Navratilova was the Queen of Wimbledon's grass courts

By Bruce Emond

JAKARTA (JP): Martina Navratilova will forever be associated with Wimbledon, the tournament whose lawns she staked out as her very private domain.

It was a hard-earned victory both for titles and for the affections of British spectators who took several years to warm to the emotionally intense, outspoken and sometimes churlish Navratilova.

When she first began playing Wimbledon, Navratilova was overshadowed by other players, especially Evonne Goolagong Cawley, the elegant stroke-maker who became even more of a national favorite by marrying an Englishman.

My first memory of seeing Navratilova play was in 1976 when she faced Britain's Sue Barker in the quarterfinals. Of course, the British crowds were pulling for the blonde Barker, who won many matches on the strength of her pounding forehand but lacked versatility.

My image of Navratilova was set right there. In the final set, some very dubious line calls went against the former Czech player, who began a protracted harangue against the officials.

Navratilova clasped her hands as though in prayer, pleading vociferously to some unseen power to intervene and set right all the wrongs. She continued to mutter and rant as the match proceeded, winning in spite of herself.

Her victory was met with silence by a crowd perplexed by her emotional outburst. The bizarre image of an irate, somewhat overweight young woman screaming in broken English remained even after an embarrassed announcement that two linesmen from the match were banned from officiating for their partisan calls in favor of Barker.

It was only a matter of time before Navratilova's game -- swinging left-handed spin serve, great volleying ability, a powerful but suspect forehand -- brought her a Wimbledon title.

Memories

It happened in 1978 when Navratilova won Wimbledon by defeating Chris Evert. The final holds a couple of memories for me, including one during the first few games when Navratilova completely missed a forehand volley at the net and gave a bemused smile. She won the match in a tight third set but Evert pulled the heart-strings of the crowd by walking around the net post to hug her former doubles partner.

The crowds still did not know what to make of Navratilova when she retained her title the following year. Evert, meanwhile, had become Mrs. John Lloyd, slimmed down and emerged as the favorite of the spectators. Navratilova remained the high-strung and nervous Czech defector who could dissolve into tears as a match slipped away from her grasp.

In 1980, Navratilova was beginning to grow up and the turmoil in her personal life was evident in her indifferent performance on court as she lost to Evert in the semifinal

The changes were even more evident the following year. She had shed the baby fat she had carried for several years and let her hair grow, reining it in with a bandanna. Her personal life, including rumored affairs with golfer Sandra Haney and author Rita Mae Brown, became the fodder of England's tabloid press.

Navratilova played Hana Mandlikova in a emotion-charged, erratic semifinal that year and lost. Both players were extremely inconsistent, playing at a level well below what is expected of the world's best women players. Navratilova appeared uneasy throughout the match and looked like she was glad the ordeal was over when Mandlikova won.

Her hunted look could probably best be explained by her exasperated comment that year that "There is no freedom for the press in Czechoslovakia, and no freedom from the press in England."

Navratilova was too talented to spend the rest of her career as a perennial semifinalist. She recouped, worked with trainers, nutritionists and psychologists, and brought the game to new heights with her superb physical conditioning and dominating serve-and-volley game tailored to the slick, fast grass of Wimbledon.

The greatest irony was that she became too good, so overpowering that her superiority invited only a grudging respect from many onlookers. The crowds pulled for her opponents, especially Chris Evert, Navratilova's former nemesis who had refined her one-dimensional baseline game and played her best tennis at the end of her career.

Then, in Navratilova's final playing days, she took on her final role as the revered veteran. Steffi Graf had ascended to become the world number one but Navratilova fulfilled her ambition to break Helen Wills Moody's long-standing record of eight Wimbledon singles title in 1991.

Navratilova, in her last hurrah, reached the final in 1994. The long standing ovation which greeted Navratilova, the losing finalist, was unprecedented in Wimbledon history. Fred Perry, Britain's last Wimbledon finalist who died earlier this year, said after the final that he had never seen a greater outpouring of emotion during his many years visiting Wimbledon.

The brittle, self-avowed lesbian who pulled no punches in discussing her politics or lifestyle had finally won over the hearts of Wimbledon's staid spectators. They saw her genuine love for Wimbledon, for its tradition and its significance, and in turn they cherished the memories of her beautiful and unique game.

Bruce Emond is a consultant at TriComm, the marketing representative for the ATP Tour World Doubles Championship.