Breakfast With Graf-Navratilova Becomes a Tradition

WIMBLEDON, England — Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova meet in the Wimbledon final, and isn’t this getting to be a nice tradition?

Once a year, every year, they get together and play a little tennis.

Every 12 months it happens, not really like clockwork. It’s longer than that. More like calendar work.

The last time Graf played Navratilova was in last year’s final, when she spotted Navratilova a set and a break, then came back to win 12 of the last 13 games for her first Wimbledon championship, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

For Navratilova, it was the end of a 47-match winning streak at Wimbledon that began in 1982. It also marked the beginning of Navratilova’s preoccupation with Graf.

Since then, Navratilova has had Steffi on the brain. The more she denies it’s true, the more Graf seems to get to her.

“She’s a hot favorite, that’s good to know,’ Navratilova said. “She has won everything in the last two years, (but) two years doesn’t mean anything.

“It’s what you can do tomorrow . . . you are only as good as your last match.”

Graf’s last match was a fairly convincing statement of how she dominates the women’s game, with occasional slip-ups (see French Open). Chris Evert fell, 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinal, the worst defeat of her 18-year Wimbledon career.

Navratilova had a hard time following such a wipeout. Like Graf, she also won her semifinal in straight sets, but not before Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden forced her into a first-set tiebreaker.

“I’m certainly confident,” Navratilova said.

Her outlook will be severely tested. Two years ago, Graf was unbeaten until she lost to Navratilova in the Wimbledon final. Last year, Graf had lost only two matches and went on to beat Navratilova in the Wimbledon final.

This year, most everyone expects a repeat. Navratilova is not surrendering anything yet.

“I want it badly and Steffi wants it badly,” she said. “This is what you live for.”

Maybe they’ll even play again, same time next year.