Navratilova to play singles in 2 events this month
April 2, 2004
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. (AP) -- Martina Navratilova will play singles at age 47 in two tournaments this month, her first tournament-sponsored singles matches in the United States since 1994.
Navratilova plans to play singles at the Bausch & Lomb championship next week and the following week at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C.
``I'm going to give it my best shot and just have fun,'' Navratilova said. ``I'm playing singles to help my doubles. In singles you're covering every angle of the court. It'll help me get a better rhythm.''
The winner of a record 167 singles titles, Navratilova will accept a wild-card invitation to Amelia Island event that starts Monday, tournament officials said. Her last singles match in a U.S. tournament was the Virginia Slims championship, which she lost to Gabriela Sabatini.
Navratilova became the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour-sanctioned singles match at Eastbourne, England in 2002 at 45 years, 8 months. She turns 48 in October.
Navratilova said she hopes to play singles at Eastbourne again. She said she's undecided about playing singles at Wimbledon.
``I'm going to take it week by week,'' she said.
Navratilova has said this will be her final year of tournament play. She lost in doubles Friday with Lisa Raymond in the semifinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Likhovtseva, 6-4, 6-4.
Ranked No. 1 at various times from 1978 to 1987, Navratilova has won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and 40 Grand Slam doubles titles.
She's a three-time champion at Amelia Island, with the first title coming in 1980, and she has won four titles at Charleston.
Updated on Friday, Apr 2, 2004 10:19 pm EST
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