Birmingham, June 13: At the age of 46, Martina Navratilova isn't through playing singles. She has asked for a wild card to play at next week's Wimbledon warmup tournament in Eastbourne.
Navratilova wants to use the singles competition as part of her preparations for her doubles campaign at Wimbledon, where she hopes to equal Billie-Jean King's record of 20 titles at the all England club.
"Actually I feel better this year than I did last year, and better now than I did earlier in the year when I won the Australian Open with Leander (Paes)," Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon singles champion, said.

"We've learned a lot about fitness and training in the last 10 years, and although I'm not playing as well as I did when I was 26, I think I am playing as well as I was when I was 36.
"In any case sometimes we pay too much attention to age. The ball doesn't know how old you are."



Navratilova is by no means certain of getting a wild card for Eastbourne, where she played singles last year.



There are four players vying for two places. They include 16-year-old Russian Maria Sharapova, who has just reached her first quarterfinal in a WTA Tour event at the DFS Classic, and two British players.



Navratilova is expected to team with Paes in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon and with Russian teenager Svetlana Kuznetsova in the women's doubles.


Bureau Report