Fridae

Tennis legend, lesbian and outspoken advocate for GLBT rights, Martina Navratilova, has announced that 2004 will be her last year playing in Grand Slam tournaments after bagging her second-place trophy in the final mixed doubles match of the Australian Open on Sunday.

The 47-year-old and her partner Leander Paes, 30, were beaten 6-1, 7-6 by Serbian Nenad Zimonjic and Russian Elena Bovina in the Australian Open mixed doubles final yesterday. The pair, who were the defending mixed doubles champions in Melbourne, triumphed at Wimbledon last July before Paes was struck down by an illness first thought to be cancer.

"It was not quite the ending that I was hoping for," she said. "But it was a pleasure to be here on a Sunday, and I want to thank all of you for your support throughout the years."

"I just wanted to go out on a winning note," the lesbian tennis star said after the match. "Losing in the final stinks. I'm not saying goodbye to Australia, just to tennis here."

Navratilova added of her 30-year-old Indian partner who was playing his first tournament since being sidelined with a brain abscess last August: "In August we were wondering if he was going to be alive, so let's count our blessings."

Navratilova came out of retirement a few years ago is notably one of the most accomplished female athletes in history, with a staggering 173 women's doubles titles and nine mixed doubles grand slam crowns including winning six Wimbledon singles titles in a row between 1982 and 1987.

The Czech-born American, who won her first Grand Slam championship in 1973 - before any of the other three players on court were born, hopes to work in the media and wants to get involved in tennis administration after retiring from professional tennis.

She plans to play in the last three grand slam tournaments this year, namely, the French Open (late May/early June), Wimbledon (late June/early July) and US Open (September).