Desi Lydic

Martina, at 18, you defected from communist Czechoslovakia to come to America to become the world's greatest tennis player.

And in doing so, you had to make the hard decision to leave your family.

How did you even cope with that at that time?

I think if I had been, like, in Soviet Union, where, you know, they would send the whole family to the gulag, I wouldn't have done it, because I would have been too terrified what would happen to my family.

But I knew Czech Republic or Czechoslovakia, and then it was different.

And my parents did suffer.

My sister then couldn't get into the school she wanted to go to.

She's six years younger.

But overall, they were going to be OK.

And I was able to send them money and help them out that way.

But it was a one-way ticket.

I could not go back.

And my parents couldn't get out.

My sister couldn't get out.

So it was four years before I saw my mom again when she came to Wimbledon and five years before I saw my sister and my dad.

So that was pretty rough.

Because if I went back, they would never let me out again.

So that was not a possibility.

But, you know, when you're 19, it's like, ah, it's going to be OK.

And it was, but if I had to do it now, there's no way I could.