Tennis

Martina Navratilova said the woman with whom she “lived as man and wife” betrayed her by tricking her into signing a cohabitation agreement that could ruin her financially.

Claiming that through naivete she never read the agreement, Navratilova said on ABC’s “20/20” that she believed Judy Nelson “truly loved me.” The interview was televised Friday night.

“But I also now believe that this was pretty much organized ahead of time,” Navratilova told Barbara Walters. “She figured either she was going to have me or she was going to have a lot of money.”

Nelson, who lived with Navratilova for seven years, filed suit against the tennis player, seeking half of Navratilova’s earnings during the relationship.

The signing of the cohabitation agreement was videotaped in 1986. Navratilova said: “I thought I was smart, but now when I see the video, I say, ‘How stupid were you?’ ”

Navratilova denied reports that she had offered Nelson $2 million to settle the suit.

“I don’t have that kind of money. I mean, I give her that and I’m broke,” Navratilova said. “I might just as well start all over again--18 years of playing tennis down the drain.”

Navratilova said she paid Nelson a salary starting in 1985 and that it reached $90,000 a year in 1990. She also said she would have married Nelson if it were legally possible.