La Quinta Tournament : Davis Is Upset, but Tennis Becomes Secondary

Careers can be made or ruined on tennis courts such as those at the La Quinta Hotel Tennis Club, where 56 men professionals have convened this week to compete for high stakes--in total, $375,000.

But for a few moments Thursday morning at the Pilot Pen tournament, the game seemed rather insignificant as a team of paramedics kneeled over a spectator who collapsed during a third-round match between Scott Davis and Larry Stefanki.

Stefanki was leading, 5-1, in the first set when a spectator, 65-year-old William Wolff of Whittier, stood up from his seat, stumbled and hit his head on a large, decorative flower pot. Play was immediately suspended as physicians attended to Wolff for 30 minutes at courtside.

He was later taken by ambulance to John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio, where he was treated for head injuries. He remained in intensive care Thursday night.

Stefanki returned to the court to complete one of the most impressive victories of his career, a 6-1, 6-4 upset over Davis, ranked No. 21 in the world and the tournament’s 12th-seeded player.

But Stefanki’s mood afterward was understandably subdued.

As the resident touring pro at the La Quinta club, which caters to a large retirement community, Stefanki said he has seen similar situations. But this incident clearly shook him up.

“I had just hit a serve,” Stefanki said, “when I heard a crash. I knew he was not getting up.

“The umpire asked us if we wanted to keep on playing. Scott said no, and I said no. I mean, there’s a guy up there dying .”

Play was suspended for a half-hour, until the paramedics left the facility.

“It’s a funny feeling,” Davis said. “You want to feel bad for the guy, but you also have a match to play. It kind of churns your stomach. During the delay, you’re hoping all goes well for the guy, but you’re also trying to keep your concentration (on the tennis).”

Stefanki closed out the first set at 6-1 and then snapped a 3-3 tie in the second by breaking Davis’ serve in the seventh game.

Then, he simply waited for Davis to make a few mistakes. And surprisingly for Davis, who reached the final of last week’s $1.8-million International Players Championships at Delray Beach, Fla., the mistakes did come.

Stefanki wound up with one of the biggest wins in his six-year pro career. There haven’t been many. At 27, presently ranked No. 197 in the world, Stefanki owns two professional tournament victories--at Lagos and Ogun.

Stefanki’s previous claim to tennis fame was a straight-sets obliteration by Ivan Lendl two weeks ago at Delray Beach. That was the match of the now infamous Umpire Walkout, when the chair judge and linesmen left the court after the players disputed a line call.

At La Quinta, Stefanki has started making news a new way. By winning.

In a week dominated by upsets and underdogs, Stefanki has been a major culprit. He has already been responsible for the demise of two of the tournament’s seeded players--Davis and No. 7 Juan Aguilera.

Two more of the field’s top eight were also upset Thursday.

Sixth-seeded Tomas Smid, who staved off Todd Nelson in the completion of a rain-delayed match, 1-6, 7-6, 6-4, couldn’t pull off a doubleheader sweep. He lost in straight sets to Greg Holmes, 7-5, 6-1.

And then out went No. 8 Jose Higueras, La Quinta champion in 1983 and a 1984 loser to Jimmy Connors in a marathon semifinal. He was ousted by Czechoslovakia’s Libor Pimek, 6-4, 6-4.

Entering today’s quarterfinals, only four of 16 seeded players remained in contention: Connors (No. 1), Aaron Krickstein (No. 3), Pimek (No. 9) and Holmes (No. 14). Connors defeated Brad Gilbert, 6-4, 6-2, Thursday, and Krickstein eliminated Israel’s Shahar Perkiss, 6-3, 6-4.

The quarterfinal pairings:

Upper bracket--Connors vs. Holmes, Stefanki vs. France’s Tarik Benhabiles.

Lower bracket--Krickstein vs. David Pate, Pimek vs. John Lloyd.

Look for upsets. This week, at La Quinta, they’ve been hard to avoid.