Lendl Goes After Another New York Title

Without question, being on top is twice the fun of enduring the steep climb to get there.

Ivan Lendl is one man who appreciates the significant difference and, unlike John McEnroe before him, seems to be enjoying thoroughly his heady position in tennis. He is more and more at ease with his new situation, both on the court and in his adopted home, and he readily admits, “I feel very good about myself.”

Not only is Lendl No. 1 in the world, but he also reigns as undisputed champion of New York. He’ll be putting one of his prized titles on the line beginning Monday in the $500,000 Shearson Lehman Brothers Tournament of Champions at Forest Hills, N.Y.

Lendl won the Tournament of Champions for the second time last year, beating McEnroe in the final. At that time McEnroe was ranked first in the world, but he currently is on a long sabbatical from tennis.

Lendl, who now lives in nearby Greenwich, Conn., followed up that victory by winning the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadow and the Nabisco Masters in Madison Square Garden.

“I feel very good about myself because I worked very hard at something I was hoping I could do but couldn’t guarantee I could do,” Lendl said recently during a visit to Forest Hills, site of the week-long Tournament of Champions. “It gives me lots of satisfaction that I was able to do it and now I’m trying to work even harder to keep it.”

Since he attained the top ranking early this year, Lendl says he has been even more motivated to work.

“It’s easier to work hard when you’re there,” he explained. “When you’re trying to get there and you work hard for a year or maybe two years and you’re not getting to the top, you ask yourself why you’re working so hard because you’re never absolutely sure you can get there.

“Once you get there you have that bonus for all the hard work. It’s very satisfying to work your way to the top, and at the same time it’s very satisfying to stay there because that’s even tougher. I’m ready to work because I did something which I really wanted to do and I don’t want to give it away.”

Lendl expressed surprise at the strength of the 64-man field for the Tournament of Champions, a major clay court prelude to the French Open beginning May 26. Including Lendl, five of the world’s top 10 and 11 of the top 20 are entered in the World Championship Tennis presentation.

Boris Becker, No. 4 in the world and Wimbledon champion, will be playing at Forest Hills for the first time, and others entered include No. 7 Joakim Nystrom, No. 8 Yannick Noah, No. 10 Kevin Curren, No. 12 Brad Gilbert, No. 13 Henri Leconte, No. 16 Thierry Tulasne, No. 18 Andres Gomez, No. 19 Martin Jaite and No. 20 Jimmy Arias.

First pace is worth $80,000.

“Without question this is the strongest field we ever had,” said Tournament Director Marty Rotberg. “We’ve always had a strong field in the past, but it was a bit on the top heavy side. We have as strong a top side this year, but the strength is more equally distributed throughout.”

The Forest Hills Pro Celebrity for the benefit of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation will be staged Sunday, and among the celebrities expected to participate are Earl Monroe, Eli Wallach, Oleg Cassini, Alec Baldwin, Gloria Loring, George Plimpton and Nancy Lieberman.

The competition begins Monday, and every evening through Friday a featured match is scheduled for 3:30 PDT p.m. Matches Thursday and Friday night will be televised as part of the Financial News Network’s SCORE program. The semifinals on Saturday and the final Sunday will be televised by ABC.