TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : No. 3-Ranked Martina Is 34 and Spunky

She is 34, she is coming off knee surgery and the last time she was ranked lower was in 1976, but Martina Navratilova remains remarkably upbeat about her possible fortunes for 1991. In fact, she sounds downright spunky.

Sure, Navratilova won a record ninth Wimbledon title last summer despite a set of balky knees that required arthroscopic surgery in the fall. However, she also plodded through a so-so post-Wimbledon period that included zero titles, as well as a boot from the U.S. Open in the quarterfinals and along with it a drop to No. 3 in the rankings.

So it’s on to 1991. You have a goal, Martina?

“Double-digits, baby,” she said. “Why not? I won it on bad knees, now let’s see what I can do with good knees.”

If a 10th Wimbledon crown is in Navratilova’s cards, it will occur on sound knees, which certainly was not the case after Wimbledon last year. The value of those repaired joints will soon become apparent, she said.

“I don’t want to blame everything on my knees, but you will see a difference when you see me play again,” Navratilova said. “I am just amazed at how well I was able to do considering how bad they were.

“I lost some matches because I didn’t play well and I lost some matches because I didn’t feel well,” she said. “A lot of the not-playing-well was because I was afraid of the knees. It did not help my attitude at all. Now I don’t have to worry about that.”

There are only 12 tournaments on Navratilova’s schedule, and she will play only two on hard courts--the Virginia Slims of Palm Springs, which begins Feb. 25 at Bono’s Racket Club, and the U.S. Open in late August and early September. Navratilova denied limiting her number of hard-court tournaments in order to protect her knees.

“That was a concern before with my knees, but they are healthy now,” she said. “I worry more about the rest of my body.”

Last year, Navratilova won the Virginia Slims of Indian Wells, which has been moved to Palm Springs, when she beat Helena Sukova in the final during a sandstorm. Navratilova said she is neither worried about more fluky weather nor concerned over how her surgically repaired knees will hold up.

“I wish I had felt this good for three years, but better late than never,” Navratilova said. “This just makes me want to play more because it doesn’t hurt. I’m getting to balls I haven’t gotten to in years. I’ve just been like a little kid in a candy store. I can get down to low balls, I can move quickly and I’m not groaning any more when I get down low.”

Navratilova did groan, though, when she read a story by a German reporter who interviewed her. “According to him, I’m rapidly approaching 40,” she said.

Graf paper: So far in 1991, Steffi Graf gets low grades on her tennis work. Not only was she beaten by Jana Novotna in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, she lost Friday to Gabriela Sabatini in the quarterfinals of a Tokyo tournament. Tennis historians might look at such results as a turning point--before her defeat in Australia, Graf had not been beaten as early as the quarterfinal round in 64 consecutive tournaments dating to 1986.

However, Navratilova said it is too early to write off Graf, despite the recent failures, adding: “Obviously she’s not playing as well as she did in 1988 or 1989, but I don’t think we should read anything into that.”

Boris good enough?: Boris Becker, the new Australian Open champion, ascended the No. 1 throne after his four-set final victory over Ivan Lendl, but there is a chance that Becker’s reign will not be an extended one.

The reason is the ATP computer system, whose rankings are based on a 12-month period. A player’s results fall off the computer after a year to be replaced by results in new tournaments. The next few weeks should hold the key for Becker, who must defend important computer points left over from 1990.

He holds a slim 133-point lead over No. 2-ranked Stefan Edberg, and the next two events to come off the computer are in Brussels and Stuttgart, Germany, both victories by Becker in 1990. Edberg’s schedule is more favorable because he sat out the first two weeks of February in 1990, then lost in the first round the next week at Memphis, Tenn. The bottom line is that it will be easier for Edberg to improve his results than it will be for Becker.

Becker and Edberg are entered in the $1-million Newsweek Champions Cup March 4-10 at Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells.

Be a Becker wrecker: For a $1,000 donation to the National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis, interested fans can hit with Becker, who will appear at Hyatt Grand Champions as part of a wheelchair tennis exhibition at 1 p.m. on March 2. For information, call (714) 361-6811.

A funny thing happened in the Forum: Sitting next to each other and chatting at the Laker-Atlanta Hawk game Thursday night at the Forum were John McEnroe and Andre Agassi.

Connors update: Jimmy Connors, 38, is practicing and getting into shape on the tennis court at his home in Santa Barbara, but so far, he has made no firm plans to play his first tournament of 1991, according to his agent.

“The first he might play is Indian Wells,” said Jeff Austin of Advantage International, referring to the Newsweek Champions Cup, which Connors could enter only by receiving a wild card from promoter Charlie Pasarell.

Connors’ ATP ranking is No. 937. His match record was 0-3 in 1990, and he underwent wrist surgery.

“He’s making progress, he’s playing without pain in the wrist and he’s starting to get his conditioning down,” Austin said. “He’ll definitely be back.”

Davis Cup overflows: The Davis Cup, which the United States won in 1990 for the first time in nine years, was on display in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage Hotel, where U.S. Captain Tom Gorman is the director of tennis. A reception brought out such Davis Cup stars as Ellsworth Vines, Jack Kramer, Rod Laver, Jose Higueras, Charlie Pasarell, Pancho Gonzalez, Rick Leach and Allen Fox.

Laver had not seen the Davis Cup since his last match for Australia in 1973, when the Aussies won, but he can thank Gorman for getting it to the desert. The captain rented a truck, picked up the Cup at Los Angeles International Airport and drove it to Rancho Mirage himself.

Tennis Notes

The ATP Seniors Tour will make its debut during the week of Feb. 25 with a $100,000 event at Hyatt Grand Champions. The field for the tournament for the over-35 players will include Ilie Nastase, Tom Gorman, Stan Smith, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, Marty Riessen, Bob Lutz, Jaime Fillol, Cliff Drysdale and Jose Higueras.

U.S. Open Champion Pete Sampras has been working out at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida and is reported to be in good condition after withdrawing from the Australian Open because of shin splints. He is taking a break from practice at Walt Disney World. Sampras will return to the tour Feb. 11, when he defends his title at the Ebel U.S. Pro Indoor tournament in Philadelphia.