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November 22, 2008 1:25:20 CST

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Navratilova 'Defects' Again From 'Worse' Bush Regime

Posted Mar 12, 08 6:53 CDT in Sports,  Arts & Living,  World 

(Newser) – Thirty years after defecting to the US, at the height of the Cold War, tennis ace Martina Navratilova has regained her Czech citizenship, the Independent reports. The racket star became a US citizen in 1981. She plans to retain her US citizenship as well but she had some harsh criticism for her adopted homeland's current administration,  comparing it unfavorably to the Communist regime she fled.

"The thing is that we elected Bush," she told a Czech newspaper. "That is worse. Against that, nobody chose a Communist government in Czechoslovakia." She once told a German newspaper that she "exchanged one system that suppresses free opinion for another—it's depressing." Navratilova, who retired for the second time in 2006 after winning in mixed doubles at the US Open, now plans to open a tennis academy for young players in the Czech Republic.

Sources Independent (UK), The Australian

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Martina Navratilova of the United States returns a shot to Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic during their match at the US Open tennis tournament in New York. (AP Photo/Ed Betz)   (Associated Press)
U.S. tennis champion Martina Navratilova smiles during a press conference in Tokyo, Tuesday, March 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)   (Associated Press)
Tennis champion Martina Navratilova accepts the Stephen F. Kolzak award onstage at the 18th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)   (Associated Press)
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