Martina Navratilova is cancer-free after double diagnosis; 'didn't think I'd see Christmas'

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has revealed she feared not 'seeing next Christmas' after being diagnosed with throat and breast cancers.

Navratilova, who won nine Wimbledon singles titles, has opened up on how her life came to a standstill after the devastating double diagnosis, but the 66-year-old is now cancer-free. She was first diagnosed with stage one of the disease in January.

In an emotional interview with Piers Morgan, the tennis star revealed how she was forced to postpone her plans to adopt a child with model wife Julia Lemigova as she fought both throat and breast cancer.

"As far as they know I'm cancer-free," Navratilova told Morgan on TalkTV, who is certain she "should be good to go" after more preventive radiation on her breast over a two-week period.

"I was in a total panic for three days thinking I may not see next Christmas. The bucket list came into my mind of all the things I wanted to do. And this may sound really shallow, but I was like, OK, 'which kick-ass car do I really want to drive if I live like a year?'" added Navratilova in the same interview.

The Czech–born American tennis star held the No. 1 rank in both singles and doubles category during her decorated playing career as she dominated women's tennis in the 1970s and 1980s.

Navratilova, the 18-time Grand Slam winner, was first diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2010, when she underwent treatment. She said she visited doctors with an enlarged lymph node in her neck at the WTA finals in Texas.

"I noticed that my left lymph node was enlarged and I thought it was from a shingles vaccine I'd had a week before. But then a couple of weeks on it didn't go down so I called the doctor," added Navratilova.

Speaking further on the diagnosis, the former tennis star said that while the biopsy results indicated cancer but she had to wait four days to find out where it originated in her body. Navratilova also admitted that double cancer left her "very up and down" due to undergoing radiation treatment every day for three weeks and three weekly rounds of chemotherapy, which she emphasised as "definitely the hardest thing I've ever done".

"That was the hard part because the first week was both chemo and radiation at the same time. When you start feeling lousy you're not sure if it's from the chemo or the proton. I didn't really feel the proton until week three but then you get a sore mouth and your throat starts closing.

"Everything's swollen and very uncomfortable, and the proton makes your saliva weird. You don't really taste things the right way. Chemo does the same thing to your throat but then it makes it dry. So, you're just hit from all ends and I don't think the doctors do a very good job of telling you how the shit is going to hit the fan," added Navratilova, who retired from professional tennis in 2006.

Navratilova also opened up on how she wore a specially-fitted mask during the proton therapy procedure and listened to music. Once she picked Elton John. "Then he starts singing I'm Still Standing which he dedicated to me at a concert in Paris during the French Open in the '80s. So, when I'm in this mask not able to move and that song came on and I'm like, 'Oh great, so I can't really cry because I can't swallow, I can't move'."

Navratilova's career lasted for an incredible 33 years from 1973 to 2006, but it included a break between 1996 and 2000 as she became the most successful female player in the Open Era. The southpaw clinched a total of 59 Grand Slam titles, including 41 doubles and mixed doubles trophies and 18 in singles, which remains a record in the Open Era. Navratilova's tally of titles are 167 in the singles category and 177 in doubles.