London: (Daily Mail):Wimbledon’s greatest ever singles champion Martina Navratilova today announced that she has been diagnosed with two forms of cancer.
Navratilova, 66, who won Wimbledon a record nine times, said she has been diagnosed with throat and breast cancer after discovering a swollen lymph node in her neck in November.
‘This double whammy is serious but still fixable,’ the Czech-born American , who is married to former Russian beauty queen Julia Lemigova, 50, said. ‘I’m hoping for a favorable outcome. It’s going to stink for a while but I’ll fight with all I have got.’
Navratilova, who won 59 grand slam singles and doubles titles over the course of her 40-year career, will not travel to this month’s Australian Open, where she was intending to work as a TV pundit.
But a statement from Navratilova’s representative described the prognosis as ‘good’.
‘Martina Navratilova has been diagnosed with stage one throat cancer,’ read the statement. ‘The prognosis is good and Martina will start her treatment this month.
‘The cancer type is HPV and this particular type responds really well to treatment. Martina noticed an enlarged lymph node in her neck during the WTA finals in Fort Worth. When it didn’t go down, a biopsy was performed, the results came back as stage one throat cancer.