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Tennis legend Martina Navratilova said in a video advertisement that she would not defect to the United States if the current situation was the same when she left Czechoslovakia.
Navratilova directed 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 long been a critic of Trump.
In the video, Navratilova alluded to the similarities she saw between today’s United States and the communist country she grew up in.
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Martina Navratilova, during the mixed invitational doubles round robin with playing partner Nenad Zimonjic on court #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 at Wimbledon on July 9, 2025, in London, England. (Tim Clayton/Getty Images)
“I left 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 looks like and what it’s like to live in a totalitarian regime where you can’t speak your mind, or worse, be put in prison for political opinions. I’m so proud to be American, but I’m embarrassed by what Trump is doing to our country,” she said. Navratilova to start the conference. video.
“I’m really angry that people are capitulating to Trump. Whether it’s law firms, schools, politicians, or businesses, we are too big to fail. If we stand united but are divided, we fall. And that’s what Trump is counting on. Chaos, fear. It was the freest country in the world when I defected in 1975. If that were my situation now, I certainly wouldn’t choose to live here.
“My fear is that people are just too complacent, too scared, and think they don’t matter. And we all matter. As a tennis player, you’re used to fighting. You have to fight for every point, and that kind of gives you that backbone. I’m not going to shut up. Not speaking out is resignation, and that’s just unacceptable. When you leave a totalitarian regime and come to a country that loves freedom, of course you have to speak up. Speaking out is the patriotic thing to do. When you see something wrong, don’t be afraid. Democracy is never over.
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova during the trophy presentations, which she presented with Chris Evert after the women’s singles final on the Philippe-Chatrier court during 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 policy issue that Navratilova has sided with Trump on concerns transgender athletes in women’s and women’s sports. Navratilova has long argued 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 seized this question – shame on all the elected Democrats who remain silent on this subject!!! #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 having been “away since 1981.”
Martina Navratilova watches the women’s 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 Queens borough of New York. (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 from the left! My people are turning against me. They’re turning against us women who stand up for women’s rights based on sex.”
