Her recent and far-ranging discussion on the state of today's game and today's players was an almost lyrical commentary.

She spoke last month at the U.S. Open on a wide range of subjects, from the commitment level of players to the unruly behavior of Jelena Dokic's father.

She is obviously at great ease expressing herself at this stage of her life, two weeks shy of her 44th birthday.

It wasn't always that way, of course, not as she struggled to learn English and went through such personal rites of passage as defecting from Czechoslovakia 25 years ago, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1981 and, later, going public about being a lesbian.

Jelena Dokic has been in the media quite often thanks to her father's unruly behavior in tournaments.(AP)

The world has accepted Navratilova, and she has accepted herself. Now this avid reader of the classics -- herself the author of three mystery novels -- speaks with a clarity and direction that would be notable from any platform.

The personal issues in Navratilova's life always intertwined with her game, more so than would be the case for most prominent players.

The essence of Navratilova wasn't just her tennis, but the fact she was bringing a new kind of power to the game just when eyebrows were raised about her sexual preference.

Or that the four years in which she bridged the shift from defection to her U.S. citizenship in 1981 included four Grand Slam singles finals.

Since retiring from singles play in 1994, Navratilova is back playing doubles in Grand Slams -- all the while insisting she never retired from tennis completely.

The crowds adore her. But that affection doesn't fit with the absence of commercial endorsement opportunities Navratilova had to accept because advertisers thought her life had too much controversy.

Asked if she felt bittersweet over missing out on corporate sponsorship, Navratilova shook her head no.

"Very sweet. I'm not a bitter person. I could have been bitter a long time ago. That's a choice you make," Navratilova said. "I always see the glass as half-full. Even though there might be just a little bit there, I still see it as half-full. I'm extremely happy with my affiliation (in a recent television ad campaign) with Subaru and (the prospect of) whoever else might come in the future."

Opportunities for riches and fame come more easily now for players. As a result, Navratilova finds that it is the rare player who has the proper commitment to being a champion.

"I can tell you what I used to do, and that was brutal," she said. "Started at 10 in the morning. A normal day was 10-to-2 tennis, (then) eat lunch. I played basketball full-court one-on-one or two-on-two for about an hour. Then I would either run track or lift weights. My day was finished at 9 (p.m.). Sometimes I was lifting at 10 at night, still.

"I just wanted that beer, that's all I wanted. That was my reward. That was the typical day. Three meals a day, three workouts a day. I don't know who's doing that."

These days, Navratilova is especially impressed with the confidence level of Venus Williams, even though she believes sister Serena Williams "is a better athlete, and I think she may want it more. Venus is making a hell of a statement right now."

The Williams sisters are tremendously hard workers. But they also don't have tennis tunnel vision. They have taken time away from the tour to concentrate on college studies or fashion design.

So Navratilova wouldn't be able to point to them as people who are essentially 100 percent about tennis -- 100 percent of the time.

Some players do fit that mold, though, including the one named after Navratilova, Martina Hingis.

Navratilova is a great admirer of Hingis' match strategy and how hard she works. But she said Hingis will have to re-direct the energy of her work in order to compete with the Williams sisters.

That might mean less time on the court and more time conditioning, to cope with tournaments in which she might have to face one or both of the Williams sisters and/or Lindsay Davenport in successive matches.

"I think I always rooted for her because I love the way she plays the game. ... You just need to put the time in at the track, at the gym, on the court," Navratilova said. "You have to be in physical tip-top shape to be able to run... If she can play those (punishing) matches back-to-back and win more points on her serve, she can still stay up there."

Her singles career ended with 167 WTA Tour titles, a dominance Navratilova shared with Chris Evert and Steffi Graf and, late in her career, Monica Seles.

Sometimes it looked easy. But her success always boiled down to the overwhelming amount of hard work to which she was committed.

What inspired that work was a love for her sport. So it pains Navratilova to see the irrational demands and behavior Damir Dokic exhibits toward his daughter -- "I see fear when she looks up at her father during the match. ... You can't play tennis in that environment," she said.

It also explains why she is disappointed when players don't commit themselves to improving.

Blessed with superior talent and an inexhaustible commitment to doing the work needed to excel, Navratilova enjoyed one other gift: an absolute love affair with her chosen profession.

She might be more insightful on that subject than any other.

"I think what I've heard (from fans) is I've given some the will to want to do it themselves -- you know, the spark to get out there and do it. Whether it's tennis or sports or their job or (to) do something they love doing," Navratilova said. "I think that's (it) more than anything. I love playing tennis, I love the game.

"It's not a job. It's not something that I have to do. It's something I love doing. I think too many of us are doing a job that we really don't love. ... I think a lot of people are caught in these dead-end jobs.

"(Then) they see, 'I can do something I really enjoy. Maybe I'll go and start a business in Vermont, see if I can find a better grade of maple syrup. I don't know -- just do something that tugs at your heart strings, that feeds the soul,'" she said. "Tennis feeds my soul, there's no question about it."