Martina Knows She's Number One

Whilst Bjorn Borg was enjoying reminding me how he had won our head to head 6-0 a few years ago Martina Navratilova, the nine times former Wimbledon champion, was in her usual, punchy mood revealed so often on the tennis court. The Czech-turned American superstar of women's tennis was present at the unveiling of Rolf Harris' HSBC-commissioned portrait of ten champions, including herself and Borg, and pleased to hear that the assembled throng of tennis and media figures had voted her the greatest of all Wimbledon women's champions. She came top over the likes of Steffi Graf, Suzanne Lenglen, Venus Williams and Billie Jean King. When asked if she was surprised to have been voted the best ever Martina's reply begged for no debate. "No," she announced, before realising she ought to flesh out her response a little more after an interminable pause. "That's the thing about tennis," she went on to explain. "The stats don't lie. If you're number 15 in the world that means there are 14 people better than you. If you win nine Wimbledon singles titles, and the next best is seven, then you are the best."  You can't really argue with that, can you, and when you're in the close vicinity of Navratilova, you wouldn't want to, either.

 www.wimbledon.org/hsbcchampions