U.S. OPEN PREVIEW : Tournament Begins Today and the Question Is . . . : Will McEnroe Find the Answer?

As the curtain rises on this year’s United States Open Tennis Tournament, the couch rolls in. The psychiatrist’s couch.

Could it be for ninth-seeded John McEnroe, playing in the first round today at the National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadow?

McEnroe’s public anxiety attacks have been building to such a crescendo that the man who was formerly known as Mighty Mac has of late become Flighty Mac.

After losing to Ivan Lendl last Sunday in the final of the Hamlet Challenge Cup at Jericho, N.Y., McEnroe spoke about retiring. He spoke about it a lot.

That was less than a month after his return to tennis from a seven-month layoff.

“It may come to the point when it is unacceptable to lose to players I think I’m better than,” McEnroe said. “Obviously, I’m not happy with the way things are going. It’s up in the air. I hope I don’t get frustrated too soon. Right now, there are still reasons why I shouldn’t be playing that well. If next year or so I see I’m getting worse, then that’s time for me to get out.”

McEnroe was displeased with the level of his game last week. He struggled in the semifinals against Paul Annacone and understandably lacked rhythm and sharpness. He will have to regain them quickly, since he is playing Annacone, No. 20 in the world, today.

“At this point, I don’t expect anything,” McEnroe said. “I feel, realistically, that there’s not much of a chance of me winning (in the Open). I definitely have my doubts. I don’t know for sure if it’s going to happen. If it doesn’t, maybe somebody’s trying to tell me something.”

These are not the words of a confident dominator. This is not the attitude of a person who hopes to overpower Lendl or Boris Becker, who lie in wait for McEnroe.

Which McEnroe fears most, the No. 1 and No. 3 players in the world, or coping with his own inner turmoil, is not known.

Lendl, the defending champion, would like to win here in hopes of finally shrugging off his mantle of “choker.” Even though the Czech has not fallen out of the top three since 1981, the reputation that he can’t win the Grand Slam tournaments still burns. Until his break-through win in the 1984 French Open, the best Lendl could do in a Grand Slam event was to struggle to the final and lose big.

His win here last year may have proved more to him than to others, but now Lendl wants to repeat to show that the first title was no fluke.

Becker is seeded No. 3, behind Mats Wilander. Wilander is superior to Becker on this surface, a hard and fast concrete called Decoturf II. Wilander was a semifinalist here last year and, at 22, has already won two more Grand Slam titles than Lendl. He’s ranked No. 2 in the world, indicative of his immense talent. Yet, he has said he does not have the drive and single-mindedness to be No. 1.

In that, he can abdicate to Becker, who appears to have enough ambition to carry him to No. 1 in a few years. Becker is another enormous talent, with a serve that is nearly unreturnable, and a powerful forehand. Still, the wunderkind is only 18. He can be inconsistent and, if his serve happens to break down, he doesn’t have Wilander’s ground strokes to fall back on.

Both players are coming off tournament victories. Wilander just beat Jimmy Connors in the final of the Assn. of Tennis Professionals tournament. Becker won the Players International the week before.

Connors will celebrate his 34th birthday before the tournament is over. It may well be his last Open. Connors, seeded No. 6, has won here five times and has enough savvy to fight his way past more talented players. Still, his best recent tennis may have been played when he last won the Open, three years ago.

Stefan Edberg, the serve-and-volley Swede, is seeded No. 4, and Yannick Noah, who won the Tournament of Champions in May but has a lingering ankle injury, is No. 5.

On the women’s side, the return of Steffi Graf and the physical and mental statuses of defending champion Hana Mandlikova are factors that could keep this tournament from becoming another installment of the Chris and Martina Show.

Graf is seeded third here and is No. 3 in the world, yet the 17-year-old West German did not win a tournament in 1985. She came on earlier this summer and won four consecutive tournaments. Graf won 23 straight matches in that stretch before losing to Mandlikova in the French Open. Graf then suffered a broken toe in a freak accident last month at the Federation Cup.

Graf’s mental toughness is well documented and her all-court game has done nothing but improve. Graf’s 1986 record is 35-4, and it includes victories over Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova. Only Navratilova has lost fewer matches this year.

Mandlikova is both a question mark and an exclamation point. She withdrew from the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles with an ankle injury. Earlier this year, though, the 24-year-old Czech has fought off a rotator cuff injury and a groin pull.

Even at that, Mandlikova’s physical health is usually more consistent than her emotional state. She was superb in winning here last year. She beat Lloyd and Navratilova on successive days, something only Tracy Austin had done before.

That was the high. There have been the lows, the tournaments when her mind seems to be on a space walk.

Mandlikova says she has changed. She is a newlywed, having married 33-year-old Jan Sedlek in a secret ceremony. The marriage was a shock to friends who were not aware of even an engagement, but that’s Mandlikova.

No one, certainly not the players in the women’s draw, is counting out Navratilova and Lloyd. Navratilova is at the top of her game, which means that there are few players capable of beating her.

Lloyd is one. She is a six-time Open champion, but has not won here since 1982. Lloyd is in Graf’s half of the draw.

Lloyd tested a tender left knee at the Los Angeles tournament and was pleased, and relieved, with the outcome.

“I’m healthy, that’s a load off my mind,” Lloyd said after losing to Navratilova in the final. “Before this, I wasn’t sure I would play the Open. It’s encouraging to me.”

U.S. OPEN FACTS

What: 105th U.S. Open Championships.

When: Today through Sunday, Sept. 7.

Where: Flushing Meadow, New York.

Purse: This year the Open carries a purse of $3,450,800, with the men’s and women’s champion each earning $210,000.

Top seeds: Men--Ivan Lendl; Women--Martina Navratilova.

Defending champions: Men--Ivan Lendl; Women--Hana Mandlikova.

TV Coverage: USA (cable) will cover opening round matches Today-Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and from 4:30 to 9 p.m. CBS (channels 2,8) will have daytime coverage on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with USA providing night coverage on those days. USA will then provide weekday coverage until the semifinals, when CBS takes over. CBS will also have highlights at 11:30 p.m. weeknights throughout the tournament.

TODAY’S FEATURED MATCHES Stadium Court: Martina Navratilova (1), Fort Worth vs. Andrea Holikova, Czechoslovakia; Yannick Noah (5), France, vs. Scott Davis, Bardmoor, Fla.; Hana Mandlikova (4), Czechoslovakia, vs. Marie-Christine Calleja, France; John McEnroe (9), Cove Neck, N.Y., vs. Paul Annacone, Bridgehampton, N.Y.; Ivan Lendl (1), Czechoslovakia, vs. Glenn Layendecker, Portola Valley, Calif.

Grandstand Court: Tim Mayotte (14), Bradenton, Fla., vs. Jonathan Canter, Beverly Hills; Carling Bassett (16), Canada, vs. Alycia Moulton, Sacramento; Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, vs. Paul McNamee, Australia; Kathy Rinaldi (10), Martin Downs, Fla., vs. Michelle Torres, Northfield, Ill.; Thierry Tulasne (12), France, vs. David Pate, Las Vegas.

Court 16: Henri Leconte (8), France, vs. Martin Jaite, Argentina; Pat Cash, Australia, vs. Leonardo Lavalle, Mexico; Bill Scanlon, Dallas, vs. Eliot Teltscher, Palos Verdes.

(Seedings in parentheses)