Happy 55th Birthday to Martina Navratilova!

Whenever I get the chance to celebrate the mighty Martina Navratilova, I’m happy to do it because she is a big hero of mine.

Today, the great tennis champion and LGBT activist turns 55 and she is still going strong after battling breast cancer last year.

Martina, a nine-time Wimbledon singles champion, remains one of the few professional athletes to ever come out during the peak of their careers. Martina not only was openly gay when she was number one, but she competed and won most of her major tournaments in the 80s during a far less hospitable time.

“It’s the positive attitude that gets you through life and it is a choice,” she said when she was honored at the US Open in 2010. “I’ve always been too much of an optimist where I sort of ignore bad stuff until it sits right there in front of me. I’m saying nothing is going to go wrong and, when it does, that’s when I deal with it. That’s how I’ve gotten through life. I think it’s done me pretty well.”

I’ll say.