Navratilova Hasn’t Lost a Step on Court : Tennis: Playing her first match since Wimbledon, she needs only 48 minutes to defeat Graham in L.A. tournament.

Here is how it has been going for Martina Navratilova lately:

--She wins Wimbledon a record ninth time, but is stunned when Margaret Court, one of her idols, unloads on her in the media, criticizing her lifestyle.

--She vacations in Antigua, but catches the flu.

--She steps on the tennis court in San Diego, but strains her Achilles’ tendon.

--She stays with friends in Sherman Oaks, but her cat, Guinevere, runs away. A cat-napping? No, Guinevere returns on her own.

So far, it has been like one step forward and two steps back for Navratilova, who always seems to bounce back. And why is that?

“The U.S. Open is around the corner,” she said. “It’s immediate and very possible.”

Navratilova waited five weeks to play her first match since Wimbledon, then took 48 minutes to win it on a gray Tuesday afternoon at Manhattan Country Club in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles.

Worried that she might have forgotten how to play, Navratilova found that it all came back quickly. She defeated 19-year-old Stanford student Debbie Graham of Fountain Valley, 6-1, 6-2, then pronounced herself on schedule for the U.S. Open.

But first, there was a little nervousness, Navratilova admitted.

“I was trying to remember how to pack my bag,” Navratilova said.

Gabriela Sabatini and Zina Garrison won their first matches. Sabatini defeated Halle Cioffi, 6-2, 6-0, and Zina Garrison defeated Bettina Fulco, 6-0, 6-4.

Garrison’s victory was stalled momentarily when Sam, a 13-week old Labrador retriever, ran on the court. Play was stopped with Garrison serving until Sam’s owner, Nancy Bolger of Virginia Slims, collared him.

Graham, the NCAA singles champion, is majoring in two fields at Stanford, political science and economics, both certain to come in handy in professional tennis. But there was nothing that prepared her to play Navratilova.

On the court, Navratilova’s quick movements indicated that she was fully recovered from the Achilles’ tendon she injured before the Great American Bank tournament in San Diego.

Navratilova pulled out of that event, thus missing a chance to play No. 1-ranked Steffi Graf.Navratilova laughed when she was asked if she had ducked playing Graf on purpose.

“Right, I didn’t want to play Steffi, so I just pretended I was hurt,” she said. “That’s just preposterous.”

Also somewhat hard to believe is how little impact her record Wimbledon title has had. The net result: Zero. But Navratilova sort of expected that.

“Things don’t happen that fast,” she said. “I’m not exactly a new face. I had to laugh when the TV announcers said if Agassi wins the French Open, how many millions it would be worth to him.”

In fact, Navratilova is choosy about her endorsements. She won’t do chewing gum or soft drinks, saying, “Kids have too much sugar as it is.”

But she did a great-looking endorsement for the New Yorker magazine, a two-page spread in Vanity Fair in which Navratilova reads the magazine while high above Aspen on a ski lift.

“What I really want to do is American Express . . . ‘Do you know me?’ ” she said.

Since Wimbledon, everybody does--again.

Tennis Notes

Is this the (dollar) sign of success? Monica Seles, cashing in on her French Open championship, has signed a three-year racket endorsement deal with Yonex worth an estimated $2 million-plus. Seles, who has been using a Prince, will play her first match with a Yonex when she faces 18-year-old Audra Keller tonight.

Mary Joe Fernandez did not play at Wimbledon because of a knee injury and is warming up for the year’s last Grand Slam event, the U.S. Open, by entering exactly one tournament--this one. Fernandez, who turns 19 Sunday, won her first match Tuesday, defeating Claudine Toleafoa of New Zealand, 6-2, 6-2. If one tournament isn’t much hardcourt preparation for the U.S. Open, at least Fernandez isn’t the only player with the same strategy--Martina Navratilova ended up doing the same when injury forced her out of the San Diego event. But Fernandez expects Navratilova to be prepared nonetheless. “She must feel so confident now (because) winning a Grand Slam (event) has got to give you all the confidence in the world,” Fernandez said. “All she needs are a couple of matches here and she’ll be fine.”

Patty Fendick was forced to retire in her match against Keller, trailing, 6-3, 1-1. Fendick pulled a muscle in her leg.