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Can't fight the feeling Navratilova's comeback tour stops at Wimbledon
Posted: Friday June 23, 2000 12:00 AM
EASTBOURNE, England (AP)-- The results don't matter, insists Martina Navratilova. Just being back at Wimbledon is all that counts. Playing with Mariaan De Swardt, the 43-year-old Navratilova hasn't been winning much in her summer return to the women's doubles circuit. The pair lost in the second round in Madrid, the third round of the French Open and the first round of this week's grass-court tournament in Eastbourne. "Losing stinks," Navratilova said after Wednesday's 6-4, 7-6 (5) loss to Ai Sugiyama and Nathalie Tauziat. "It always has and it still does. I had so much fun out there I wanted to play one more set at least, but that's how it goes." Navratilova won 11 singles and five doubles titles at Eastbourne before retiring. Now she returns next week to Wimbledon, where she won 19 titles (nine singles, seven doubles and three mixed doubles). "I don't think I've ever practiced so much and had so little match play," she said. "But it's going to be great when I get there." Despite her lack of success so far during the three-month tour, Navratilova said it's all been worth it. "I just wanted to play again," she said. "I wasn't thinking about what the result might be. I enjoy playing tennis and I enjoy competing, and I enjoy the process it takes to get there." Navratilova hopes she and De Swardt get the chance to work their way up to the show courts at Wimbledon. But, if not, she'll have no regrets about her brief comeback. "Absolutely not!" she said. "I could lose both doubles and mixed in the first round and not regret one bit. It's not the end result. If the end result is there, great, but if it's not I'm going to have a beer and say 'good try.' "I did this for the enjoyment of the game and that still is there. I'm pleased with how I'm playing. I can still put it together at this age and not having played for four years. I'm having a great time. It doesn't get any better." Navratilova said she was moved when she spotted an elderly woman with a walking support who came to watch her play in Eastbourne. "How honored can you get for people to be making an effort like that to see you play tennis?" she said. "It's a treat and why there will never be any regrets if I don't win." Although she won't make a decision yet about whether she will play again at the U.S. Open, Navratilova said she is not enthusiastic about putting her body through the pounding it would receive on the hard courts. "It's nice to be on the grass," she said. "It feels great on the body, but I love playing on the clay too. Clay or grass, I don't really want to play on anything else."
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