Serena may have pulled a Grand Slam win at the US Open this weekend, but she wasn’t the only one scoring a major win at the event. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova had an unforgettable moment of her own when she proposed to her longtime girlfriend in front of fans.
According to People, on Saturday, Navratilova proposed to her girlfriend, Julia Lemigova, on the Jumbotron during the day’s play at New York’s Arthur Ashe stadium.
Navratilova was being interviewed by Ken Solomon in the Tennis Channel suite and giving commentary on the men’s matches when she suddenly turned to Lemigova, dropped down on one knee, and proposed to her.
Lemogiva, cried as she happily said yes and the couple embraced in a touching moment on camera that drew loud cheers from the crowd.
“I was very nervous,” Navratilova said later in an interview with the Associated Press. “It came off. She said yes. It was kind of an out-of-body experience. You’ve seen people propose at sporting events before, in movies, in real life. Here it was happening to me. It was like I was watching myself do it.”
Navratilova and Lemigova, a former Miss USSR, have been dating since 2006.
Navratilova said she and Lemigova would prefer to get married in Florida, where they live, and where a federal judge ruled last month that the state’s ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.
Congratulations are definitely in order for the couple and we wish them a happy marriage. – nicholas robinson
