Hayes Grand Champions : Smith Has the Aces to Trump His Partner

Their tennis partnership has lasted 20 years, longer than most marriages and it’s more successful than most law firms.

Stan Smith and Bob Lutz. Or, as they have come to be known by common reference, SmithanLutz .

Since their undergraduate days at USC during the 1960s, Smith and Lutz have been to doubles what Bjorn Borg was to singles. Together, they won an NCAA championship in 1967, went 20-3 in Davis Cup play, took four U.S. Open titles and became the first doubles team ever to win U.S. National championships on four different surfaces.

Today, at ages 36 and 37, Smith and Lutz remain a tandem--and remain a success. Last year, they won the doubles title at the Grand Champions Championship Finals, the Super Bowl of the 35-and-over men’s tennis circuit.

Once in a while, Smith and Lutz get together for a match of singles. They held such a meeting Sunday in the final of the $40,000 Hayes Grand Champions tournament, with Smith winning a predictable 6-3, 6-0 decision.

Predictable? Well, yes. When you’ve been together as long as Smith and Lutz have, when you’ve memorized your partner’s every tick and quirk, you come to the point where you can sense certain things.

Put the two on a slow clay court, where Lutz can blast away from the baseline, turning the tennis balls fluffy and heavy, and you’ll likely see Lutz walk off the winner.

But on the slick, sun-baked cement courts at the La Quinta Hotel Tennis Club, with Smith’s chronic back ailments taking the day off and his serve working double-time, a two-set blowout for Smith can often be the result.

“The conditions here certainly were in his favor,” Lutz said after lasting barely an hour on the court. “It was hot, with a fast court and fast balls.

“After a while, you get to know what each other’s strengths are. With Stan, the serve has always been his biggest weapon. That’s why he did so well on grass courts. Serving and moving, that’s always been the secret of his game.”

Conversely, the secret to breaking Smith’s game is breaking his serve. In recent years, that has become an increasingly successful tactic, with Smith’s serve dependent on the unstable condition of his back.

Smith does regular stretching exercises and wears a back brace during matches, but when he leaves his bed each morning, he’s never quite certain how the back will respond that afternoon.

If it feels good, Smith can still be very good. He won the 1984 Wimbledon and U.S. Open 35s singles championships and is presently ranked No. 1 in his age group.

But when it’s bad, Smith can be highly beatable.

“Today was the loosest the back has felt in a long time,” Smith said. “I was able to serve extremely well. And that’s how you have to play Lutz. You have to serve effectively, mixing it up, hitting it hard into the corners.”

Smith blew past Lutz by serving eight aces and committing only three unforced errors. His serve was so overpowering that it unsettled Lutz on his own service opportunities.

Lutz double-faulted twice in the third game of the second set and then double-faulted away the fifth game. By then, it was 5-0, Smith, and it was virtually all over.

“Everything coming off his racket was golden,” Lutz said. “Mentally, it taps you out. You get in a hole and you try fighting your way out. That’s when I double-faulted a few times.”

Smith earned $8,000 for the victory, with Lutz settling for the $4,000 runner-up prize. Then, after a half-hour break, they held a reunion in the tournament’s doubles final against Marty Riessen and Frew McMillan.

It would be nice to report that old SmithanLutz were up to their old tricks, winning once again. But sometimes, age isn’t very nice.

Fatigue got the best of them in three sets, with Riessen and McMillan scoring a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 victory. Smith and Lutz then went off to rest, preparing for their opening-round matches in the $375,000 Pilot Pen tournament, which begins here today.

Smith says it will be his final appearance in a Grand Prix event, as he plans to limit his tennis in the future to the Grand Champions tour. His stay may not be long, with his opening opponent being Scott Davis, a finalist at Delray Beach, Fla., and 14 years Smith’s junior.

“Hopefully, he’ll have a letdown and I’ll be able to grab him before he knows what happens,” Smith said, unable to suppress a smile. “Hah.”