Monica Seles cries tears of joy, Chris Evert & Marketa Vondrousova also get emotional as proud Martina Navratilova receives huge Czech honor

Martina Navratilova recently returned to the city of her birth in the Czech Republic to receive a special honor from the country's President, Petr Pavel. Subsequently, fellow tennis legends Chris Evert and Monica Seles, as well as active Czech WTA star Marketa Vondrousova, showed their support for the 69-year-old, who won a whopping 167 singles and 177 doubles titles in her playing days.

On Tuesday, October 28, Navratilova was in Prague on Czech Republic's Independence Day. The Czech-American, a former World No. 1 in both women's singles and doubles, attended a ceremony honoring the special day at Prague Castle. Here, President Petr Pavel bestowed her with the Order of the White Lion, III Class, the third-highest rank of the country's highest state decoration.

The very next day, a video consisting of the highlights from Martina Navratilova's latest visit to Prague surfaced on Instagram. The video, moving as it was for the visuals, turned out to be quite the emotional experience for viewers also because of the hit song "Greatest Day" by English pop act 'Take That', which served as the video's backing track.

Monica Seles, another former No. 1, as well as a nine-time Major champion, delivered a reaction that clearly reflected how moved she was by the video. The 51-year-old penned a thankful note in the comments, writing:

"You made me cry and thank you for sharing this with all of us ❤️ "

Chris Evert, Navratilova's fierce yesteryear rival and present-day bestie, also chimed in.

"That looks so cool, Martina, Congratulations ❤️👏👍"

Monica Seles and Chris Evert's comments (Source: Instagram/newspresenters)

Current WTA No. 34 Marketa Vondrousova, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 6 two years ago on the back of her Wimbledon title triumph, shared a picture of Navratilova as an Instagram Story and captioned it with a folded hands emoji.

Marketa Vondrousova's Instagram Story (Source: Instagram/marketavondousova)

"If I were now still in that same position and had to go live somewhere, it wouldn't be USA" - Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova (Source: Getty)

Martina Navratilova's relationship with the land of her birth was once a turbulent one. When she was 18, she defected from communist Czechoslovakia and fled to the USA, seeking political asylum along with more political, personal and professional freedoms.

Relations between Navratilova and her homeland remained strained until late 1989, when the Velvet Revolution led to the communist regime's dissolution. Eventually, in 2008, her Czech citizenship was restored.

In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, the 69-year-old, today a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump, boldly claimed that she wouldn't have defected to the USA if the administration of the country at the time was similar to what it is today.

"If I were now still in that same position (as in 1975) and I had to go live somewhere, it would not be America, because it's not a democracy at the moment," Navratilova said.

Martina Navratilova's illustrious tennis-playing career, during which she won 18 singles, 31 women's doubles and 10 mixed doubles Major titles, came to an end in 2006.

Edited by Sudipto Pati