WIMBLEDON TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS : Navratilova-Graf: Age-Old Question Surfaces

Martina Navratilova ousted her contemporary the other day but must now hold off youth.

The history of sport shows that rivalries, no matter how long and storied, are easier to deal with than kids. This is a lesson that Navratilova has so far refused to learn.

Chris Evert is down and perhaps out, but Steffi Graf is the definition of up and coming. The 19-year-old West German, who has already overtaken Navratilova, 31, in ranking, now goes after her titles and material goods. Navratilova has seen these teens come and go--Tracy Austin, Hana Mandlikova. But at Wimbledon, youth has yet to be served.

Is this one different?

The world will find out this afternoon when the two face off in their Wimbledon rematch. For Navratilova, who has evolved physically as the game has changed, this is her toughest and most important test. Besides Graf, she will see milestones when she looks across the net.

She has already won six straight Wimbledon titles, eight altogether. Her ninth will give her the record and secure not only her place in history but in today’s game. Since supplanting Evert as the queen of the game, she has been the standard, in both her level and her kind of game. Her serve-and-volley approach has made Evert’s traditional baseline game look old-fashioned.

But now comes Graf, whose aggressive style seems about to overtake Navratilova’s. When she looks across the net, she, too, may see a milestone. She has already won the French and Australian opens and wouldn’t mind finishing the year with a Grand Slam. This is the first of them that she will have to play Navratilova for, though.

“The pressure is certainly on me because she has won the title so many times and is the favorite to win it, even if I am No. 1,” Graf said, after she had destroyed Pam Shriver, 6-1, 6-2, in another sub-hour game.

Graf knows all too well that Navratilova is a notch above Shriver. But she knows, too, that her own serve is stronger than when she faced Navratilova last year, and on grass, that makes a big difference. You may also divine improvement from the fact that she has yet to lose a set here.

Navratilova has had a tougher time, needing four sets in victories over Ros Fairbank and Evert. But she has mustered her will when she needed it, one way or another. Before the Fairbank match she watched a replay of the Mike Tyson fight and Stanley Kubrick’s grim “Full Metal Jacket.”

Because of the importance today’s match, Navratilova pulled out of the mixed doubles competition Friday. When she and partner Emilio Sanchez of Spain had their quarterfinal match against Kelly Jones and Gretchen Magers interrupted by rain in the second set, Navratilova and Sanchez retired. Jones and Magers won the first set, 7-6, and it was 4-4 in the second when the storm hit.

“Navratilova and Sanchez have retired due to the lateness of the hour, the previous bad weather and in view of Navratilova’s important match (today),” a statement from the Wimbledon press office said.

If Graf gets by Navratilova today, look for a rivalry to develop, somewhat like the Navratilova-Evert one. Graf is undefeated this year except for two matches against Gabriela Sabatini. Sabatini is 18 and, like Graf, figures to be around for a while.