Tennis Roundup : Connors Has to Quit WCT; McEnroe Will Play at Forum

Jimmy Connors’ back injury flared up again Saturday, forcing him to withdraw from his semifinal match in the $500,000 WCT Finals at Dallas.

Connors, who was unable to play in last week’s tournament final against John McEnroe because of a torn back muscle, was trailing Ivan Lendl, 6-3, 2-1, when he told tournament officials he could not continue.

The victory sends Lendl into today’s championship match against Tim Mayotte, who defeated Joakim Nystrom of Sweden, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, in the other semifinal.

Because of the injury, Connors will be unable to play Lendl Monday night at the Forum. Instead, McEnroe will meet Lendl in the opening round of the Forum Championship series, following a 6 p.m. match between Aaron Krickstein and Ilie Nastase.

Connors hurt his back in the first set when he tried to follow a shot to the net. “I just pulled something in there and couldn’t make it,” he said.

Connors, who had been wearing a back brace in practice, suffered what doctors called a “grade two strain of the lumbar muscle.” An hour after the match, he was still flat on his back.

The WCT tournament physician, Dr. Phil Berry, said Connors will probably be out of action for 10 days to two weeks.

“I would like to have beaten a healthy player, but I’m sure it’s more disappointing for him,” said Lendl, who struggled to beat Stefan Edberg in five sets Friday night. “It will definitely help me. I only got four hours of sleep last night. Now, I can go back to sleep.”

Mayotte was down, 2-5, in the fourth set before he rallied to win his match by taking five games in a row. Actually, Mayotte was down, 15-40, and Nystrom had two set points.

“I think I lost my concentration arguing some calls,” said Mayotte, who defeated fourth-seeded Mats Wilander to gain the semifinals. “Early in the fourth set I was discouraged and wasn’t getting any points off my serve. I was looking ahead to the fifth set, then I got two big serves in and loosened up.”

“Mayotte just started to play better,” Nystrom said.

“I’m elated to be in the final for the first time,” said Mayotte, who is 0-6 against Lendl. “This has always been one of my favorite tournaments. I remember watching Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall battle it out here 13 years ago.”

Rain washed out play in the $200,000 Family Circle Magazine Cup women’s tournament, and tournament organizers at Hilton Head Island, S.C., hope to stage both the semifinals and final today.

Top-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd and second-seeded Manuela Maleeva of Bulgaria reached the semifinals Friday, but their opponents have yet to be determined.

Rain forced suspension of the other quarterfinal matches in which Pam Shriver held a 7-5, 4-3 lead over Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, and Steffi Graf of West Germany led Petra Huber of Austria, 6-1, 5-6.

Those matches will be concluded today, and then Lloyd will face the winner of the Huber-Graf match while Maleeva will play the Shriver-Sabatini winner.