Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 6, 1990 TAG: 9007060113
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND LENGTH: Long
Garrison, who ended French Open champion Monica Seles' 36-match unbeaten streak in a three-set quarterfinal here, played the most focused tennis of her life on Centre Court to gain admission to her first Grand Slam final.
"It feels really good, like the last point, I mean, I couldn't have won it better, hitting an ace on match point to get into my first Grand Slam final," said Garrison, who has had far more experience coping with defeat at this stage of a tournament than with patting herself on the back after a command performance.
Garrison's opponent in the final Saturday will be just as formidable as Graf. She also happens to be the supplier of Garrison's tennis wear: Martina Navratilova.
In the other semifinal, Navratilova, on a mission to secure a record ninth Wimbledon title, subdued Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 6-4 to advance to her 11th final.
As part of her preparation for this final, Garrison has had to laugh off a career's worth of futility against Navratilova: The two have met 28 times, and Garrison has basked in victory once.
"Obviously my record against her is overwhelming, but she's done it before and she can do it again, especially on this surface," said Navratilova, 33. "She has beaten Steffi, so she certainly can beat me."
Garrison, who has matured and mellowed since her marriage in September, is a former Wimbledon junior champion with a keen appreciation of the way this surface complements her playing style.
Garrison likes to punch in her serve and then dash to the net and play pickoff artist. She thought that the same tactics that handcuffed Graf might prove bothersome to Navratilova.
"I've had a bit of an obsession on this myself," said Garrison, who has trained expressly to arrive at Wimbledon, the Grand Slam event she feels most confident about winning, in fighting form.
Garrison, 26, served and volleyed with far more precision and authority than did Graf, who has lost in three consecutive tournaments.
Graf has not had to cope with such a string of losses for four years, and she visibly fought for composure as she walked from the court alongside Garrison, a player she had defeated in their last five meetings.
"I always said that there were other girls who could beat me if I didn't have a good day," said Graf, whose energies have been sapped by a lingering sinus infection and persistent tabloid reports about supposed disharmony between her parents.
The illness forced Graf to temper her usually torturous practice sessions; the scandal that linked her father to an alleged blackmail scheme precipitated by an extramarital liaison apparently forced the disruption of her concentration here, just as it had in Berlin and Paris during her last two losses.
But Graf attributed her loss at Wimbledon solely to her inability to match Garrison's flawless playmaking.
"There were times today when I was not going for shots, especially on the return of serve," said Graf, who has a cobra's instincts for deadly strikes and usually threatens her opponent's serve with her whiplike forehand.
On Thursday, Garrison ambushed the majority of the forehands that didn't soar long, veer wide or tumble into the net.
"I didn't play a good match at all; I don't think I've been playing too well lately," Graf said. "She was going for the right shots, doing the right things, and she knew where I was going to hit the ball. Tactically, she played a great match."
Tactically, Graf played a muddled match. Her forehand did not ring true, and her serve did not flash across the net with its accustomed vitality. Faced with the luxury of overhead put-aways at net, she invariably dumped them toward Garrison, prolonging points that might have been hers.
Graf's performance was, in short, a very diluted rendition of the stinging strokes and imperious demeanor that until recently had all but frightened her opponents off the court before they had even struck a ball.
The 21-year-old West German said she believed she would be able to extricate herself from trouble once she had won the second set.
But after Garrison fooled her into break point with a lob and then floored her with a backhand service return winner down the sideline to break and go up 3-1 in the final set, Graf's spirit seemed crushed.
She gave Garrison high marks for concentration and didn't speak about her own, and when Graf was asked just how withering a loss this was, she bristled, perhaps belatedly, for the first time all day.
"It's an incident?" she said, not quite believably. "It's a simple loss, I think. What else is it? Is it a tragedy? A disaster? Who knows?"
Sabatini, in contrast, had a very clear perception of the proportions of her loss to Navratilova and Graf's to Garrison.
She seemed to see her seventh loss to the eight-time champion as inevitable and predicted that Graf's loss would not be a crippling one.
"She just lost today; it's not the end," said Sabatini, Graf's doubles partner, who rallied from 0-4 in the first set. "I'm really happy with my game today, but I started with maybe not enough confidence, and you have to start from the beginning against Martina."
by CNB