WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP : Final Question: Can Sore Foot or Jana Novotna Stop Graf?

In the Wimbledon women’s singles final today, a four-time champion with a sore right foot will play a last-day grass-court rookie coming off the biggest victory of her career.

Steffi Graf meets Jana Novotna in a match of power and serve-and-volley. Graf hasn’t complained about her foot, but she seemed to be having some trouble with it during her straight-set semifinal victory over Conchita Martinez.

There had been some question before Wimbledon began whether Graf could play because of a tendon problem.

If she is playing in pain, she has done extremely well. Top-ranked and top-seeded, Graf has not lost a set on the way to her 20th Grand Slam event final and sixth Wimbledon final.

Novotna, the eighth-seeded woman, scored the upset of the tournament Thursday when she defeated Martina Navratilova for the first time in her career.

“If she plays like that, she can definitely win the final,” Navratilova said. “That’s the best match I’ve ever seen her play.”

Novotna is appearing in her second Grand Slam final. She lost to Monica Seles in the 1991 Australian Open final. She is 3-16 against Graf, but their last four matches have gone to three sets and two of those were decided in third-set tiebreakers.

“She’s got the talent, she’s got the game and we’ve had a lot of close, close matches and I never could figure it out why she was unable to get beyond that,” Graf said.