Martina Navratilova's tennis career stretched nearly 50 years, and it is no surprise that she is using her experience from the tennis courts into the business of art.
Former world number one Navratilova creates abstracts paintings by hitting paint-covered balls on to against clay and grass-coated canvases in a technique she refers to as "tennising".
The idea was originally proposed to her in 2000 by a fellow-Czech artist Juraj Kralik.
"In the fall of 2000, I met Juraj Kralik during the US Open in New York and he asked me to have a look at an artistic project of his. Over a short meeting, he explained to me the gist of the project and gave me a written description of his concept. Since it was well-prepared, it attracted my attention and I agreed to become involved," Navratilova wrote on her official website.
The 51-year-old will unveil her first commercial exhibition in the United Kingdom later this month during the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. Her first commercial exhibition of Art Grand Slam was held in Perth, in January, to coincide with the Hopman Cup, and the second in New Orleans, earlier this year, where some 25 paintings were sold, raising money to refurbish local public courts.
"Just like when I first started playing tennis, I wasn't thinking 'I will make my life out of this'. When Juraj first came to me I thought we'd just hit a couple of balls. But it takes on a life of its own. It should be a multimillion-dollar business in a couple of years. Not for me, but for Juraj," Navratilova was quoted as saying in the Telegraph.
The two have made more than 300 canvases, in a series of famous courts around the world. The artwork involves bouncing, or hitting balls covered in a variety of colours and textures of acrylic paint onto a target canvas.
The prices for the paintings ranges from around US $3000 to $250,000 for the largest pieces. The highest price paid in cash so far was $15,000, but those who cannot afford the high prices, there are T-shirts at cheaper rates.
"Juro [Kralik] always comes up with something new. That is probably the reason why the whole project has taken so long -- we always search for and try out new things. Every time I feel that we are approaching the end, we manage to find yet another interesting option that pushes our project further on. I hope that after the exhibitions in such places as Bratislava, Prague, Paris, Perth and beyond, people will applaud our pieces in galleries as they have applauded my action on tennis courts," said Navratilova.
"My original idea was to get this moment onto canvas. I was looking for someone playing genius tennis and the genius number one for me was Martina," Kralik says of his partnership with Navratilova.
Navratilova is now hoping to get former rival Chris Evert and former doubles partner Pam Shriver, for future works.
Photographs: Getty Images
