Navratilova Wins Again and Proves That She’s the One

The story is an old one, told and retold, hashed and rehashed, and certainly committed by now to memory.

And yet, unaccountably, the ending caught many by surprise.

There’s a lesson in human nature there somewhere, but the more important lesson at the All England Club was in tennis, taught by the redoubtable Martina Navratilova.

She beat Chris Evert Lloyd, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, Saturday to win the Wimbledon singles championship. Once more, with feeling.

Lloyd stood at Centre Court, hands folded and lips pursed, while various dukes and duchesses gave over the traditional silver plate to Navratilova. The crowd offered the champion only polite applause.

Navratilova has now won here four years running and six years, in all. In five of those years, she has faced Lloyd in the final. In each case, Navratilova has triumphed.

If you were surprised, consult Santayana.

Of course, people wanted to believe Navratilova, the damn Yankee, could lose.

“I lost three matches (this year), and all of a sudden, I was going downhill,” Navratilova said. “You have to prove yourself so many times.

“The better you are, the more you have to prove yourself.”

Well, no one is better than Martina. And so the proving continues.

There were whispers that Martina was slipping. There was evidence that Chris was gaining. There were those among the wishful thinkers who thought the level of their games might have crossed.

Lloyd, after all, beat Navratilova in Paris on clay. Helena Sukova had beaten her in Australia on grass.

“I thought it was 50-50,” Lloyd said. “I beat her at the French, and I don’t think I’ve ever played this well, this whole tournament, in my life.”

Many in the media thought Lloyd would win. Many in the players’ dressing rooms thought the same. Certainly the crowd, heavily in favor of Our Chrissie, believed.

The thought even crossed Navratilova’s mind.

“I knew I had to play better than average,” Navratilova said. “At the French, I thought I could win even if I didn’t play that well.”

The French is played on clay, a surface Lloyd favors. Wimbledon is played on grass, though after nearly two weeks, the grass courts had deteriorated to dirt courts. It made no difference.

Once Navratilova put her game together, the game was over.

“I was so hyper, so nervous, in the beginning,” Navratilova said. “I couldn’t even keep the ball in play in warmups. I think Chris got angry--I was hitting the ball in the net. Then I calmed down.”

Navratilova was hyper because the win meant so much to her.

Someone asked her if this was among her most satisfying wins here, and Navratilova replied, “The.”

“There was so much at stake,” Navratilova said. “The No. 1 ranking, Chris’ Grand Slam, four Wimbledons in a row. You name it, it was there.”

Lloyd had regained the top ranking for the first time in three years. Lloyd had won the last two Grand Slam events, breaking Navratilova’s winning streak at six. And the Wimbledon streak, that was special.

The streak seemed in danger early. Navratilova’s first serve failed her on her first five tries.

“I don’t know how I held,” Navratilova said. “I was awful.”

One serve later, Lloyd broke her and held on to win the set. Navratilova looked tentative, and Lloyd was hitting her passing shots and ground strokes with the familiar efficiency.

Then, almost inevitably, Martina the Magnificent returned.

For two sets, both players were at or near the top of their games, hitting deep shots, getting balls other players couldn’t, matching strength with strength.

“Martina plays her best tennis when she is down,” Lloyd said. “She gets very tough.

“She probably had a little more to settle, a little more to prove by winning this match. If she had beaten me at the French, maybe she would not have been as psyched up for this tournament.”

Navratilova would not let herself lose. Instead of trying to rally with Lloyd, as she had for much of the first set, Navratilova camped by the net, hitting deep approach shots to get there, hitting winning volleys once she got there.

Navratilova’s serve, after the first set, was again the best in the women’s game.

She broke Lloyd in the fourth game of the second set and then twice more in the third set. There was little Navratilova did wrong, even winning an important point by passing Lloyd in one of her rare appearances at the net.

The game ended more predictably, with Navratilova lunging for a backhand, cross-court volley, which Lloyd, in trying to pass her opponent, hit wide.

Unfortunately, it was not a perfect moment. Two points before, Navratilova’s serve, perhaps long, was called good, costing Lloyd a point. On the next point, Navratilova’s return was apparently out of bounds, yet was called good.

In each case, Lloyd fumed and the crowd jeered, accounting for Lloyd’s postmatch pout.

She wouldn’t say precisely what she was thinking. “It’s unprintable,” Lloyd said. She did go on to say that the calls did not cost her the match but did upset her.

“You hope that everything is fair and you get true calls,” said Lloyd, who the day before had sent a letter to the Wimbledon committee praising the line judges. “They were just two bad calls. It was a shame they had to come at the end of the match.”

The match ended with Lloyd the loser for the seventh time in 10 Wimbledon finals, her Grand Slam total holding at 17 and her greatest wish being that she will get another chance at Navratilova in the U.S. Open.

“This was her best surface, and I still came close,” Lloyd said. “I’m not going to go home and pout.”

The betting is, of course, that they will meet again in the Open. Between the two women--seeded as co-No. 1s here--they have won the last 15 Grand Slam events.

“At this point,” Navratilova said, “Chris and I are ahead of the field.”

And Navratilova is gaining on the field, the Hall of Fame field, here at Wimbledon. Her six wins are two shy of Helen Wills Moody’s record. Navratilova wouldn’t mind getting there someday.

“I’d like to have a set of eight plates,” she said. “I bought six chairs for my dining room. Six aren’t enough.”