Navratilova

Turin: Even as she approaches her 50th birthday and recovers from knee surgery, Martina Navratilova plans to play a full schedule of doubles tournaments in 2006, including the Grand Slams, and might take another stab at singles.

“I just feel like I’m not quite done yet,” Navratilova said in a telephonic interview from her home in Sarasota, Florida. “When I feel like I’m done, then I’m done. And I don’t know when that will happen.”

Navratilova originally retired in 1994, with a record 167 singles titles and having spent 331 weeks ranked No. 1. She returned to the Tour as a doubles player in 2000, and eventually couldn’t resist dabbling in singles, including a first-round victory at Wimbledon in 2004.

She injured her left knee during an exhibition event in November and had arthroscopic surgery the next month, forcing her to miss the Australian Open and other events. Back at practice, Navratilova is aiming to return to the WTA Tour at the February 20-25 hardcourt tournament in Dubai, then wants to play the week after in Doha.

Her partner at those tournaments will be 29-year-old Liezel Huber, who teamed with Cara Black to win Wimbledon last year.

After that, who knows? Navratilova said that if things don’t work out with Huber, she’ll look for another partner, perhaps Martina Hingis. Hingis, who was named after Navratilova, recently returned from her own three-year retirement, winning the mixed doubles title (with Mahesh Bhupathi) and reaching the singles quarter finals at the Australian Open.

So why is she still playing professional tennis? After all, she turns 50 in October.

“Because I still can. A lot of athletes would compete longer if they could still compete at a level that’s acceptable, that’s exciting, that’s competitive with the rest of the field,” Navratilova said.

Besides, clearly, she’s still capable of playing doubles at a high level: Navratilova and Anna-Lena Groenfeld reached the semis at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2005; Navratilova and Leander Paes won two mixed doubles crowns as well.

“I surprise myself. What I’m doing is very unusual. I can’t believe I’m still doing this. I’m going to start patting my own back a little more, saying, ‘you know what? What I’m doing is amazing’,” Navratilova said.

“It’s maybe about defying age and showing father time, ‘hey, I’'m still here.’ I’ve always been the defiant type. That’s why I left the country. I couldn’t deal with the Communists.” (AP)