Fiend at Court Unplugged
As dominant as the United States women are in professional tennis at the moment, there is one country that is arguably just as strong: The Czech Republic. The small country currently boasts five players in the top 50 in the WTA singles rankings. Additionally, with six of the top 50 WTA doubles players including three in the top 10, the tiny country is a usually a prohibitive favorite to carry the Fed Cup doubles tie.
A geography lesson puts things in perspective. The population of the Czech Republic is estimated to be 10.7 million people. That is about 3% of the total population of the United States. Most of the players in the United States train in Florida. The population of that state is 21.5 million people, which is roughly double the population of the Czech Republic.
I assume that most national player development programs study the Czech Republic women to figure out how their tennis federation has managed to produce so many high performing players from a small population base. Author Gerald Marzorati’s new book, Seeing Serena, includes a tantalizing theory: Martina Navratilova. The current Czech tennis players did not grow up watching Navratilova play. However, she was a symbol of freedom to their parents.
In The Rivals, Johnette Howard describes the return of Navratilova to Communist Czechoslovakia in 1986 for the Fed Cup competition. It was Navratilova’s first return since her defection 11 years earlier. On arrival, she was greeted at the airport by throngs of reporters, photographers, and fans. It was clear that the tennis star was wildly popular with the Czech population, even though by then she was competing for the United States as a naturalized citizen.
Navratilova was still persona non grata with the Communist Party. Officials had prohibited her name from being spoken over the public address system. However, Hana Mandlikova, captain of the Czech team, took over microphone to welcome Navratilova home by name. The stadium rocked with approval.
Shortly after the end of Communist rule in the country, Navratilova was invited to speak from the balcony of the Liberation Party’s headquarters. She remains a hero in the Czech Republic.
The parents of the current Czech women were coming of age as those events transpired. Under Communist rule, Navratilova was a symbol of freedom. The opportunity for women to compete in athletics was extremely limited for that generation. However, as exhibited through their children, it was a country eager to provide their daughters with a chance to play tennis.
Marzorati’s theory resonates with me. In this case future players were not directly influenced by media exposure of tennis, but rather by the fact that a superstar of the game was a symbol of freedom in their country. It was an effect powerful enough to transcend a generation.
