Tennis : Getting to Know the Lesser-Knowns Is More Interesting

The recent Wimbledon fortnight has produced the most interesting stories in tennis this season. What a surprise. With John McEnroe an absent father, Jimmy Connors on the slide and Mats Wilander apparently not interested, men’s tennis had become about as predictable as . . . well, women’s tennis.

Until Wimbledon, that is. It’s not that the players who emerged in the quarterfinals and semifinals were unknowns--to the tennis world Henri Leconte and Slobodan Zivojinovic are more than hard-to-spell names; they are established tour regulars. What happened at Wimbledon was the emergence of the lesser lights, the often younger, fresher players with nothing to lose and precious little time to perform in the spotlight. They made the most of it.

Anne White knew what she was doing last year at Wimbledon when she played her first-round match wearing a bone-hugging white body suit. White got what she wanted: attention. Not a small accomplishment at an event where a few big names are closely scrutinized and the majority of the 128 players are ignored. The early exit of well-known players allowed others to gain exposure.

Leconte, the classy clown, was amazing and delightful with his tennis-from-outer-space style of play. The 23-year-old Frenchman is capable of hitting startling on-the-line winners or carelessly lobbing a sky-ball out of the court. Ion Tiriac, Leconte’s former coach, lovingly refers to the Frenchman as “the idiot” and characterizes his style as “violently eccentric.” Maybe so, but Leconte is a showman and a ham, and it’s wonderful to have him around to laugh at, and with.

Zivojinovic is more than just a jumbled string of consonants and vowels. He’s a fast-improving player. And at 6-6, 200 pounds, Bobo is still a growing guy. The London papers dubbed him, “the Prince of Whales,” all in good fun. Zivojinovic’s semifinal match against Ivan Lendl was as athletic as it was entertaining.

Bobo has fun on the court and communicates that to the audience. The crowd has fun, and that’s the point. Even if no one is able to pronounce his name, tennis fans will not forget him.

Young female fans won’t soon forget Pat Cash of Australia. Even if they wanted to. Cash left sweatbands and sweaty towels as mementos everywhere he went. Cash is a swashbuckling young power player with a new wave hairdo and wave after wave of squealing fans. Rock ‘n’ roll tennis.

These players are good for the game. The more depth in tennis and the more recognizable personalities, the healthier it is for the sport. It’s always a risk when a sport relies on two or three names to carry an event. What happens if the stars are injured or lose in the first round? When lower-ranked players gain exposure and develop their personalities, the public doesn’t feel cheated watching matches with two lesser lights. The fans know something about the players and settle in to enjoy good tennis.

In fact, tennis has Tiriac to thank for some of its bright new stars. Tiriac is as shrewd at judging tennis talent as he is at wangling business deals. Tiriac nurtured Guillermo Vilas during the height of the Argentine’s career. Tiriac developed Leconte. It was Tiriac who discovered Boris Becker and recently signed with Zivojinovic. To these players, Tiriac has imparted his mischievous sense of tennis theater as well as the drive and discipline to be the best.

Is Becker, who has now won consecutive Wimbledons, the best player in the world right now?

Lendl doesn’t think so.

“To be the best player, you have to play consistently for 12 months,” Lendl said after losing to Becker in last Sunday’s final. “You have to win on every surface, not just one. He won today, no question about it, but I’m not prepared to give up my title (of No. 1). I think my record is a little better than his, though his is very impressive. Now it depends on who will win the U.S. Open. That will tip the scales.”

The Open, with its fast hardcourts, may help Lendl retain his No. 1 ranking. He’s improving his grass game, but Lendl’s match with Becker was his first Wimbledon final in seven attempts. Lendl has won 59 titles in his career, none of them on grass. He’s won 79 of 83 matches in the last 10 months, including the U.S. Open, the Masters and the French Open. Yet, it would seem Lendl is not happy. As the top-seeded player at Wimbledon, with all the attention and pressure, Lendl caught the dreaded McEnroe Disease--a severe allergy to newspapers. The treatment of Lendl in Fleet Street’s tabloids was enough to make anyone sick.

Nothing Lendl did escaped criticism. One London paper made fun of his face: “In the gathering darkness, with his hollow cheeks, Lendl looks like Dracula.”

The ghoul motif was a hit, and the press ran with it. A cartoon in the London Daily Mail showed a ghastly tennis player character, “Igor Lentil,” who during the changeovers rested in a closed casket. A ballboy was shown knocking on the lid to tell Lentil time is up.

In Lendl’s 3 1/2-hour match with Zivojinovic, Lendl stormed back to take the last set, 6-4, concluding the match at sunset. One reporter figured that Lendl fashioned the turnaround because he didn’t want to miss any darkness.

It’s hard to imagine what Lendl has done to deserve such treatment. Lendl came off as bitter in most of his press conferences, which was understandable. Unfortunately, his sharp and curt responses will only add to his reputation. He was taking the heat alone and not well. Lendl said he missed McEnroe, “Mac the Ripper” to the British press. In McEnroe’s absence, Lendl was the victim.

It’s something that could have happened to anyone. And it’s a lesson to the new faces that came out of Wimbledon. Players such as Lendl, with all the pressure and attention, take a lot of bad with the good. It’s far easier to struggle to get to the top--having fun and with nothing to lose--than it is to stay there and defend your territory. Sometimes, it’s just not much fun. Ask John McEnroe.

Tennis Notes Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina is the latest woman to enter the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles, scheduled for Aug. 11-17 at the Manhattan Country Club. Already entered are Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd, Hana Mandlikova, Pam Shriver and Claudia Kohde-Kilsch. . . . Pat Cash is entered in the Hartmarx Racquet Club Tennis tournament, Aug. 6-10 at the John Wayne Tennis Club in Newport Beach. Also entered are Vitas Gerulaitis, Roscoe Tanner, Vijay Amritraj and Henrik Sundstrom. . . . Lisa Green of San Jose and Noelle Porter of San Clemente have been named to the North and West teams, respectively, for the U.S. Olympic Festival, July 25-Aug. 3 at Houston. Tennis competition is set for July 26-29. . . . The USTA Men’s 45 National Hardcourt championships are scheduled for July 21-28 at the Lindborg Racquet Club in Huntington Beach. Competing along with nationally ranked local players will be former touring pros Pancho Segura and Vic Seixas.