Annacone Cashes In His Free Ticket to Final for a $50,000 Payday

John McEnroe’s calling in sick was the best thing that happened in a week of tennis at the Volvo tournament at the L.A. Tennis Center.

The No. 1 seed’s default Saturday due to stomach flu was supposed to leave the fans at home watching the Raider-49er game. It was thought that tennis fans were going to be deprived of the splendor of a world-class tennis.

Forget it. Sunday’s final between Stefan Edberg of Sweden and Paul Annacone of West Hampton, N.Y., was better than two McEnroes. Annacone won, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, but it’s more correct to say he survived.

The match had it all: three tiebreakers that stretched the players to the limits of endurance (to say nothing of the 7,527 fans, many of whom no doubt left the stadium hoarse), graceful athleticism mated with maniac aggression, and, in the end, an appealing and mannerly exhibition of sportsmanship.

In 2 hours and 57 minutes of urgent competition, Annacone, the newcomer, and Edberg, the steady veteran at age 19, won over the fans.

For Annacone the win was sweet--his first Grand Prix title after 1 1/2 years as a pro. And, not a small thing to the 22-year-old, his biggest payday ever, $50,000.

“I’m sure you’re all aware of my little good fortune I had last night, my opponent wasn’t feeling too good,” a subdued Annacone told the crowd after the match. He had been scheduled to play McEnroe Saturday night. “I can’t say I’m very sorry now.

“I’ve seen a lot of tennis and I’ve played a lot of tennis and this is the most mentally wearing match I’ve ever been in. We were fighting all night.”

The players were scrambling for every point. Annacone showed little respect for Edberg’s serve, jumping on the Swede’s high kicking first serve and dashing to the net.

He said he had been working on the “chip and charge” and the strategy paid off in the first set, which he won in the tiebreaker, 7-5. He was also aided by Edberg’s slow start.

Edberg came to life in the second set. So did a flock of birds who buzzed the stadium. At one point Edberg’s service toss crashed through a low-flying group.

Even as Edberg began to serve well and follow his first serve to net, Annacone refused to retreat to the baseline. The second set was filled with volley-for-volley net exchanges.

“He comes in on every shot, it was very hard to play him,” Edberg said. “Sometimes at net, he doesn’t know where he’s going to hit the ball, and neither did I.”

Annacone had six set-point chances in the second set tiebreaker, but each time Edberg scrambled back, finally winning it, 10-8. Once, while chasing down one of Annacone’s sharply angled drop shots, Edberg raced to the net, checked himself and barrelled into a ball boy--pinning the embarrassed youngster to the ground.

By the third set the crowd was held in thrall, applauding every point, seemingly not wishing to see the battle end. UCLA students, watching from the windows of a high-rise dormitory nearby, blew horns after points.

Through it all, neither player lost poise. Particularly for Annacone, that was key. He was reminded of his match against Mats Wilander at this year’s U.S. Open when he folded in the third-set tiebreaker.

“I lost my concentration and lost the next set 6-1,” Annacone said. “Since that day I’ve felt a great urgency not to give up again.”

The third set was especially tense. Both players held serve and neither managed to get the upper hand. As soon as one would carve out a slight lead, the other would come up with a spectacular shot to pull even.

The spectators in the sold-out stadium seemed not to show favoritism, simply appreciating the splendid tennis. But Edberg’s generous sportsmanship at a crucial juncture in the third set changed all that.

With Annacone serving at 40-30 and the games at 5-5, Annacone hauled off on a vicious overhead that skipped on the line out of Edberg’s reach. The line judge ruled it out.

Annacone began to protest. Edberg quietly approached the umpire’s chair, signaled that the ball had indeed been good, and sat down for the changeover. If Edberg had remained silent, the game would have gone to deuce and he would have had a chance to break Annacone.

When Edberg came back on court, the crowd rose to its feet to salute him.

“Fortunately, for me, that seems to be typical of the Swedes,” Annacone said of Edberg’s call. “I didn’t hit it well, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the ball was in.”

Edberg played down the incident, saying, “It was good, what can I say. What else is there to do?”

In the deciding tiebreaker Edberg staved off three match points, but an overhead by Annacone ended it with a 7-4 score.

Annacone, a former All-American for the University of Tennessee, has made steady improvement on the tour. He has shot from 94th on the computer to 27 this week.

He travels with his older brother Steve, who is also one of his coaches. According to Steve, the younger Annacone is something of a drudge--a fitness fanatic and workaholic.

“Last night we had pizza and went to bed,” Steve said. “He has zero social life, especially when he’s doing well. We don’t go to many of the social functions. Tennis is his life right now.”

In the doubles final which immediately followed the singles, Annacone and Cristo Van Rensburg of South Africa lost to Scott Davis and Robert Van’t Hof, 6-3, 7-6.