Tennis Roundup : Connors Wins Match but Says He Is ‘Tired of Tennis’

Defending champion Jimmy Connors beat Australia’s John Fitzgerald, 6-0, 7-5, in the opening round of the $375,000 Seiko championships at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, then suggested that he is moving closer to retirement.

Connors, 33, a five-time U.S. Open winner and currently ranked fourth in the world, said he will be playing less in the future.

“I’m tired of tennis right now,” he said. “I’ve played enough, traveled enough. I’d like to spend some time with my family.”

Connors said the Seiko tournament will be his last until December but did not say when he would retire.

“I enjoy playing tennis, but I have two kids, I have a family. I’m in no hurry to quit, but I’m in no hurry to play five to 10 more years. I’m just trying to take it one year at a time.

“It’s time for me to start doing what I want to, because if I don’t now, I never will.”

Three-time Wimbledon champion Chris Evert Lloyd battled through a first set before overwhelming unseeded Petra Huber, 18, of Austria, in the first round of a $175,000 women’s tournament at Brighton, England.

Lloyd, playing her first match after a three-week vacation, took almost an hour to win the first set, then conceded just seven points in a whirlwind second set to round off a 7-6, 6-0 victory in 81 minutes.

Afterward, Lloyd said she had enjoyed the three-week break in Florida.

“I feel rested and relaxed, and the break is just what I wanted,” she said. “This is a good tournament for me because I am only one hour away from my London home and I can commute very easily. I know the first set was close but it was just what I wanted to ease my way back into competition.”

In Cologne, West Germany, Ronald Agenor of Haiti stunned Wimbledon finalist Kevin Curren, 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals of the $119,200 Cologne GoldStar indoor tournament.

The 27-year-old Curren, a South African who now lives in the United States, was the tournament’s top-seeded player and is ranked eighth in the world. Agenor, 20, is ranked No. 60.

In Melbourne, Australia, Mark Woodforde, who earned a wild-card entry into the $200,000 Black and Decker indoor tournament, upset Brian Teacher, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6.