Martina Gets Her 20th Title

She tucked the game balls into her equipment bag and took away another blade of hallowed grass from Centre Court.

Well, hasn’t 46-year-old Martina Navratilova always been both inquisitive and acquisitive?

The acquisition spree started when she found a new doubles partner, Leander Paes of India, at the U.S. Open last year, continued with an Australian Open mixed doubles title in January and hit its pinnacle Sunday when Navratilova made history by matching Billie Jean King’s record 20 Wimbledon titles.

Navratilova and Paes did it by playing two. They won their semifinal earlier in the day, then defeated Andy Ram of Israel and Anastassia Rodionova of Russia, 6-3, 6-3, in the evening final before a still-crowded house.

“I can’t think, I can’t talk,” Navratilova said during the on-court awards ceremony. “I feel like [men’s champion] Roger Federer a few hours ago. They’re all special. The last one [title] I won here was eight years ago. Honestly, I never thought I’d play here again. The best thing that happened to me was getting dumped by my mixed doubles partner. The same thing happened to Leander and here we are.”

Said Paes: “Thank you Martina for letting me be your vehicle to greatness.”

Additionally, Navratilova became the oldest player to win a title at Wimbledon. Previously, the oldest was Margaret Osborne du Pont, who won the mixed championship in 1962 at age 44. Navratilova first played Wimbledon in 1973.

Afterward, Navratilova spoke about her friendship with actress Katharine Hepburn, who died June 29 at age 96.

“I [tried] to get her to come and watch me play here in the ‘80s; she said she was too nervous watching me,” Navratilova said. “So she never came. But I know she was watching, and actually, when I heard the news of her passing, I thought, ‘OK, Kate, this one’s going to be for you.’ ”

Navratilova is playing better and appears more fit at 46 than she was at 44 or 42. She returned to the circuit to play doubles in 2000, six years after retiring, and even her own father questioned it.

But the motivation was not King and the 20 titles at Wimbledon.

“It’s not about that at all,” Navratilova said. “And I said that. When I first started playing, planned on playing at Wimbledon [in 2000], it was because Mariaan de Swardt didn’t have a partner. I thought, ‘I’m going to be here, I might as well play.’

“It was weeks into it, after I’d been playing, I’d read in USA Today that the reason I came back was to break Billie Jean’s record. That was the first time I realized I was one behind.

“Honest to God, that was not the reason at all. If it had been, I think my knees would have been knocking too much. Again, that’s a selfish reason to go after something.”