It’s Becker vs. Curren, and It’s Hard to Believe

Boris Becker is too young. Kevin Curren has no heart. What are we doing here?

This is the Wimbledon final that could not happen.

This is the Wimbledon final that no one wanted to happen.

Curren is seeded eighth. Only once in Wimbledon history has someone seeded as low as Curren won the event. That was Jaroslav Drobny in 1954.

Becker, of course, is unseeded. He’s 17 years old, so why should he be seeded? No one that young had ever made it as far as the semifinals. The youngest winner was Wilfred Baddely, whom you might remember. He was 19 when he won the singles title back in 1891.

Still, it could be interesting. Curren serves the ball as hard and as well as anyone in the game. He clobbered McEnroe and Connors in consecutive matches.

Becker--they call him Boom Boom--serves the ball almost as hard. He moves better; he seems to have no fear of anyone; he has won tough match after tough match.

“Boris does not seem like 17 years old,” Anders Jarryd said. “He plays like he has been on the tour for years.”

Jarryd got a good look at Becker, over two days. That’s usually the number of days Becker’s matches, three times delayed by rain, have lasted here.

On Friday, his semifinal match was stopped by rain after he and Jarryd each won a set.

On Saturday, Becker took over. He broke Jarryd’s first serve and went on to win the last two sets easily. The scores were 2-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-3, the third match in which Becker had lost the first set.

The serve was booming--he had 10 aces--and Becker was getting increasingly pumped up as the match went along.

Some of the British papers had suggested that Becker could get too pumped up, that he tried to intimidate his opponent. Jarryd, the fifth-seeded player, said he saw no problem.

“I’m the same myself,” said the Swede, who had never won a match here before this year.

Becker is a West German who has captivated much of England with his youth and his flair on a tennis court. But at this point, it is impossible to ignore Curren.

He is a native South African who has become an American citizen to facilitate his career. His heart, he says, remains in South Africa. “Deep, deep down,” he says.

But many question that heart--even Curren himself.

He said he doesn’t have the consistency to be a champion. “I don’t have those qualities,” Curren said after beating McEnroe. He said he has been intimidated by the top players. He also said that he would have preferred to play Jarryd, who, unlike Becker, is not a big hitter.

“He puts a lot of pressure on you with that serve,” Jarryd said of Becker.

But Jarryd didn’t think that Becker could handle Curren. Every player Becker has beaten these past two weeks has said he was a wonderful talent--but that he was too young to win this year.

Becker has tried not to think about it. Even at 17, he has learned about taking them one at a time.

“To reach the Wimbledon finals, that is everything,” Becker said. “It will change my life. I will have more responsibilities. I will have more pressure. All the press wants to talk to me.”

Too much pressure?

“I can handle it,” he said.

Becker has all the confidence of youth, all that he needs. He also has all the coaching he needs. At times, even too much.

In Saturday’s match, Becker was given a warning because the umpire said he was being coached from the sideline. Becker’s coach is Gunter Bosch, and his manager is Ion Tiriac. Jarryd said Tiriac was giving Becker hand signals.

“My coach was 500 meters away,” Becker said, wide-eyed. “I can’t understand this.”

Becker is a quick study. He knows what to say--in two languages. He knows what he’s doing on the court.

“Mentally, he’s 23 or 24 out there,” Tiriac had said earlier in the week.

Curren is 27, physiologically and psychologically. He doesn’t have to think that hard when the big serve is booming.

There should be dust flying on Centre Court, where most of the grass has been eaten away.