most of all.

Q: So you consider them your daughters?

A: I just got a text sending love from "your daughters,'' so yes they are my daughters, and it's pretty cool. None of us are parents until we are parents. You learn as you go along. Julia and I have been together for 6 1/2 years, so I've been in their lives the majority of their lives. They've thought about me as a parent for a long time, but now, again, it's validated. They just feel safer, feel much more secure. It's funny seeing that. I see a real difference, and it also gives me a little more confidence to be the parent.

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