Farewell Story Has Sad End : Tennis: Umpire’s controversial call helps Grossman beat Navratilova.

The opportunities for seeing Martina Navratilova plying her craft are growing fewer by the day as she inches toward retirement at the end of the year.

So, it was with sorrow and disappointment that she was eliminated from the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles on Thursday, a surprisingly early departure for a woman who has won the Manhattan Beach tournament eight times.

After playing both singles and doubles matches Wednesday night, a fatigued Navratilova, 37, lost to Ann Grossman in the third round before 3,800 at the Manhattan Country Club, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.

It was a bitter-sweet parting.

Navratilova, after all, thought she had won in the second set before Donna Ring, the chair umpire, overruled a line call on match point.

After Grossman had saved one match point with a nice shot down the alley, Navratilova hit a deep shot to Grossman’s backhand that Grossman could not reach.

There was no call from the line judge, and Navratilova thought it was over. But Ring motioned that the shot had been out. Navratilova looked at her friends sitting nearby, and they indicated it had been good.

In a fit of anger, she appealed to Ring but the umpire would not budge. All the screaming did was upset Navratilova, who seemed to fall apart after that. She hit a backhand into the net, then a forehand long as Grossman held serve to tie the score, 5-5.

When the game ended, Navratilova threw her racket underneath the umpire’s chair, then put a towel over her head and stewed.

“I’ve never had a worse overrule in my life,” she said. “And that’s pretty hard to come back from that one.”

Particularly when she wanted to do anything but play a third set.

“I gave it everything I had,” she said. “Some people were saying, ‘Quit pouting, start playing.’ I was trying as hard as I could.”

Grossman, who reached the third round of all the majors played so far this year, was gaining confidence with each dazzling passing shot. She broke Navratilova twice to start the third set, and held on for the victory.

Overcome with emotion, Grossman, 23, of Grove City, Ohio, was crying as she explained the feeling she got from defeating one of the game’s legends.

Grossman said that after losing to Lindsay Davenport in the third round of the Toshiba Classic in Carlsbad last week, she had a vision that she would defeat Navratilova.

She told herself, “I’m going to play Martina. This is my only chance.”

But after dropping the first set, it did not seem possible. Grossman, ranked 46th, seemed ready to self-destruct when she hit a ball into the stands after Navratilova had won the set with a sizzling backhand putaway.

“I just wanted to put all my anger and emotion (together and) just hit something as hard as I could,” she said. “The best thing was to knock the ball out of here. It felt great.”

It might not have elevated her game, but Grossman started serving better and challenging Navratilova in the second set. After she and Navratilova practiced on clay last winter, Grossman began to realize that if she could hit with her idol, perhaps she could beat her.

But to defeat Navratilova, Grossman needed to defeat her self-doubts.

“Sometimes against the top players, I can’t let myself go and play,” she said. “I’m working on trying to find out why I get so scared.”

It started happening against Navratilova, Grossman said, but supporters in the stands reminded her, “No fear.”

And ultimately, Grossman became aware of what was happening. She was about to eliminate one of the game’s legends during her farewell tour.

“Martina has such a mystique,” Grossman said.

Grossman has none of that.

Calling herself a boring baseliner, Grossman left her Midwestern farm life at 18 to embark on a pro career five years ago. She twice reached the fourth round of the French Open, where the soft clay is suited to her ground strokes.

But she has struggled, as her 22-16 record this year indicates.

Now, perhaps that will change.

Tennis Notes

Ann Grossman advanced to today’s quarterfinals of the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles against Zina Garrison-Jackson, who ousted Nathalie Tauziat, 7-5, 1-6, 6-4. After playing poorly in the second set, Garrison-Jackson rebounded with a strong serve. Like Martina Navratilova, Garrison-Jackson said she is tired after three consecutive months of playing tennis.