Tennis legend Martina Navratilova is by no means against excessive screaming on the tennis court.

Of course, Navratilova's main target was the currently loudest player of all, Maria Sharapova.

"If I were the commissioner of tennis I would outlaw (screeching during matches). Maria's level gets louder the closer the match and quite frankly it's not necessary, they aren't lifting 300 pounds, they're hitting a tennis ball."

Navratilova also mentioned the case of 9-year old Lauryn Edwards, who was banned from her local tennis club because her screams were too loud.

"Here you had this little kid who was just barely getting the ball over the net yet the noise coming out of her made you think she was hitting the ball 200 miles an hour. She was concentrating more on making the noise than hitting the ball."

That’s true, kids definitely imitate professional athletes, and even if they don’t naturally have the need to scream when hitting a ball they will start doing it because their idols do it.

BTW: Sharapova’s screams aren’t giving the best example to the young tennis players, but they sure are perfect for waking you up in the morning. (via Down the Line)

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For the first time after 14 years two tennis greats Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova played each other. The occasion was Saturday's exhibition match called Dream Match 2008 at Tokyo's Ariake Stadium. Just for the record, Graf defeated Navratilova 8-7 after winning a tiebreaker 10-5.

Both the players enjoyed the memories this exhibition brought back, and it could be said that the last time they played each other was also in Tokyo, at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in 1994. Then, Graf was the winner, just as today, with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Navratilova.

In their fruitful careers Graf and Navratilova met 18 times and each won 9 times.

BTW: For those of you who happened to miss the news, Navratilova is Czech again.

You can see more nice pictures from the Tokyo exhibition here. (source: Sportsnet)

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Former world No.1 Martina Navratilova, born in Prague, is a Czech citizen again, after more than thirty years. The 51-year-old tennis star is retaining her American passport, and will therefore have a dual citizenship.

In 1975, at the age of 18, Navratilova went to the United States. Within a month she was granted a green card, while US citizenship she got six years later.

Navratilova retired in 1994 but returned to play doubles in 2000, winning several tournaments. She hung up her racket in December 2006 after winning in mixed doubles at the US Open.

Navratilova, who won the Wimbledon singles title a record nine times, plans to open an academy in the Czech Republic. (source: Times Online, via Women Who Serve)

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Two tennis legends, Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova, played an exhibition match in Bucharest, Romania, on September 16. A nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles defeated an eighteen-time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.

These two greats of tennis are missed a lot, and I see many people asking will Seles ever return to competitive tennis. Unfortunately, I don't believe that will happen. (via Down the Line)

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