Navratilova and Lloyd Scoop the Tabloids : Now, Their Longtime Rivalry Has Even Extended Into the Bookstores

WIMBLEDON, England —  OK, tennis fans, a little quiz.

Did you know:

--Chris had to kiss John Lloyd first?

--Martina’s “first time” was a disaster?

--Chris had to have a chaperon when she went out with Jimmy?

--Martina’s father told her he’d rather she was a prostitute than a bisexual?

Did you know all that? Did you want to know all that? And do you wonder what British smut rag dug up all this and much, much more?

The tabloids, remarkably, are innocent. In fact, this Wimbledon should probably be remembered as the year when the tabloids were thoroughly scooped.

If you long for gossip and sex and some old-fashioned dirt, all you have to do is to trot over to your neighborhood bookstore. For 8 pounds, 95 pence ($10.45), you can buy “Lloyd on Lloyd,” an authorized biography of the Lloyds of London by Carol Thatcher, daughter of the 10 Downing Street Thatchers. For a pound more, you can purchase “Being Myself,” Martina Navratilova’s autobiography written with George Vecsey.

Reviewers have tended to agree that the Lloyds’ book is a bit mushy and of little value except to those who enjoy People magazine. Navratilova’s book, on the other hand, is revealing, honest and makes a genuine attempt to shed light on what has been a fascinating 28 years.

A reviewer in the Guardian wrote of “Being Myself”:

” . . . and as these books go it is a riveting, revealing but not very rollicking read--almost unnecessary in some of its soul-bearing honesty--though thankfully with none of the accompanying coy mush (being inflicted) on readers of the Sunday Times with the serialization of the Lloyds’ book.”

The Daily Telegraph wrote of the Lloyds’ book:

“Carol Thatcher’s book certainly lacks Centre Court literary style and quality, yet it does give frank details about the Lloyds, their marriage, and the grinding life of the tennis circuits and circuses in which they spend so much of their time.”

And so the battle continues. The two women who have so dominated their sport, whom everyone expects to see on opposite ends of Centre Court this Saturday, are at it again. It’s the book war. Maybe the joint top-seeded players here will use books in place of rackets Saturday.

But if Martina is winning the battle of the reviews, she’s losing the war.

She didn’t want the book to be released in conjunction with Wimbledon, but she has learned a hard lesson about salesmanship.

She doesn’t like the way it is being serialized--in one of the British tabloids that is inclined toward the sexy parts and is disinclined to string together two sentences in the order in which they were composed. A typical headline: “Love on the menu at the lunch that lasted all day.”

Nor does she appreciate that the publishers released the unrevised version--minus a new last chapter--in Britain.

“Someone comes to ask me to sign the book and I say, ‘Oh, no, that’s not the right book,’ ” Navratilova says.

Where she’s really losing is in sales, at least in London. At the Wimbledon bookstore, the Lloyds are beating her nearly 5 to 1.

But that has little to do with the quality of the book. In these parts, the Lloyds are the most newsworthy couple outside of Charles and Diana. When John says his missus fixed him scrambled eggs that morning, it’s headline news.

“Our books are different,” Chris says. “Martina’s is about her life, and ours is about John and I, our life on the court. There’s a part of me that doesn’t feel comfortable writing a book.”

Later, she said: “I don’t think we dropped any bombshells.”

No bombshells, but the Lloyds did speak of their breakup, of how Chris lost respect for John, of how John wanted Chris to stay home and have babies, of how Chris thought John wasn’t masculine enough.

Chris on John from the book:

“After the third date I was frustrated because John hadn’t even tried to kiss me. So when we said goodbye I went up to him and hugged him and, I think, I gave him a quick kiss on the lips. I knew it was up to me to make a move.”

Chris on Connors:

“I think that Jimmy and I are alike: We are both ambitious and we have goals. Perhaps two people who are so intense would just kill each other in a marriage.”

More on John:

“He’s a contradiction; he’s a very gentle man but he loves watching boxing, scary movies with sex and violence and reading about gory things in the newspapers. Yet he can’t be in a hospital room, can’t bear the sight of blood in real life and hates to have an injection. It’s as though he likes seeing it happening to others, but not himself.”

John doesn’t come off all that well in the book, and sometimes you wonder what Chris sees in him.

Navratilova’s book is far more revealing. We don’t stop at kisses here. But there is much to tell by a Czech defector who became the best women’s tennis player of her day.

She tells of her first experience with a boy and how she thought she was pregnant. She speaks frankly of her lesbian relationships, and writes at one point: “I’m not a one-sex person, and yet I hate the term bisexual. It sounds creepy to me and I don’t think I’m creepy.”

She writes of her long affair with Rita Mae Brown, the feminist writer, and gives painful detail of her volatile relationship with basketball player Nancy Lieberman.

Navratilova on Lieberman:

“One of our worst fights: she knew I was getting worried about the relationship and she began telling me I would fall apart without her around. She accused me of not caring, of having a bad attitude. . . . We were up until two in the morning, raging at each other. By the time I went out to play the final I was physically and emotionally drained.”

That happened the night before the 1983 Wimbledon final, the night before Navratilova beat Andrea Jaeger in straight sets to win another title.

Navratilova doesn’t discuss the details of the book. The Lloyds don’t either, for now, during Wimbledon.

People have asked, of course, leading to some lighter moments.

One reporter asked Chris what kind of relationship she had with Martina. Chris rolled her eyes.

Lloyd said they have not exchanged books, but she did have a funny story to tell.

“I saw in one of the papers there was a picture of Martina, Jeanne (Lloyd’s sister) and me,” Chris said. “And the caption said, ‘Martina with two of her Prague chums.’ I’m going to take it to her and ask her who these people are.”

These people, the Lloyds and Navratilova, are tennis royalty. The Lloyds seem to have rented out Centre Court. John, who dropped from as high as the 24th ranking to 336 after marrying Chris, has been making a comeback since ending a six-month separation last year. When he won a match here in five sets the other day, John received a standing ovation from the royal box.

He took control of the match during a rain delay in which Chris gave John a pep talk. It was, of course, front page news the next day.

Martina is used to being in the news here, including reports one year that a woman in the friends’ box was blowing kisses to her. Of the serialization, she said, “I always manage to get into the papers one way or the other.”

Sometimes, she gets into the papers because of tennis. Chris has beaten Martina twice this year after losing 13 consecutive matches to her. She won the French Open and thinks she might be ready to reclaim Wimbledon. There is excitement again at the top of women’s tennis.

There are also two books. The battle rages.