Navratilova Usually Has Her Reasons for Crying

I enjoyed reading most of Mike Downey’s story on Martina Navratilova, but I did not like his unfairly critical attitude, and an inaccuracy as well.

In mentioning her toxoplasmosis of 1982, Downey said it was a “disease she supposedly caught by eating from a bowl of mixed nuts that had been stepped in by her former lover’s cat.” Well, he didn’t do his homework thoroughly. Navratilova’s book, “Martina” said three times that undercooked hamburger was the suspected cause, and the cat was tested and found not guilty.

Downey seems to have a nasty attitude toward Martina’s emotionalism, calling her “a weeper, going on crying jags in her book about every 10th page.” His choice of words implies that there’s something wrong with her crying. But I think the more likely truth is that he doesn’t cry very much himself, and is not able to sympathize with someone who does. That’s his problem, not hers.

VICKI BARTMESS

Culver City