TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : Navratilova Still Given a Good Shot

She is 36, she has played five matches since the last part of February and she lost last week to somebody ranked No. 179, but Martina Navratilova may have the best chance of anybody outside of Steffi Graf to win at Wimbledon.

How can this be possible? To find out how Navratilova might become a 10-time Wimbledon champion, ask three-time winner Chris Evert.

“Physically, I think she stays in very good shape,” Evert said. “She’s got nothing to lose. She’s getting her personal life in order--and this is very important to Martina in her frame of mind.

“And, most of all, she has the confidence of winning on that court.”

That would be the Centre Court of the All England Club, where on nine occasions, Navratilova has hoisted the sterling silver tray as champion, the first time in 1978 as a 21-year-old and most recently in 1990 at the age of 33.

Kristine Radford defeated the No. 4-ranked Navratilova in a grass-court warm-up in Birmingham, England, last week, which ought to take Navratilova down a peg for Wimbledon. But in Evert’s view, the only person who can keep Navratilova from winning is Graf, presuming Graf is healthy enough to play.

“Martina has the second-best shot in the tournament,” Evert said. “Number one is Graf, especially the way she plays the forehand. But Martina is certainly going to give her more shots to play against.”

Another key for Navratilova is a good draw, Evert said.

“Arantxa (Sanchez Vicario) or (Gabriela) Sabatini could be hard and Jennifer (Capriati) might be dangerous,” she said.

“But Martina is a different breed when it comes to playing grass-court tennis. I’ve never seen a body like that when it comes to tennis. Martina is a level above--her reflexes, her hands, she has no glaring weaknesses.

“And she plays on such emotion. That means if she is playing on emotion, she can still provide big upsets.

“I know one thing--whatever she does, it’s going to be very, very interesting.”

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More Martina: Navratilova has won 31 grass-court titles, best in the open era. Only eight other active players on the Kraft Tour have won even one.

They are Pam Shriver (11), Graf (4), Zina Garrison-Jackson (3), Helena Sukova (2) and Sanchez Vicario, Jo Durie, Lori McNeil and Brenda Schultz (1).

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Connors update: Three months short of his 41st birthday, Jimmy Connors hasn’t slammed the door on playing at the U.S. Open for the 23rd time.

“I’m not going to count it out,” said Connors, a five-time U.S. Open champion. “If I had to make the choice today, I’d say probably not. But if I can wait and ask for a wild card and get my desire back, you never know.”

Connors is 3-5 in matches this year and his ranking is No. 175. He has launched his own over-35 tennis tour that includes a stop at Sherwood Country Club in late September. He also is a partner with Liberto, a French clothing company, in a U.S. sales campaign. As with his jeans, Connors said he will play the U.S. Open if it fits.

“The problem is, I have too much fun going out and playing golf,” Connors said.

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Who’s No. 1? It’s sort of complicated, depending on potential bonus points acquired along the way, but there are only two ways Pete Sampras can lose his No. 1 ranking at Wimbledon:

--Sampras must lose before the semifinals and at the same time No. 2 Jim Courier must reach the final.

--If Sampras reached the semifinals, Courier must win the tournament.

Last year, Sampras lost to Goran Ivanisevic in the semifinals, and Courier lost to Andrei Olhovskiy in the third round.

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Breaking up: Capriati is looking for another agent. John Evert, who has represented Capriati for International Management Group since her career began, said last week he wanted to look for new challenges.

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How to win friends: Courier, in the June issue of Tennis magazine, said he doesn’t care much for many media types.

“I don’t try to be very personable with a lot of people in the media,” Courier said. “I try to clam up in press conferences because I’ve been burned before. . . . I’ll say one sentence and suddenly it’s all over the wire.

“I come off like I’m a jerk. And, frankly, there’s a lot of (rear ends) in the press. . . . I hate it when people ask me caustic questions.”

Tennis Notes

In the field: Zina Garrison-Jackson is going to be one busy player in Southern California this summer. She has entered the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles and the Mazda Tennis Classic at La Costa and will play TeamTennis for the first time when she joins the Newport Beach Dukes. Jana Novotna and Kimiko Date also have entered the $375,000 Virginia Slims of Los Angeles at Manhattan Country Club, Aug. 9-15. They join Martina Navratilova, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Gabriela Sabatini. The Mazda event, Aug. 2-8, features Graf and Capriati.

The girls’ 16 national championships of the U.S. Tennis Assn. will be held Aug. 8-14 at Morley Field tennis complex in Balboa park in San Diego. Past winners include Chris Evert, Betsy Nagelsen, Peanut Louie, Tracy Austin, Kathy Horvath, Zina Garrison, Mary Joe Fernandez and Debbie Graham . . . HBO has signed John Lloyd to a two-year contract as a commentator for Wimbledon. . . . Anyone who donates a usable racket to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in June will receive two free tickets to the July 5 or July 6 sessions of the Miller Lite Hall of Fame championships at Newport, R.I., the only U.S. grass-court event. The rackets are donated to junior tennis programs sponsored by the Special Olympics and other charities . . . The National Foundation of Wheelchair Tennis received $40,000 from fund-raising benefits at Indian Wells.