Alone at the Top, Without the Applause

Sitting atop the women's tennis world, a temperamental left-hander is learning what it feels like to live alone at the summit.

After having played bridesmaid to Chris Evert throughout 1977, Martina Navratilova has taken advantage of Evert's self-imposed vacation from tournament play. She has seized the top spot on the women's circuit, earning the reputation as the "one to beat."

In last night's quarterfinal round of the Virginia Slims Boston stop at B.U.'s Walter Brown Arena, Navratilova was again confronted with one of the detractions of being number one because though the world loves a winner, it loves an underdog even more. While Kerry Reid was mounting what looked like a possible upset of the top-seeded Navratilova last night, the crowd gathered unanimously in the Reid corner.

Navratilova fought off the challenge, acing out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win, but after the match she said, "It's what happens to all top players. The crowd now expects me to win, and I have to really break my but with a great shot to get any kind of crowd reaction."

Navratilova says the pressure is on every time she takes the court. "It's not easy to come back every day and do it all over again," she says. "I'm getting tired.... I've played in tournaments every day for the last four weeks."

"Once you start winning a lot, you need more than just winning to get you going, and it's a lot easier to get into the match when the crowd is into it," Navratilova says, explaining that she responds greatly to the crowd's reactions.

"Sometimes I wish I wasn't as good so the crowd would react more to what I do," says the 21-year-old Czechoslavakian-turned-Texan.

Rosie Casals, who teamed with Billie Jean King to top the women's doubles rankings for years, also said she agrees that the pressure at the top is intense.

"Billie Jean and I broke up ultimately because it became unbearable," the veteran Californian said last night. "Everyone was out to beat us and it just wasn't fun any more."

The problem of audience reaction always exists for the favored player, as even Evert found out. The sweetheart of tennis lost many of the cheers of the crowd after she had established herself at the top, and her just-ended vacation was a retreat from the pressures of spending almost four years as number one.

But Evert is now back, and she and Navratilova will probably meet in Sunday's finals in Boston. It's anyone's guess who the crowd will cheer for.

However, it looks like Navratilova will continue to lose the battle for crowd support--at least for a while. Tonight she will take on Evonne Goolagong in the semifinals, and Goolagong, who is now married and has a son, pointed out last night that "all the mothers in the crowd'll be pulling for me. And there are a lot of mothers out there."

At least there's one consolation for Navratilova. As she says, "I still like winning."