Similarities End During the Fortnight

Don Markus of the Baltimore Sun noted recently that Martina Navratilova and Ivan Lendl have followed similar paths to greatness, both having defected from Czechoslovakia as teen-agers, both having become wealthy and dominant in the game, and both having fought to shed unpopular images.

But Wimbledon is another matter. The grass courts of the All England Club are where “Navratilova found history and Lendl found misery, where Navratilova has set a record for championships and Lendl has set one for frustrations.” So it comes as something of a surprise that both view the fortnight in the same light.

“I think the Centre Court has the most personality, and the most charm, spirit, everything,” Navratilova said. “It’s all here. At the U.S. Open stadium, the crowd really gets really crazy and rowdy, and I love being there, but the stadium (at Wimbledon), whether it’s full or empty, gives you chills.”

Said Lendl: “I think just the combination of everything--the royalty, the grass, the tradition of the championship--it’s different. They have a lot of traditions which I thought were, quite honestly, a little silly. But now I enjoy them. It’s a lot of fun to be playing a match and then realize that at 4 o’clock everybody will get up to have a cup of tea. I think you just have to experience it enough to enjoy it or appreciate it.”

Add Lendl: He once took some heat for marrying a women several years younger, but is settled and has three children. His commitment to the family is apparently as impressive as his commitment to the game. His nickname on the tour is “RoboPop.”

Trivia time: Name the last NBA rookie of the year who was not a first-round draft pick.

Let’s play the feud: Catcher Richard Hatfield, a 30th-round draft pick from Pineville, W.Va., is drawing attention at the Arizona camp of the Mesa Rockies, one of two rookie teams the expansion Colorado Rockies have this summer.

Hatfield claims to be a descendant of the family that feuded with the McCoys.

“It all started over the ownership of a pig in the 1860s,” he said, adding that in the 40 years of the feud about 150 people were killed and that, without a truce, his own career might never have gotten off the ground.

His first Little League coach was a McCoy.

Bird calls: Larry Bird missed Monday’s game at the Tournament of the Americas, where the United States beat Canada, because of a bad back. The questions about his condition, and whether he will make it through another season with the Celtics, are inevitable.

But as Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe, a long-time Bird watcher, recently pointed out:

“Larry fully realizes people wonder exactly what he has left. When a guy misses 37 regular-season and seven of 11 playoff games because of an injury, people are surprised to see him walk onto the floor. They probably should be since Larry Bird is unofficially day-to-day for the rest of his career. The first question the Celtics must ask every day: ‘Did Larry get out of bed today?’ Really no different here.

“Larry cuts off any inquiries concerning his physical condition with one four-word answer: ‘My back is fine.’ Actually, it’s more like this: ‘Mybackisfine.’ And it is said through gritted teeth. The tone is sufficiently menacing to cancel any thoughts of a follow-up on that subject.”

Add Bird: “Bird is happy and proud to be here, and he definitely wants to be more than an ornament,” Ryan writes. “Unhappy with his shot earlier in the week, he did what Larry Bird has always done--he stayed around for an hour of extra shooting.”

Trivia answer: Willis Reed of the New York Knicks in 1964-65.

Quotebook: Heavyweight contender Riddick Bowe, on a possible match with Evander Holyfield: “I see myself knocking Evander out in the fifth round. The champion’s an embarrassment, fighting these old, fat retired impostors who can barely make it up the stairs to the ring.”