PARIS. Mar 2: No red meat no Chris Evert is helping Martina Navratilova pro long her tennis

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If the crowd hadn't been on my side In the last couple of years. Il s pretty safe to say that I wouldn't be playing any more.' she says

For most of my career I've been fighting the crowd, which is hardly surprising when I played so many big male he* against Chris Evert

"Hut to have tljem on my side now Is great J make it so much easier to fight, it makes II so much more enjoyable." she said after beating Monica Seles In the final of the recent Part* Open, a fortnight after she beat Steffi Graf on her way to victory In Tokyo

A double over I he lop two Syers In the world Not bad a player who will have turned 37 by the time she completes her 2Oth year on the circuit this November

A rigorous training regime and ii carefully monitored diet — she is practically vegetarian turd never cals red mial — also play their pari In sustaining Navratilova at an ag when many former players are martyrs lo their knees.

"Ive got very good physique, that s something I was bom with, so I guess I have lo thank my parents for their good genes." she says.

"But 1 also have lo work at II. If 1 were to cal the wrong thing before a match now it wbuld throw me whereas when t was 20 I might have been abk lo gel away with II.

"For me ihc main work comes be lore a tournament. It's a question of keeping my body fresh. People overwork sometimes and they have nothing k ft far the tournament."

Before the Paris final. Seles had won the pair's last three encounters and Navratilova admitted she was developing an edge

"But if I can beat her on a surface as slow as in Paris. I know I can beat her on grass." says Navratilova whose overriding ambition remains Wimb-k-don.

Beating Seles and Graf tn ordinary tour events is one

thing, but Navratilova knows it will lake an extraordinary cf

fort to win her 19th Grand Slam tournament, equalling the haul of Helen Wills Moody and leaving her second only to Margaret Court

She was looking pretty good last year until Seles stopped her In the semi-final*.

That experience has made Navratilova guarded about predicting too much, but when asked about Wimbledon, It Is clear she really bi ieves she can win

"Since the US. Open I've made the final of every tournament I've played," she says. "Ive beaten them all: Seles. Graf. Sabatini and Sanchez. What 1 haven t done I* beat them back-to-back and that's what make* the difference In the Grand Slams "

A schedule designed with an’eyc on personal pleasure helps sustain her enthusiasm for the game Paris minpicled a run of three continents In three weeks but that wa4 exceptional

She is now enjoying five weeks off at her home bate in

Aspen Colorado "I m going to be working hard ... on my ski

Ing," she jokes.

After the Amelia Island tournament In April. Navratilova has another month off before the Italtnn Open In early May. a trip she admit* Is a* much about visiting Rome as for the clay -court tennis.

"I went out there Just about every night a couple of years ago and had they best food I have ever eaUrq." she says. "I have lo play some matches so I'd rather It was In Rome than In Berlin."

Rofhe will also provide the opportunity to visit her home town of Prague. Although she ha* been a US citizen since 1981. she maintains close ties with her mother who still lives In the Czech Republic and a sister now based tn Germany

I can't go to see my mother before a tournament because the food she feeds me makes it impossible. She says have some of thia cake, it's very light. What she means is it ts light in colour."

After Rome, Navratilova will be on a full time Wimbledon

preparation. She will fM her feel on grass first at I Niton

Head, South Carolina before going to England tn early June.

As for the last four year* »he ■ will miaa the French Open. It ■ too close And too different, physically and emotionally. lo Wimbledon and I know I've got a better chance at Wimbledon."

A surprise change Navratilova has made thia year Is to skip the pre Wimbledon Eastbourne tournament for the first time *ince 1977 to avoid the risk of fatigue. Its a 64 draw *o you have to play every day and if It rains, which It Inevitably does. You can end up playing two matches in a day I end up starting Wimbledon shattered."

Instead. Navratilova will play at Beckendham and I in mlngham and have a week off before the start of the two week tournament

Navratilova has still to decide if this will be her last year on the circuit. "Playing great tennis makes you want to play for ever but I honestly Just don't know." she says