Martina Navratilova received the last wild card to Eastbourne, the Wimbledon tune-up to begin Monday. She will play doubles with Zvereva as well. Wonder if she may go after a Wimbledon wild card?

Unretired?

[ June 14, 2002: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

[ June 14, 2002: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

I was thinking the same thing! I'm sure Wimbledon would give Navratilova a wildcard in a heartbeat.

Hell, they'd probably even seed her second, behind Venus, given their tradition of bumping past champions up. (Okay, I'm being facetious but you just never know with those wacky British folks).

[ June 14, 2002: Message edited by: jordan ]

Okay, so I know she doesn't stand a chance, but it will be so good to see her play again at 45. Or it would be good, if we could see it on television.

Not that I think she should come back full time, but it's nice to see her play every once in a while.

I think it's great that Martina's still in there playing doubles. She & Zvereva can still win a few matches and give the top teams a run for their money. But I don't really want to see her play singles. Her serve has slowed down so much that I don't think she can hold her own on the singles court. Hey, I'll still be rooting for her, no matter what, and I hope to heck she proves me wrong!

It is an interesting development. I was rather surprised, overall, but not shocked. She owned this tournament in her playing days (much as Chris Evert owned some clay events), and won there 11 times. It would be a safe place to take this kind of risk.

Also, the tournament organizers are kind of stuck. They were counting on Lindsay to make her comeback here (as she did last year), and she is unable to play right now. Jelena Dokic is the top seed now, I believe. And the supporting cast is without any really big name.

It makes sense for the tournament director to lure Martina out and ask her to help out. There is no way to protect her in the draw to give her an easier shot at a win or two, so she could draw Dokic early on. However, it would be interesting to see her run into someone who is not good on grass. Would Martina's grass court smarts get her through a round or two?

I kind of hope she does not do well. I think it would be unfortunate to have her try other tournaments as well. Eventually, her age would show against most of the younger players, and it would be like Michael Jordan -- not able to completely disconnect from the public attention.

I'm pretty sure all of the Wimbledon wild cards have been distributed (I think maybe two is just one left)...

http://www.wimbledon.com/news/articles/f16...d4005dbd00.html

BSR is right. Her serve is so slow now and she's lost a step so it will be hard for her to close. She'll need a great draw to make it a couple of rounds. Maybe Anna K?

Hope she has a great week and a great run at the WC.

Martina drew Russian Tatiana Panova. A capable baseliner, but someone who could have trouble fending off the serve and volley game. It will depend on whether Martina can get a lot of 1st serves in and good placement. The volleying part is simple, unless Panova zeroes in with the passes. Martina's singles net coverage may be a step slow.

If she makes it through this she has Hantuchova to meet. That would not seem quite so doable. Daniela has much more power in her game and would be a tough match for anyone, let alone someone who has not played singles in nearly eight seasons.

Panova is probably beatable on grass, but, as you say, it's very unlikely that Martina can beat Hantuchova. Hantuchova's big serve should be a very intimidating weapon on grass, and Martina will have to be very quick at the net to handle her powerful groundstrokes. In fact, though Dokic should rate as the favorite (what is her compulsion to play every single week, by the way?), but it wouldn't shock me to see Hantuchova win the tournament.