Hana

Hana Mandlikova, tennis champion from the East, now a citizen of Australia, is perhaps the least understood player of her generation. Hana's story begins with humble schoolgirl dreams forged in the simple, sometimes austere surroundings of Prague. It charts how she first marvelled, then came to terms with the West; its customs and riches. The book tells how Hana's naturally beautiful game was harnessed with sufficient discipline to win four Grand Slam championships. It explains how her life has been intrinsically intertwined with Martina Navratilova, from their childhood spent in the same city, to life on tour together, covering their duels, rows and, ultimately, their bond of friendship. She also divulges how lonely it can be on the tennis circuit; how the glamour fades the moment you close your hotel bedroom door. She gives an insight into the physical and psychological stress that caused her to take a temporary leave of absense from the tennis world. With 16 pages of black-and-white photographs