Navratilova Wins Women's Tennis Title

Martina Navratilova, a husky 18-year old from Czechoslovakia, used an over powering serve and amazing shot placement to defeat Evonne Goolagong and take the 67th U.S. Women's indoor Championships held in Boston this weekend.

The tournament, one of Boston's most unusual sporting events, featured the top players in women's tennis--Chris Evert Billie Jean King (who won the doubles), Margaret Court, and Virginia Wade.

The crowd that attended Saturday's finals in Boston University's hockey areas was different from a Celtic or Red Sox crowd. The well-dressed white collar and college spectators seemed acutely aware that the match was being televised nationally.

Maybe it was because everyone at the Virginia Slims-sponsored event had to walk past the two CBS Mobile Color Units that were parked outside the front door, or maybe it was because of the television broadcaster who interrupted Navratilova as she tossed the ball up for her first serve to announces who was serving and receiving.

But in any case, merely decent shots got a hearty round of applause and the great shots brought the hose down. Spectators continually wandered around the press area trying to find the broadcast booth and one woman wanted to look into the booth because she heard Billie Jean and her husband Larry were there.

The concession area was set up to handle the different crowd also. Instead of Fenway Park's beer and peanuts or the Garden's pizza and brew, the offerings in the stands included hot dogs, for sure, but also chilled wine served from decanters.

The box seats at courtside for the tournament were indeed box seats, as most of them were either in the hockey rink's penalty box or in the boxes where the teams six.

Even a whole different set of reporters was brought in for the tournament. The regular Virginia Slims Circuit press from World Tennis and Tennis U.S.A. not to mention Bud Collins, the dean of tennis writers, stood apart from the loud, cigar-chomping sportswriters from The Boston Globe and The Herald-American.

Overall, it was truly a championship event as Navratilova and Goolagong often displayed dazzling tennis. Navratilova beat Court in three sets in the semifinals, but was not encouraged by her love-ten record against Goolagong.

"I've never even won a set from her," she said. "I will to play super to win Saturday." And she did just that.