Tennis: Navratilova and Seles in Auckland exhibition clash

Martina Navratilova's plans to put her racquet away for good have been put on hold.

The legendary champion will arrive in Auckland for the first of her two exhibition singles matches against another of the game's greats, Monica Seles, in February match-hardened after playing in next month's Australian Open.

Navratilova, 48 years young, had been talking about quitting the big league after this year. But now she's planning to play the women's doubles with talented 21-year-old Daniela Hantuchova, of Slovakia, and is likely to play mixed doubles as well.

World No 31 Hantuchova has two Grand Slam doubles titles. Navratilova had already lifted six Grand Slam singles trophies before Hantuchova was born.

But the playing bug still eats at Navratilova and she reasons that as long as she's enjoying herself and her game is competitive, she will keep going.

"I still have some good tennis left in me so I want to leave it all out on the court," Navratilova said from her home in Sarasota, Florida, yesterday.

The pair will play at Sydney the week before the Open and are expected to play together for the rest of next year.

The ASB Navratilova-Seles Classic tour will comprise games in Auckland on February 1 and Christchurch two days later.

It is the first time either has been to New Zealand to play tennis - Navratilova recalled a holiday trip to Christchurch 24 years ago - and organisers and Navratilova made it clear they won't be pitty-pat contests.

"They are two of the most competitive people, and that stays in the blood," Brenda Perry, WTA Tour player board representative and former New Zealand No 1, said yesterday. "They also have a lot of pride in their performance."

Perry spent 15 years as a WTA Tour supervisor, knows both players well and was instrumental in arranging the trip, which she rates - along with playing at Wimbledon - as the highlight of her life in tennis.

Navratilova was a dominant figure in an era when Grand Slam titles were the preserve of a small collection of superstars.

Now the Grand Slams are more liberally shared around. This year four different players each won a title.

"There's many more players who can get to No 1, who can win a Grand Slam," Navratilova said.

"The depth of women's tennis is greater than 20 years ago when I was in my heyday.

"I don't see anybody dominating for any length of time ... Someone always comes along and pushes the envelope to take things to another level."

Navratilova and Seles live about half-an-hour apart and Navratilova reckons she sees more of 31-year-old Seles than any other player.

"We're friendly but also very competitive. We want to play good, entertaining games of tennis," Navratilova said.

"The pressure is different to playing tournament tennis.

"In a way it's worse. When you're playing tournaments you just want to win, you don't care how bad it looks.

"But when you play exhibitions, people come to watch that one match and you really want to put on a good show and perform."

The trip takes place three weeks after the ASB Classic in Auckland, but Perry said that for a mix of reasons it was not possible to get either player involved in the event.

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA
Born: Prague, Oct 18, 1956
Career titles: Singles 167, doubles 174
Career win-loss singles record: 1440-213
Grand Slam titles: Singles 18, doubles 31, mixed doubles 9
Won first Grand Slam aged 17
World No 1: 331 weeks
Career earnings: US$21,194,804

MONICA SELES
Born: Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, Dec 2, 1973
Career titles: Singles 53, doubles 6
Career win-loss record: 595-122
Grand Slam titles: Singles 9, doubles 0
Won first Grand Slam aged 16
World No 1: 178 weeks
Career earnings: US$14,891,762
Head to head: Played 17, Seles leads 10-7.