WIMBLEDON REPORT : Navratilova, Shriver Back Together Again

The one-time hit show of Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver is back playing the big time, but according to Shriver, some of the critics might not be as impressed this time around.

The Navratilova-Shriver doubles team was probably the best ever in women’s tennis, winning at Wimbledon from 1981-84 and again in 1986. They won five in a row at the French, ‘84-’88; won the U.S. Open in ’83 and ‘84, then again in ’86 and ’87 and were unbeatable in the Australian Open, winning from ‘82-’89.

But after 1989, they went their separate ways--call it a personality conflict--and have only recently reunited. They are seeded eighth here, and Shriver implied Monday that it really wasn’t an unfair seeding.

“We haven’t been great together so far,” she said. “It’s a funny thing. Once the chemistry is broken, it is hard to get it back again. It sure isn’t what it used to be, but we’ll see. Maybe once we get out there and get a few matches in, the old stuff will be there again.”

Add Shriver: She said she was very interested in the progress of Orel Hershiser’s shoulder, because some of the problems she has gone through recently with her shoulder are similar.

“If the operation they did on him really works, it could be great for a lot of us,” she said.

Since Wimbledon tennis began in 1877, there had been only 25 days lost totally to rain. Monday was the 26th.

There are no ticket refunds. If it rains on the day that you have your tickets, you are out of luck. One woman said she had traveled for 4 1/2 hours by train from Liverpool with her daughter. They had tickets for Court 1, hoping to see Ivan Lendl. It would have been their first Wimbledon.

Ah, those British scribes. There was a classic game story from a few years back by Alan Gibson in the highly respected Times of London. Gibson, reporting on Somerset’s cricket victory over Warwickshire, which was thanks largely to star player Oliver Richards, ended his story with the following paragraph:

“The only thing that marred the day for me was that I was punched painfully in the eye by a drunken lout in Straggler’s bar. Nursing my black eye, I went away, comforted by the Somerset win, full of pride and admiration for Richards, and pride for Somerset. But I am damned if I will go in that bar again in a hurry.”