Martina Navratilova is an athlete.
The Grand Slam tournaments , also called majors , are the four most-important annual tennis events . Martina Navratilova . She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times , including nine consecutive years from 1982 through 1990 , and won the women 's singles title at Wimbledon a record nine times ( surpassing Helen Wills Moody 's eight Wimbledon titles ) , including a run of six consecutive titles -- the best performance by any professional player at a major event . The Championships , Wimbledon , commonly known simply as Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world , and is widely considered the most prestigious . The WTA Finals ( formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships short : WTA Championships ) , is a professional tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women 's Tennis Association ( WTA ) tour .