West Germany Has Another Tennis Star

Almost a month to the day following Boris Becker’s coronation as boy king of Wimbledon, another West German tennis prodigy shifted her potential into the present tense Sunday afternoon--albeit under somewhat different surroundings.

Instead of the fabled green grass of the All-England Lawn Tennis Club, the setting was the sun-baked concrete courts at Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach.

But the message delivered by Claudia Kohde-Kilsch during her 6-2, 6-3 victory over Pam Shriver in the final of the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles tournament was the same as the one served up by Becker four weeks earlier: West Germans play this game, too.

The message is coming in loud and clear. West Germany’s Davis Cup team, led by Becker, defeated the United States for the first time ever Sunday, 3 matches to 2.

Meanwhile, before about 5,200 at Manhattan Beach, Kohde-Kilsch, playing what Shriver termed “a near-perfect match,” defeated the world’s No. 4-ranked women’s player with an aggressive serve-and-volley assault that, by day’s end, was drawing comparisons to that of Martina What’s-Her-Name.

Shriver, who plays doubles with Navratilova, said of Kohde-Kilsch: “She’s always had a reputation as a raw talent, but she’s becoming much more refined now. If she can serve as well as she did today--and even Martina can have a bad day with her returns--she might not lose a serve at all against Martina.”

Kohde-Kilsch already owns a career victory over Navratilova--a first-round upset in a 1981 tournament in Oakland, when Kohde-Kilsch was 17.

If that 1981 victory was an omen, this week’s performance by Kohde-Kilsch was tangible evidence that this tall West German has the talent to cause a ruckus in the upper circles of women’s tennis.

Already ranked eighth in the world, Kohde-Kilsch figures to move up after scoring successive victories over Hana Mandlikova (No. 3), Carling Bassett (No. 15) and Shriver.

The Shriver match, in particular, should be enough to open some eyes.

Kohde-Kilsch called it “the best match of my whole career . . . (Shriver) couldn’t do anything better than she did because I didn’t miss anything.”

Shriver said: “I don’t think Claudia missed two balls all day. . . . She had a perfect day.”

What Kohde-Kilsch did to win the $40,000 top prize is beat Shriver, perhaps the best female serve-and-volley player this side of Navratilova, at her own game. Kohde-Kilsch broke Shriver’s serve four times, aced Shriver twice on second serves and was clearly the more aggressive player at the net.

Shriver led only once. That was at 1-0 in the second set, after she held her serve.

Kohde-Kilsch came back to win the next three games, making the second set look almost as easy as the first.

Shriver entered the match with a 2-0 career advantage over Kohde-Kilsch, but the players hadn’t met in tournament competition since 1983. Things have certainly changed.

At 21, with her younger awkwardness now something to look back and laugh at, Kohde-Kilsch is making her 6-foot 1/2-inch frame work to her advantage in the fullest. Sunday, she met a player on a roll--Shriver had reached the final in five of her last six tournaments--and rolled right over her.

She out-reached Shriver, who’s no munchkin at 5-11, out-leaped her with a series of overhead smashes, out-legged her on scambles to the net.

Shriver was beaten everywhere she looked. In the aftermath, as she held her $20,000 runner-up check while studying the courtside scoreboard, Shriver told the crowd, “All I want to say to Claudia is, ‘Excuse me for being out here today.’ ”

Later, Shriver elaborated.

“It’s always tough when someone comes out and plays a near-flawless match,” she said. “Her serving percentage must have been above 80%. Maybe, she missed one volley.

“This didn’t work out the way I had thought.”

A few minutes later, in typical Navratilova fashion, Kohde-Kilsch toweled off from her singles triumph and then went out and won the doubles title. Teaming with Helena Sukova, Kohde-Kilsch downed Mandlikova and Wendy Turnbull in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.

Much had been made of the wide-open field at Manhattan Beach this week. Two years ago, Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd faced off for the championship. This year, neither of the Big Two was entered.

But this tournament still produced a heck of a story--and maybe, just maybe, a new face capable of challenging the staid monarchy in women’s professional tennis.

As Shriver summed up for the crowd during the post-match ceremony, “You can have a terrific week of tennis without You-Know-Who and You-Know-Who here.”

Especially when you have a Who-Knows-Her named Kohde-Kilsch breaking through the ranks with the type of tennis that could earn her a mention in a Who’s Who.