Tennis legend Martina Navratilova diagnosed with “double whammy” of breast and throat cancer

Martina Navratilova, widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, revealed to Tennis.com in an article published Monday that she has been diagnosed with two forms of cancer. A 66-year-old woman said her doctors had diagnosed her with stage 1 throat cancer and an unrelated form of breast cancer.

“This double blow is serious, but it’s still fixable. I’m hoping for a favorable outcome,” she told the outlet. [I’ve] Obtained. ”

Navratilova said she first noticed signs of cancer last November at the Women’s Tennis Association finals in Fort Worth, Texas. When it didn’t shrink on its own, she had a biopsy.

She was diagnosed with stage 1 throat cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a common sexually transmitted disease and is believed to cause approximately 70% of oropharyngeal cancers in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Navratilova told Tennis.com that doctors have given her a strong prognosis and will begin treatment this month.

This isn’t the first time Navratilova has battled cancer. She had been diagnosed with a non-invasive breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) after having a routine mammogram in February 2010. This form of breast cancer, known as stage 0 breast cancer, accounts for about one-fifth of her newly diagnosed breast cancers, and the American Cancer Society says that “nearly all women” with this diagnosis are cured. says it can.

She underwent a lumpectomy and six weeks of radiation therapy following that diagnosis, and announced later that year that she was “cancer free.”

According to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, Navratilova has won more singles tournaments, doubles events and matches than any male or female tennis player since the Open Era began in 1968.

Born in Czechoslovakia, she became a US citizen in 1981 and has been a major title holder since winning doubles at the 1975 French Open. She has been named the Women’s Tennis Association’s “Player of the Year” seven times and has been ranked by several news and sports organizations as one of the best athletes of a given year and century. .