..I was born in Prague in 1956 in the same hospital where my mother was born. At about 8 years old, I decided tennis was going to be the ticket. Mind you there was no money in it back then, but I loved the game, so my family did everything to make that happen. But unlike these days that still meant going to a normal school, taking care of my younger sister and doing the weekly chores around the house.
A pretty normal life until I hit 16 - that was my first year on the tour. It was 1973 and I was out of the country about 6-7 months. For a Czech person it was a treat to go "west" for a once in a lifetime vacation. So I knew I was pretty lucky.I won't go into the tennis stuff too much, but I won more than I ever thought I would - though not as much as I could have. If only I had known then what I know now! But that is the case for every human being on this planet...

I have broken many tennis records along the way, but despite what anyone says, the only record that I went after was the 9 singles titles at Wimbledon. And I did just that in 1990. The rest of the records just happened because of both quality and quantity. And after a long run, I got the chance to go out on a high note. Finishing my tour career with a mixed doubles win at the US Open... icing on the cake.
I have been very fortunate in many ways to have had the career that I had. Here's just a few examples:
Having the body that I have - everything lined up just right. Tall enough to be able to play a serve and volley game, yet short enough not to put too much strain on my joints. A father who was supportive and knowledgeable to take me to a high level and also smart enough to let me work with coaches from Europe and the U.S. who all helped me along the way.
Champions I played against or hit with from so many generations -
Bueno, Court, King, Laver, Emerson, Roche, Kodes, Goolagong, Wade, Evert, Austin, Graf, Seles, Sanchez-Vicario, Mandlikova, Connors, McEnroe (I don't think I ever hit with Borg, though we know each other pretty well. Maybe I can still fix that one of these days.) Where was I . . . Davenport, the Williams Sisters, Hingis, Clijsters, Agassi, Sampras, Courier, Federer. See what I mean?
Just last November, I played in Pam Shriver's charity event in Baltimore. I practiced with Martina Hingis and later that day played with John McEnroe against Martina and Jim Courier in mixed doubles and then played singles against Martina. To me, that is as good as it gets!