WIMBLEDON ’87 : Long Live the Queen, Martina : She Wins Title for the Eighth Time, Sixth in Row

Martina Navratilova is an original. She wears high-top basketball shoes on the tennis court. She speaks English with an Eastern European, Eastern Texan accent. Her entourage is so specialized that she has one person who tells her not to shake her head. The day before the biggest tennis match of her life, she practiced by hitting tennis balls with Sugar Ray Leonard, who reportedly has a glass backhand.

It’s Navratilova’s way, her style, and it works. Saturday, she beat Steffi Graf, 7-5, 6-3, on Centre Court to delay the formal coronation of the future queen of tennis.

Queen Martina still rules Wimbledon.

The numbers are impressive. This is Navratilova’s sixth consecutive Wimbledon title, and the sweetest. It is her eighth Wimbledon championship in the last 10 years and extends her winning streak here to 41 matches. She has never lost a singles final in this event.

It is also her first tournament win as a 30-year-old, no insignificant milestone.

The trophy is impressive, an ornate silver plate that Navratilova holds over her head on Centre Court almost every year to signal the end of the women’s competition.

But most impressive of all is the Navratilova style. Even close friends expected her to take Centre Court Saturday carrying enough emotional baggage to bring a pack mule to its knees.

Her age, her major slump (0 for 1987, 229 days since her last tournament win), her awesome rival and her fragile confidence had many doubting Navratilova’s ability to win her favorite championship.

“Steffi will have the psychological edge,” Chris Evert had said. “She’s loose out there, and Martina’s looking for that one win. That’s a lot of pressure on Martina.”

Navratilova not only won, but she won convincingly and played with consummate skill and confidence. This was no old-timer, eking out one more win. This was the one and only Navratilova, at the top of her game, mentally and physically.

“I don’t think I’ve ever served and volleyed all the way through Wimbledon the way I did this time,” Navratilova said.

What happened to the doubts that reportedly had crept into her tennis psyche, causing her to blow recent tournaments with rookie mistakes?

“I wasn’t going to be nervous at all,” Navratilova said. “Anyone who thought that doesn’t know me very well. Nerves were just not going to play a part at all. . . . I know that I had really done a job with myself on my head. At the French (Open), I had a hard time thinking I could win. Before this one, I couldn’t see it any other way than winning.

“It’s just a matter of not letting anything negative get into my mind. Renee (Richards, her adviser) told me, ‘Stop shaking your head. When you shake your head, you can’t be thinking positive thoughts.’ You have to brainwash yourself. If you control your thoughts, then the body follows.”

Navratilova’s body followed her mind like an obedient puppy dog Saturday. She knocked in 74% of her first serves, and she won 34 of her 70 points at the net.

Graf was befuddled by the heavy spin and slightly off-speed of Martina’s first serve, and handcuffed by Navratilova’s ability to get that serve to the weaker backhand side. Graf won only 20 points off Navratilova’s serve in 11 games and had only one break-point opportunity all afternoon.

Navratilova let six break-point chances slip away in the first set but took advantage of the seventh. At deuce in the 12th game, Graf double-faulted but pulled even again with a backhand cross-court passing shot. Then Navratilova passed Graf twice, with a forehand and a backhand off a volley.

Navratilova broke Graf in the eighth game of the second set when Graf hit a wide forehand and then netted a forehand passing attempt when driven back by a strong volley.

The fact that Graf, 18, refused to crumble in several high-pressure situations, that she didn’t play like a nervous kid, had to make the win that much sweeter for Navratilova. Graf was cool. The only time all fortnight she lost her poise was when someone asked her if it was true that she had been asked to pose for a girlie magazine.

On the court, Graf had the presence of a much older player. Faced with triple set point in the 10th game of the first set, for instance, Graf proceeded to hit three serve aces and a winning forehand volley.

She lost the set two games later but not before holding off set point with a marvelous backhand cross-court pass off a stinging volley.

The kid didn’t choke; she simply ran into a buzz saw of determination, skill and experience. Navratilova even outthought her opponent. After busting Graf’s backhand on service all afternoon, Navratilova wrapped up the game, set and silver plate with a serve to Graf’s forehand, possibly the strongest shot in women’s tennis. Fooled, Graf hit the ball into the net.

“I was serving to her backhand most of the time, so I was not grooved to hit a serve to her forehand,” Navratilova said. “So, it was like a game, and I said, ‘Let’s see what she will do with another serve to her backhand. At 40-30, I served down the middle because I knew she would not expect it.”

Along with all the normal tools, Navratilova had luck working for her. She hit four net-cord tricklers and all four fell on Graf’s side for winners. The most crucial came at 3-3 in the second set and Martina at 15-30.

“I want to say thanks to the gods, Zeus or whoever was out there,” Navratilova said.

Maybe it was the tiny tennis racket with an inset diamond that Sugar Ray Leonard presented to Navratilova Friday. She tucked the bauble in her sock for good luck.

She had batted some balls on the practice court with Leonard that day, and who knows what impact this news will have on tennis training theory. Or whether Navratilova will return the favor by sparring with Leonard if he fights again.

Maybe Graf will bring Max Schmeling, 83, out of retirement.

Saturday, Graf needed more than her awesome record. She came into the championship match riding a 45-match, 7-tournament win streak. It included two wins over Navratilova, at Key Biscayne and Paris.

In her last 95 matches, Graf was 92-3, although two of those losses were to Navratilova.

And Wimbledon grass, remember, has the same effect on Navratilova that spinach has on Popeye.

“Martina on grass is a different player from other surfaces,” said Graf, who was playing only her third tournament ever on grass. “She was much more confident.”

It’s no wonder, then, when it was all over Saturday, that Navratilova got down on her knees and kissed the grass, what was left of it after the heat wave and constant trampling.

Navratilova looked up to the “friends box” and mouthed the word “Finally.” It had been a whole year since she last won that big silver Frisbee.

She said she would rather win Wimbledon and lose all the other tournaments, than win ‘em all and lose Wimbledon. The fans here show respect and admiration for someone like Graf. For Navratilova, they save something closer to adoration. Wimbledon is Martina. Still.

Besides becoming the first woman in Wimbledon history to win six straight singles championships and tie Helen Wills Moody’s record of eight women’s titles, she protected her No. 1 ranking against the world’s No. 2 player.

As Navratilova and Graf walked off the court together, Steffi said to Martina: “How many more do you want? It’s time to get out.”

Navratilova laughed.

“Nine is my lucky number,” she said.

MOST WOMEN SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS AT WIMBLEDON

No. Player Country 8 Helen Wills Moody United States 8 Martina Navratilova Czechoslovakia-U.S. 7 Dorothea Douglass Chambers Britain 6 Blanche Bingley Hillyard Britain 6 Billie Jean King United States 6 Suzanne Lenglen France

No. Years Won 8 1927-30, 1932-33, 1935, 1938 8 1978-79, 1982-87 7 1903-04, 1906, 1910-11, 1913-14 6 1886, 1889, 1894, 1897, 1899-1900 6 1966-68, 1972-73, 1975 6 1919-23, 1925

Note: Navratilova holds women’s record for consecutive Wimbledon championships (6). William Renshaw (Britain) holds men’s record for consecutive championships (6, 1881-1886).

NAVRATILOVA’S EIGHT SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS

Year Opponent Score 1987 Steffi Graf 7-5, 6-3 1986 Hana Mandlikova 7-6, 6-3 1985 Chris Evert 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 1984 Chris Evert 7-6, 6-2 1983 Andrea Jaeger 6-0, 6-3 1982 Chris Evert 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 1979 Chris Evert 6-4, 6-4 1978 Chris Evert 2-6, 6-4, 7-5