Lendl Goes After Money, Diamonds in Belgium

Ivan Lendl, the world’s top-ranked tennis player, will pocket $200,000 and take home a $700,000 diamond-studded trophy if he wins this week’s European Champions’ Championship here.

If the Czech takes his third ECC title on Nov. 3, he will win the Antwerp Diamonds’ Cup, a life-size gold and diamond racket. It is awarded to the first triple ECC champion in any five-year period.

The reigning U.S. Open Champion won the ECC--the world’s richest indoor tournament with $850,000 dollars in prize money--in its 1982 inaugural and again last year.

If he fails, he will have another shot at the trophy next year. During his three-year stint at the ECC, Lendl, 25, has made close to half a million dollars.

Standing between him and the ostentatious trophy are the toughest competitors tennis has to offer.

They include John McEnroe of the United States, Wimbledon Champion Boris Becker of West Germany, and French and Australian Open Champion Mats Wilander of Sweden.

Eight of the 24 ECC qualifiers were ranked in the top nine in the world this season and many outsiders have proved tough opponents for Lendl in the past.

Among the obstacles in Lendl’s path is Henri Leconte of France, who trounced Lendl at Wimbledon this summer and has beaten him in three of their last four clashes. Also in that half of the draw is Wilander, against whom the Czech lost in the French Open.

Swedish stars Anders Jarryd and Joakim Nystrom also are in Lendl’s end of the draw.

But to Lendl’s advantage he will play on a Flushing Meadows-type hardcourt, the surface on which he thrashed McEnroe to become U.S. Open champion in September.

They are again in opposite ends of the draw.

McEnroe, winner of the 1983 ECC title after losing to Lendl in 1982, did not play in last year’s ECC because of a suspension.

Also in the American’s half of the draw are Becker and France’s Yannick Noah.

The ECC is open to winners of a European Grand Prix during the preceeding year.