By Caroline Cheese BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Report: Navratilova records win

From the moment she walked onto Court Two at Wimbledon, Martina Navratilova appeared determined to prove a point.

Criticism of the 47-year-old's decision to return to singles action only intensified when she went out of the French Open in the first round to a player 28 years her junior.

In her first singles match at Wimbledon in 10 years, she pummelled Catalina Castano 6-0 6-1 in 47 minutes and was afterwards asked for her response to those critics.

"Are they still saying it?" she asked, staring back at her interrogator. "I don't think so."

Her detractors come from three differing camps.

There are those who say that by taking wildcards for tournaments, she is denying younger players the opportunity of gaining vital experience in high-profile events.

Others say she is tarnishing her legacy, while still more say that if she wins a match, she is making a mockery of the strength in depth of the women's game.

Her adoring Wimbledon public clearly disagree.

As Navratilova headed to Court Two, a crowd of around 100 people gathered to wish her good luck and get a glimpse of the holder of 18 Grand Slam singles titles.

But if they expected Navratilova to treat it like an exhibition match, they could not have been more wrong.

She berated a ballboy for providing water that was too cold, and complained again when she found she only had one towel.

Leading 6-0 4-0, she allowed herself to smile for the first time when her opponent lost the string dampener from her racquet but it was a rare lapse of concentration.

I know how to play on grass, I'm a better athlete that most, I'm smart and I'm a leftie Martina Navratilova

"I was really focused out there," she said.

"I really only relaxed at 6-0 5-0 - and that's when she won a game!"

Navratilova, recalling the days when she used to waltz through the opening rounds at Wimbledon, admitted she had felt a sense of "deja-vu" when Castano received warm applause for winning her first game.

And she said she had played as well as she needed to against an opponent who was clearly overawed and desperately out of her depth on grass.

"I played OK - you can only play as well as your opponent so I didn't have to do anything spectacular," she said.

Navratilova next faces Jelena Dokic or Gisela Dulko, the Argentine who stopped her at the French Open, and she believes she has a good chance of progressing further.

"I know how to play on grass," she said.

"I'm a better athlete that most, I'm smart and I'm a leftie. Those are a few advantages I have over other players."

And why does she want to put her wits against opponents who are generally more than half her age?

"Because I still can. That's why."

And after Monday's masterclass in grasscourt tennis, not even her critics can argue with that.