WIMBLEDON : Germans Get Best of Two Worlds : By the Grace of Graf, Women’s Final Goes 3 Sets

The message strung on Steffi Graf’s racket was heard again at Wimbledon, where it reverberated around Centre Court until, finally, Martina Navratilova heard it, too.

“I got beat . . . she beat me,” Navratilova said. “She aced me on the last point and that’s about how the match went.”

Three sets, over and out, Graf won her second consecutive Wimbledon title Sunday in pretty much routine fashion. Just like last year, Graf lost a set to Navratilova, but that was all.

With a forehand flourish, the West German pinned a 6-2, 6-7 (7-1), 6-1, defeat on Navratilova, her primary foe on the women’s tennis scene, and walked off Centre Court with scarcely a grass stain to smudge her reputation.

Was there ever a doubt? Well, sort of. Navratilova owned the second-set tiebreaker with indisputable volleys, but that was really her only great moment.

Graf, who broke Navratilova’s serve twice in the first set and twice again in the third, won the championship on the dead run, sprinting into corners to find winning shots.

Afterward, Graf wept openly at the side of the court. It was a victory she longed for dearly.

“I wanted to win it so badly and I worked quite a bit for it,” Graf said. “There was really much inside of me that I really wanted to win it for some reason and that’s why I was giving everything for it.

“It’s too much,” she said.

Graf was clearly too much for Navratilova to handle. Even though grass is Navratilova’s surface of choice, it was Graf who won its affections.

Central to Graf’s victory was when she broke Navratilova’s serve for a 3-1 lead in the third set. Graf won three points on crucial volley errors by Navratilova.

Graf began the game with a backhand cross-court passing shot and was then the recipient of a devastating string of misplaced volleys by Navratilova.

0-15: First volley, a forehand, into the net.

0-30: First volley, a forehand, long.

0-40: Second volley, a forehand, into the net.

Only one more chance appeared for Navratilova to break back. In the next game, she caught Graf coming in and paralyzed her with a forehand passing shot to 30-40.

But at break point, Navratilova sliced a backhand approach long and Graf eventually escaped.

“It was about a foot long, and that was it,” Navratilova said.

Graf, who made 77% of her first serves during the match, was particularly accurate in the third set when she made 19 of 22.

She broke Navratilova a final time for a 5-1 lead. A backhand service return winner, at 30-30, set up break point, which Graf quickly converted when she returned serve to Navratilova, who popped it into the net.

Soon, it was over. At 40-15, double match point, Graf blistered her ace, shook hands with the vanquished and buried her head in her hands.

Comparing the newest title to last year’s victory was difficult for Graf.

“They’re two different wins,” she said. “And both times, I had a feeling, a joy of winning as never in any other tournament before.

“It was different going into the finals than, for example, last year,” she said. “Not too many people were really saying ‘She can do it’ or ‘She still is tough for her.’ But this time more people were believing in me.”

It’s difficult not to trust in Graf anymore. She has won five of the last six Grand Slam titles. Navratilova, who was the loser in two of them at Wimbledon, said she wishes she could have played a better match.

“Mentally, I feel I’m right up there, but today I couldn’t . . . I mean that was the best that I could do,” Navratilova said. “Obviously to win today I needed to play a little better and another day I may be playing my best tennis and Steffi may be playing her average, in which case I would win.”

Graf wasn’t so sure. She thought Navratilova may have psyched herself out by placing so much emphasis on winning Wimbledon.

“It’s just that I don’t know how much she believed she could do it today,” Graf said. “It’s just she was preparing so well for the tournament and trying everything to win it . . . there is a plus, it’s to my advantage.”

Graf is 20, Navratilova 32, and they aren’t getting any closer together in age. That is also to Graf’s advantage, as if she needs any more.

But as Wimbledon heads into the 1990s, Graf said she will come back next year to try for a third consecutive championship.

Navratilova, who once won six consecutive here and shares the record of eight overall, is also thinking about coming back to Wimbledon next year.

“I’m planning on it,” she said.

Next year, Steffi?

“I can be much better,” she said.

CONSECUTIVE WINNERS WOMEN SIX

Martina Navratilova, 1982-87

FIVE

Suzanne Lenglen, 1919-1923

FOUR

Helen Wills Moody, 1927-1930

THREE

Louise Brough, 1948-50; Maureen Connolly, 1952-54; Lottie Dod, 1891-93; Billie Jean King, 1966-68.

TWO

Blanche Bingley-Hillyard, 1899-1900; Maria Bueno, 1959-60; Dorothea Chambers, 1910-11, 1913-14; Charlotte Cooper, 1895-96; Lottie Dod, 1887-88; Dorothea Douglass, 1903-04.

Althea Gibson, 1957-58; STEFFI GRAF, 1988-89; Billie Jean King, 1972-73; Helen Wills Moody, 1932-33; Martina Navratilova, 1978-79; Maud Watson, 1884-85.

MEN

SIX

William Renshaw, 1881-1886.

FIVE

Bjorn Borg, 1976-1980; H. Laurie Doherty, 1902-1906.

FOUR

Reggie F. Doherty, 1897-1900; Anthony Wilding, 1910-1913.

THREE

Fred Perry, 1934-36.

TWO

Wilfred Baddeley, 1891-92; BORIS BECKER, 1985-86; Don Budge, 1937-38; Roy Emerson, 1964-65; Arthur Gore, 1908-09; John Hartley, 1879-80.

Lew Hoad, 1956-57; Rod Laver, 1961-62, 1968-69; John McEnroe, 1983-84; John Newcombe, 1970-71; Joshua Pim, 1893-94; Bill Tilden, 1920-21.

GRAF vs. NAVRATILOVA Meetings between Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, with tournament, surface, round, winner and score:

Year Event Surface Round Winner 1985 U.S. Open Cement Semifinal Navratilova, 6-2, 6-3 1985 Maybelline Cement Final Navratilova, 6-3, 6-1 1986 Slims Championship Indoor Semifinal Navratilova, 6-2, 6-2 1986 German Open Clay Final Graf, 6-2, 6-3 1986 U.S. Open Cement Semifinal Navratilova, 6-1, 6-7, 7-6 1986 Slims Championships Indoor Final Navratilova, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 1987 Key Biscayne Cement Semifinal Graf, 6-3, 6-2 1987 French Open Clay Final Graf, 6-4, 4-6, 8-6 1987 Wimbledon Grass Final Navratilova, 7-5, 6-3 1987 U.S. Open Cement Final Navratilova, 7-6, 6-1 1988 Wimbledon Grass Final Graf, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 1989 Wimbledon Grass Final Graf, 6-2, 6-7, 6-1