Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has breast cancer

Legendary tennis player Martina Navratilova has been diagnosed with breast cancer but her prognosis is said to be excellent because the disease was detected early, according to a report on People magazine's website.

The nine-time Wimbledon champion said she cried when a biopsy came back positive following a routine mammogram.

"It knocked me on my ass, really," said Navratilova, 53. "I feel so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and it's completely out of my hands."

She was diagnosed with a noninvasive form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, but it was confined to the milk ducts of her left breast and had not spread to the breast tissue.

Navratilova had a lumpectomy and will start six weeks of radiation therapy in May.

-- Chuck Schilken

Photo: Martina Navratilova attends a Wimbledon match in 2009. Credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press.