Wimbledon Roundup : After 99 Games, Navratilova and McNamee Win

In order to pick up her second title of the Wimbledon championships, Martina Navratilova Sunday had to play 99 games with Australian mixed doubles partner Paul McNamee.

Navratilova, who won her sixth women’s singles title Saturday, and McNamee played two matches in nine minutes short of six hours before finally winning the title.

The pair wrapped up Navratilova’s first mixed doubles title with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 win against Australians John Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Smylie on Centre Court.

But, first, they had to get past the rain-delayed semifinals--and that proved to be a longer task than anyone imagined.

The second-seeded pair needed a marathon 69 games to defeat Scott Davis and Betsy Nagelsen, 6-7, 7-5, 23-21--a record for a mixed doubles match at Wimbledon.

“Physically, I wasn’t tired at all, but emotionally, today was like a roller coaster,” Navratilova said when it was over.

“Winning the singles yesterday, then losing the doubles (with Pam Shriver). I just wanted to cry sometimes today, especially when we were down match point in the semis,” she said.

McNamee, holder of two men’s Wimbledon doubles titles with compatriot Peter McNamara, said he got a boost from winning with Navratilova.

“My parents are here this year, and they’ve never seen me win a Wimbledon title,” he said.

Bob Jenkins, the British umpire sacked from the tournament last week after a newspaper interview, criticized Wimbledon officials for not sticking strictly to their own rules.

Jenkins told the “Mail on Sunday” newspaper that Wimbledon’s refusal to accept even the most minor criticism could kill the game Britain introduced to the world a century ago.

Jenkins was particularly disgusted with Alan Mills, the Wimbledon referee and a Grand Prix official, and Ken Farrar, the chief supervisor of men’s tennis.

He said that Jimmy Connors should have been disqualified last December after “one of the worst temper tantrums even he has displayed” during the U.S.-Sweden Davis Cup final at Sweden.

Stan Smith won his third Wimbledon title by retaining the men’s over-35 invitation event.

Smith, singles champion in 1972 and top-seeded in the over-35s, defeated Chile’s Jaime Fillol, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, in the final.

Leonardo Lavalle beat fellow Mexican Eduardo Velez, 6-4, 6-4, to win the Wimbledon junior boys’ title.

The top-seeded Lavalle succeeded previous junior champions such as Bjorn Borg (1972), Ivan Lendl (1978), Pat Cash (1982), Stefan Edberg (1983) and last year’s winner, Mark Kratzmann.

Andrea Holikova of Czechoslovakia defeated Australia’s Jenny Byrne, 7-5, 6-1, to win the junior girls’ title.