Just Like the Old Days, Davis Beats Krickstein

For every precocious tennis champion such as Boris Becker or Stefan Edberg, there are dozens of others who have never fulfilled their early promise.

When Scott Davis and Aaron Krickstein played each other three years ago at the Pilot Pen tournament, they were already known as junior legends. Davis, en route to a top 20 ranking, had accumulated a then-record 24 junior titles. Krickstein had also collected numerous junior championships, but his claim to fame was reaching the final 16 at the 1983 U.S. Open at age 16.

Now, in 1987, instead of meeting in a semifinal or final, which were the expectations back in 1984, Krickstein and Davis met in a first-round match on the opening day here Monday.

On paper, it looked like an upset when the unseeded Davis defeated the 15th-seeded Krickstein, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, at the Grand Champions Resort.

But Davis, 24, who also won their match in 1984 when the tournament was at La Quinta, can’t recall having lost a match to Krickstein.

That streak appeared to be in jeopardy when the 19-year-old Krickstein took a 5-1 lead in their third-set tiebreaker. Despite Krickstein’s new and improved first serve, it let him down in the tiebreaker as Davis was able to take advantage of his opponent’s second serves.

On match point, Davis won when his forehand hit the net cord and dropped on Krickstein’s side.

Krickstein was rooted, helplessly, on the base line.

“He had missed a couple of first serves, and he hadn’t been doing that all set,” Davis said of the tiebreaker. “Then I hit that shot at 6-5, which was ridiculous. That’s the first time I ever won a match on a let cord. You don’t get too many of those.”

Krickstein felt it never should have got to that point.

“I think the calls went the wrong way and it cost me,” he said. “I did get the first serve in at 5-2 (in the tiebreaker) and then (the linesman) called it out.”

Davis also thought he had been victimized by some questionable calls earlier in the third set. He was assessed a code violation after complaining to the linesman on the service line.

“I called him a goon,” Davis said. “And since he was 6-feet-6, 250 pounds, I thought it wasn’t too out of context.”

The incident didn’t affect Davis’ concentration, however. Since he began working with Bob Brett last October, Davis thinks he has a more positive mental outlook. After a month with Brett, Davis reached the final at Houston, defeating Jimmy Connors.

Davis admits it’s just a matter of putting things together, trying to stay injury-free and confident. Again, his situation is similar to Krickstein’s. Both made impressive debuts on the tour and eventually slumped.

When Davis played Krickstein three years ago, he said he felt like an old man . . . so, how does he feel now, at 24?

“Now, I just don’t think about it,” Davis said. “I think I have a more mature attitude. If you can play, it doesn’t matter how old you are.”

Notes

The unraveling of Johan Kriek, Part 20, was played out on the Clubhouse Court Monday in another first-round match. This time, the beneficiary was qualifier Dan Goldie. One never knows which Kriek will show up on the tennis court. Sometimes, it is an enormously talented player, one who upset John McEnroe last week in Memphis, Tenn. Or, Johan Kriek, the enigma. Against Goldie, Kriek led 3-1 in the second set, before losing nine straight games on his way to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 defeat. But at least there were several amusing moments during Kriek’s collapse. At one point, after he thought a Goldie serve was out, Kriek asked the umpire: “What are you doing in the chair?” A spectator yelled back: “He couldn’t get a ticket.” Goldie, who pushed Ivan Lendl to four sets before losing in the Australian Open, will play Milan Srejber in the second round. As of Feb. 9, Goldie was ranked 98th, while Kriek was 27th. . . . If Aaron Krickstein is suffering from an identity crisis these days, it isn’t surprising. He was listed in today’s program as Emilio Krickstein. The world waits to see how Aaron Sanchez--make that Emilio Sanchez--fares in his match against Eliot Teltscher today. . . . In addition to Krickstein, two other seeded players lost. Srejber defeated No. 14 Kevin Curren, 7-6, 7-6, and Jakob Hlasek beat No. 11 Martin Jaite, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.