Czechoslovakian officials, still irked by Martina Navratilova’s...

Czechoslovakian officials, still irked by Martina Navratilova’s defection to the United States in 1975, were apparently dismayed over tennis fans who cheered for her when she played for the United States in the Federation Cup matches in Prague last month.

The Communist Party daily Rude Pravo charged that Navratilova rose to stardom after going through Czechoslovakia’s tennis school. “Then she defected to sell her skill with advantage.”

Of the spectators who encouraged Navratilova, rather than Czechoslovakia’s Hana Handlikova in the decisive match, Rude Pravo said: “Perhaps they dreamed by the tennis court a dream about growing rich fast, about villas and Mercedes cars, about spending money in exclusive nightclubs.”