Satellite Events Serve to Put Tennis Careers in Orbit

In the opening round of last year’s Australian Open, Martina Navratilova made quick work of a little-known player from Atlanta named Dee Ann Hansel.

If asked today, the world’s No. 1-ranked women’s tennis player probably couldn’t remember if she’d played Hansel or Gretel that day, but Hansel will never forget it.

“I was so nervous I couldn’t stand it,” Hansel said of her 6-2, 6-1 loss on center court. “It was awful, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world now.”

It’s moments such as those that attract players from all over the world to the U.S. Tennis Assn. Women’s Circuit and Challenger Series, which includes this week’s $25,000 tournament at the Braemar Country Club in Tarzana.

The prize money is nice, of course, but what’s really at stake this week at Braemar are valuable Women’s International Tennis Assn. computer ranking points.

This is the bush leagues of professional tennis, the lowest rung on the ladder. For some, it’s the first step toward Wimbledon. For others, it’s the last hurrah.

Careers are made or broken here.

Gabriela Sabatini, Catarina Lindqvist, Kathy Jordan, Bonnie Gadusek and Bettina Bunge, among others, all launched their pro careers in “satellite” tournaments. All now are ranked among the world’s top 15 players.

As 17-year-old Rona Daniels of Miami said Friday: “You have to start somewhere.”

There are more than 50 satellite tournaments in 20 countries, including the 19 that make up the USTA Women’s Circuit, which was started in 1981. The WITA requires participation in only three $10,000-plus events to establish a computer ranking.

The higher a player’s ranking, the more lucrative the tournaments she is eligible to play in.

The USTA offers the winter tour’s top 16 players, based on cumulative circuit points, an opportunity to move up to selected Virginia Slims tournaments.

This week’s finalists earn automatic spots in the qualifying draw of next month’s $75,000 Virginia Slims of Oklahoma.

Heather Crowe, 25, of Topsfield, Mass., has been playing the circuit for 3 1/2 years. She was an AIAW national champion at the University of Indiana and has traveled throughout the world.

It’s costly. Her expenses last year totaled about $15,000, but she brought in a little more than she paid out, and she’s having a great time. She has been ranked as high as 100th, but is now ranked 263rd.

“If I’m not doing very well after a few more years,” said Crowe, who was a business major at Indiana, “it will be time to find something else, but I always thought there was no way I could sit at a desk from 9 to 5.

“I enjoy traveling. I’ve met a lot of people and seen a lot of places.”

And she’s played against some of the best players in the world, including doubles matches against Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd.

“It’s matches like that that make you say, ‘Maybe I can do this. Maybe I can compete with the top 50 or top 100 in the world,’ ” said Hansel, who has been playing on the circuit for about a year and is ranked 228th.

A trip to the Orient last year put her in debt. She had to take out a bank loan to meet her expenses.

“The money gets in the way sometimes,” she said. “It can cause a lot of added pressure that shouldn’t be there.” Still, the memory of her match against Navratilova keeps her going.

The Braemar tournament is the last event of the USTA Winter Circuit, which also included stops at Chicago, Key Biscayne, Fla., and San Antonio. The circuit also includes a summer tour and a series of fall tournaments in Hawaii.

Crowe’s schedule, for instance, will take her to Dallas, Oklahoma City and Florida in the next month. After spending a couple of weeks at home in Massachusetts, where she lives with her parents, she’ll choose between a series of tournaments in Japan, Hawaii and Phoenix or in the South. After that, she’ll head to Great Britain for Wimbledon and the tournaments leading up to it.

Even for the players who don’t make much headway in the rankings, “It’s an experience not too many people get--to travel all over the world,” said Jennifer Goodling, 23, of York, Pa., whose father is U.S. Congressman Bill Goodling (R-Pa.).

But the main objective, of course, is to move up the ladder.

The winter tour provides a good measuring stick for U.S. players because it draws players from all over the world. Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, South Africa, Mexico, Canada and the Soviet Union were represented at Braemar.

Ronald Livingston of Carson watched Friday as his 18-year-old daughter, Shandra, lost a quarterfinal match to Leila Meshki of the Soviet Union, 6-2, 6-2.

“A lot of foreigners come over here to play,” Livingston said. “If she shows me that she can handle this, then we’ll go overseas. We’re taking it one step at a time.”

Livingston supports his daughter’s budding career with the money he makes as a postal worker.

“It’s not easy,” he said, “but your daughter deserves a chance. Sacrificing is all part of the game. I want her to achieve in tennis as much as she can. As long as I see continuous improvement, I’ll back her up.”

Is Shandra enjoying herself?

“To me,” said Shandra, who played in the U.S. Open as a 14-year-old, “it’s a business. But when you’re winning, it’s fun.”

Sometimes, if you scale the ladder high enough, losing can be fun, too.

Getting there is the tough part.

4th-Seeded Player Falls

Kim Steinmetz of St. Louis is eliminated as the last seeded player in a USTA women’s tournament at Tarzana.

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