A few, very few, leave when their careers are at their apogee. The great athletes anticipate the downward arc, hate the idea of it and leave rather than face it.
Martina Navratilova left tennis Tuesday night in the same way she had joined it: fighting, snarling, conjuring just how she might win this point and then the next. The game lost its most-winning player ever when Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina rose to her opponent's level and eliminated Navratilova, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round of the Virginia Slims Championships and sent her into happy retirement after 22 years.
The much-anticipated match was often interrupted by spontaneous cheerleading from the crowd of 17,131 in Madison Square Garden. From them she gained approval and sustenance. The crowd did not chastise Sabatini, but was indifferent to her. Sabatini hardly noticed, such was her focus. Afterward, she was a gracious and conflicted winner.
"On the one side, I didn't want to be the one to beat her, on the other side it was a great honor to beat her," she said. "I got to know Martina off the court. I have to say that she is a great person."
The match was spectacular. Each point was fraught with import. Navratilova doggedly returned to the net even as Sabatini slid passing shots to every corner. "I got blown off the court by somebody who was playing in another zone," Navratilova said. "If I had to lose a match, I guess I want to lose to Gabriela Sabatini rather than anyone else. Because she's a good human being."
Sabatini never cracked. She appeared calm in a manner that she has only sporadically shown before. Her game was all pinpoint lobs and sweeping topspin backhands launched from a swing that began somewhere in Buenos Aires. She pleased herself.
"I have played like that in moments in the last few weeks, but I have not been as consistent," Sabatini said.
Steffi Graf defeated Brenda Schultz, 7-5, 6-3, and Jana Novotna defeated Iva Majoi, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, to advance in the $3.5 million season-ending tournament.
After the Sabatini-Navratilova match the crowd clapped rhythmically anticipating Navratilova's retirement ceremony. A rope snaked down from the Garden ceiling, and was attached to a red and yellow banner puddled on the floor. The lights dimmed. Navratilova strode into the spotlight with an armful of flowers and a box of tissues.
As the banner was hoisted it revealed itself -- a field of red, within it a yellow tennis ball with the year 1994 on it, and, beneath, "Martina Navratilova" in huge white letters.
Urged on by shouts and cheers, Navratilova's banner was raised to the rafters of Madison Square Garden, placing her among the memories of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers. She is the first woman to be so elevated.
Then came the presents. The women's tour made Navratilova a gift of a pearl white Harley Davidson. When Navratilova caught sight of the low-slung motorcycle being wheeled into the arena, she jumped up and down like a delighted child, jumped astride it and varoom-varoomed and laughed.
Navratilova leaves one passion and moves to others, telling the crowd, "So many friends I have here that I only have because of tennis. So I have to thank tennis for my life. Tonight is one night when I have a smile on my face and on my heart."
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