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Tennis legend Martina Navratilova said in a video announcement that she would not defect to the United States if the current situation was the same when she left Czechoslovakia.
Navratilova made the video for “Home of the Brave,” an online community launched earlier this year that bills itself as a place for those who have been “hurt by the Trump administration.” Navratilova has been a longtime critic of Trump.
In the video, Navratilova hinted at the similarities she has seen between today’s United States and the communist country in which she grew up.
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Martina Navratilova, during the mixed invitational doubles round robin with her playing partner Nenad Zimonjic on court number 12, playing against Fabrice Santoro of France and Anne Keothavong of Great Britain during the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon on July 9, 2025, in London, England. (Tim Clayton/Getty Images)
“I defected from a totalitarian regime and I’m going to be bullied again and I have to be careful what I say. I grew up in a communist country, Czechoslovakia. So I know what it’s like and what it feels like to live in a totalitarian regime where you can’t speak your mind or, even worse, imprisoned for political opinions. I’m very proud to be an American, but I’m ashamed of what Trump is doing to our country,” Navratilova said. to start the video.
“I’m so pissed off about people capitulating to Trump. Whether it’s law firms, schools, politicians or businesses, we are too big to fail. If we stand united but divided, we fall. And that’s what Trump is counting on. Chaos, fear. This was the freest country in the world when I defected in 1975. If this were my situation now, I definitely wouldn’t choose to live here.
“My fear is that people are too complacent, too scared, and think that they don’t matter. And we all matter. As a tennis player, you are used to fighting. You have to fight for every point, and that gives you that backbone. I will not stay silent. Not speaking is equivalent to resigning, and that is simply unacceptable. When you leave a totalitarian regime and come to a freedom-loving country, of course you have to speak. Speaking is a patriotic thing “When you see something wrong, don’t be afraid. You can find things that make a difference. “Democracy never ends, but my goodness, we have to keep protesting and pay attention.”
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova during the trophy presentations, which she presented alongside Chris Evert after the women’s singles final on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the 2024 French Open Tennis Tournament at Roland Garros on June 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
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However, one political issue that Navratilova has sided with Trump on is transgender athletes in women’s and girls’ sports. Navratilova has long said openly that girls and women should not play against biological men.
Last December, she said she was “angry” that Republicans had addressed the national controversy over trans athletes in women’s sports instead of Democrats.
“And I’m so angry that the republicans I got this point: shame on all the elected Democrats who are silent about this!!! #whataboutthewomen,” she wrote on X.
The tennis legend appeared at the Independent Women’s Forum’s “Take Back Title IX” rally in June to address the issue, where she claimed she was “homophobic” despite being “out since ’81.”
Martina Navratilova watches during the women’s singles final match between Coco Gauff of the United States and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on day thirteen of the 2023 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2023 in the Flushing neighborhood of the borough of Queens in New York City. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
“‘You’re a bigot, you’re a transphobe, you’re a Nazi, you’re a fascist, you’re a communist,’ everything and everything else. And this is coming from the left. I’m the left! My people are turning against me. They’re turning against us women who defend women’s rights based on sex.”
