Martina Navratilova joins Florida Panthers' Stanley Cup celebration (again!)

The most conveted invitation in tennis might not be for Wimbledon's royal box! For the second year in a row this week, International Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova got to party with the Carolina Panthers after winning the Stanley Cup.

Fans of tennis and hockey may recall the championship crossover began last season, when the 18-time Grand Slam singles winner was celebrating her wife Julia Lemigova's birthday. The couple just happened to be at the same restaurant as the Panthers after they won the team's first-ever Stanley Cup by beating the Edmonton Oilers in a thrilling seven-game final.

Starstruck by meeting team captain Aleksander Barkov, Navratilova got to enjoy a sweet sip of Stella Artois beer from the Cup itself as she mingled with the team.

Flashback: Martina Navratilova sips beer from Stanley Cup after meeting Aleksander Barkov

But when the team repeated the feat in 2025, again beating Edmonton (this time in six games), it seems that Navratilova was on the guest list.

According to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press, the team's celebratory meal at the posh Maple & Ash steakhouse in Miami had a five-star menu that included oysters and a seafood tower, Bluefin tuna tartare, Caesar salad, bone-in ribeye steaks, spaghetti, branzino and lobster, as well as decadent chocolate cake, coconut cream pie and raspberry macarons.

And, fittingly, Navratilova drank from the Cup again to wash it all down.

On social media, the tennis legend joked that the oldest trophy in professional sports was "just a smidge" bigger than Wimbledon's famed Venus Rosewater Dish, which she won a record nine times.

"Thanks goodness I had help holding it!!!" she wrote, alongside a picture of herself holding the Cup aloft. "What an amazing feat by the Panthers—well deserved!!!"