Watch: Navratilova Talks Killer Instinct and Coming Out

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Watch: Navratilova Talks Killer Instinct and Coming Out

Martina Navratilova believes she played her best tennis against friends.

But the Hall of Famer says developing a killer instinct required her to drop the decorum.

Federer on Hingis: She Showed Us How It Is Done

The serve-and-volleyer said her coach, former basketball standout Nancy Lieberman, encouraged her to play with more ruthlessness in her rivalry with Chrissie Evert.

In an Undeniable with Joe Buck television interview, Navratilova recounts the turning point in her rivalry with Evert as well as coming out to her parents. The hour-long interview will air on DIRECTV and AT&T U-verse’s Audience Network and DIRECTV Now on Wednesday, November 1st at 8 p.m. Eastern time.

“She didn’t want me to trash talk, but she would trash talk Chris without Chris knowing about it,” Navratilova told Buck. “You’ve got to hate your opponent, you can’t be nice. You can’t be nice.

“(Lieberman) made me realize (Evert) has something that I want. So you’ve got to stop being nice.”

The 18-time Grand Slam singles champion also recounts coming out as gay to her father, which initially created a rift.

“All hell broke loose,” Navratilova recalls of coming out to her father. “It was about three months after that, they decided to go back to Czechoslovakia.”

Navratilova said after two years of a rocky relationship with her father, he “educated himself,” accepted his daughter and they reconciled.

“In Czechoslovakia, gay people were put into insane asylum—men—women were kind of discounted,” Navratilova said. “So it was definitely a bad thing to be that. So when my dad found out, for a couple of years we had a tough relationship.

“But he educated himself. He read books about it. He came to me without me saying anything and said: You know, I realize it has nothing to do with me and nothing to do with you. This is who you are and I just want you to be happy.”

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