TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : Martina’s Company Ruffing It This Trip

Are these the dog days?

It’s been an interesting week at Nancy and Brian Murphy’s house in Sherman Oaks, where Martina Navratilova has established her base of operations for the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles tennis tournament.

Navratilova, longtime friend of the Murphys, stays at their house when she plays here. But Navratilova does not visit alone. She brings all of her pets from Aspen, Colo., except for the horses.

The tally is five dogs--K.D. (Killer Dog), Yonni, Puma, Tets and Ruby--and two cats--Guinevere and Lancelot. Now that’s a lot of traveling animals, with which the resident pets at the Murphys must share space.

There are six in the Murphy menagerie: two dogs--Louie and Bucky--and four cats--Buttman, Trudy, Tad and Booley.

Only one escape has been reported. Guinevere jumped the fence but was quickly found under a bush. Yonni proved to be more elusive three years ago when he dug under the fence and stayed on the lam for two days before being found. A woman recognized Yonni from the picture Navratilova had posted at a grocery store.

With all these animals under one roof for a week, trouble is bound to happen. So far, there have been a few skirmishes, but only one requiring medical help: Ruby needed two stitches on her foot after a fight with Puma.

Further incidents probably have been avoided because of planning. The animals are operating on a strict schedule at the Murphys.

According to house rules, all dogs have the run of the house, and the Navratilova cats have the house until 10 p.m., when they must return to the bedroom. The Murphy cats leave their bedroom and take over at 10 p.m.

People, of course, have the free run of the house, which means they have the same rights as the dogs.

“I’ll tell you one thing, it isn’t boring,” Nancy Murphy said.

Dog tales, Part II: To keep her company on the road, Monica Seles brought her dog from Florida.

However, Astro, named after the dog in the cartoon series, “The Jetsons,” is confined to the hotel room, Seles said.

Why?

“He is a monster,” said Zoltan Seles, Monica’s brother.

Astro really isn’t that bad, said his owner, who admitted that Astro does bite. “So he has to stay at home,” she said.

Statistic of the week: John McEnroe will be No. 22 when the Assn. of Tennis Professionals’ rankings come out Monday.

Leach apologizes: Jonathan Leach of Laguna Beach was reinstated to the Junior National team last week after he wrote a letter apologizing for his behavior in the national boys’ age-18 tournament at Kalamazoo, Mich.

Leach, 17, was kicked off the team after refusing to shake hands with Andrew Reub of Ohio. Leach, who lost to Reub in the third round, made an obscene gesture at Reub. When he was booed, Leach made an obscene gesture at spectators.

David Markin, president of the United States Tennis Assn., was the referee of the tournament.

Leach wrote a “contrite letter,” Markin said, and is back on the team as first alternate.

USTA KO’s ATP: This one won’t show up in the box scores, but the United States Tennis Assn., which runs the U.S. Open, has refused to give credentials to the communications staff of the ATP, thus becoming the only Grand Slam event to deny entry to that organization’s media relations people.

Questioned about the issue, Markin said: “We haven’t had a list of credential requests from the ATP.”

However, communications chief Jay Beck of the ATP said the USTA wants to use its own staff to serve the media. Said Beck: “They just don’t want us there.”

Worst interview: This honor goes unchallenged to Katerina Maleeva of Bulgaria, who lost to Zina Garrison, 6-1, 6-1, in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles.

Question: What happened?

Answer: (Pause) I didn’t think I played well. She wouldn’t let me play. She started very strong.

Q: Is it frustrating to get to the quarterfinals and play so badly?

A: (Longer pause) You have to learn to lose and win.

Q: What were you doing while you were waiting for the match before yours to end, and it went so long.

A: (Even longer pause) Just waiting.

Q: Can Zina beat Martina?

A: You never know, because (pause) this is tennis.