Martina Navratilova is "cancer free" after battling throat and breast cancer.

Martina Navratilova is 'cancer free' after battling throat and breast cancer

Martina Navratilova is 'cancer free' after battling throat and breast cancer

The 66-year-old former world tennis number one told in January how she had been hit with a "double whammy" with the diagnosis of two forms of cancer, but she has now defeated the disease after fearing she wouldn't see Christmas .

Speaking on TalkTV's 'Piers Morgan Uncensored', she said: "You get into tennis mode ... that’s where having been a champion athlete comes in pretty handy.

"I knew it was going to be hard but I didn’t realise it was going to be as hard as it really was.

"You’re just hit from all ends and I don’t think the doctors do a very good job of telling you how the shit is going to hit the fan.

"As far as they know I’m cancer-free, I still need to do the right breast probably with radiation but only for a couple of weeks and that’s more preventative than anything else."

The star underwent chemotherapy, a proton therapy trial, and she had a 7-8mm tumour removed from her right breast.

She added: "I was never an underachiever, but this is getting ridiculous.

"Giving up, giving in, stopping - that's just not an option for me. You get on with it."

Martina - who was also treated for early breast cancer in 2010 - had feared she wouldn't see Christmas, after being given her diagnosis.

She said: "I was in a total panic for three days thinking I may not see next Christmas.

"The bucket list came into my mind of all the things I wanted to do."

Last week, Martina's wife Julia Lemigova, 50, told how the couple - who married in 2014 - had put their plans to adopt a child on hold as the sports star battled cancer.

She explained: "When you're adopting a child, it has to be about the child. And right now it's everything about Martina and for her getting health. We're putting it on hold.

"We were thinking any moment the agency would call and give us the happy news that we were going to have a baby.

"Instead, we are fighting two cancers. Like one is not enough. I'm just waiting for Martina to get better."