Graf Cools Off With A Double Martina Rain Brings Cancellations, Delays As Wimbledon Begins Second Week
Steffi Graf beat one Martina and took a swipe at another at Wimbledon on an irritating day of testy tempers, too much rain and too little tennis.
Graf turned in one of her best performances Monday in a 6-1, 6-4 rout of Martina Hingis to reach the quarterfinals, then turned on the Swiss teen’s namesake, Martina Navratilova, for implying that Graf exaggerated her injuries.
“She’s lucky she doesn’t have to live with them,” Graf said icily. “I think she should know better than to say these things.”
Relations between Graf and Navratilova have been frosty since Wimbledon last year, when they were scheduled to play doubles together before Graf backed out at the last minute. Navratilova was left without a partner and no chance to tie Billie Jean King’s record of 20 overall Wimbledon titles. Navratilova came up one short when she won the mixed doubles with Jonathan Stark.
Their tiff continued recently when Graf won the French Open for her 19th Grand Slam singles title, surpassing Navratilova’s total, and reportedly felt miffed by not receiving a congratulatory note from her.
While commenting for HBO last week, Navratilova said Graf’s latest problem, a swollen tendon in her left kneecap, was “an excuse ahead of time just in case she needs it.”
“If you read the newspapers, you’d think she belongs in the hospital,” said Navratilova, who owns three more Wimbledon singles titles than Graf’s six. “If you look at her today, she’s running like a gazelle.”
Graf, who has been wearing a brace in practice and a small white bandage on her knee in matches, said “I wish the things she says were true. I don’t like to talk about injuries, or use it as an excuse.”
After playing through two of the day’s many rain delays, Graf wasn’t in the happiest of moods despite the victory over the 15-year-old Hingis, who beat her in the Italian Open this year. Graf will next meet No. 6 Jana Novotna, who lost to her in the 1993 Wimbledon final.
Conchita Martinez, the 1994 champion, stalked angrily around the court at the delays and sloppy play in her 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 loss to Japan’s Kimiko Date.
Mary Pierce, after a rain delay, reached her first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Elena Likhovtseva.
Defending men’s Pete Sampras never even had to show up as his match against Cedric Pioline, the third scheduled on Centre Court, was postponed to today. Three other men’s matches also never started.
xxxx AT A GLANCE Results: Men - No. 4 Goran Ivanisevic, Tim Henman and Jason Stoltenberg advanced. Women - No. 1 Steffi Graf, No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, No. 9 Mary Joe Fernandez and No. 13 Mary Pierce advanced. Upsets: No. 12 Kimiko Date beat No. 3 Conchita Martinez.