Tennis : All Eyes Are on Becker as He Wins

Boris Becker felt he was under more scrutiny than usual Wednesday and frankly, it felt unsettling.

The reason for the added attention here at the Pilot Pen tennis tournament was Becker’s behavior in his last match, at the Australian Open in late January.

During his fourth-round loss to Wally Masur, the 19-year-old Becker did his best imitation of a 3-year-old throwing a temper tantrum.

Among his transgressions, he:

--Was fined $500 for receiving coaching from the sidelines from coach Gunther Bosch, now his ex-coach.

--Received a $500 fine for breaking his racket in the second set against Masur. During a recent appearance on the “Tonight Show With Johnny Carson,” however, Becker said he broke three rackets in all.

--Was assesed a $1,000 penalty for various unsportsmanlike acts and outbursts which included throwing a ball into the stands (Becker said he hit it), spitting water in the direction of the umpire and aiming two balls toward the umpire.

All this left Becker $2,000 poorer, without a coach, and owner of a tattered reputation.

“It came to mind that they can make you a hero in 24 hours and they can destroy you in two,” Becker said after he beat American Tim Wilkison, 7-5, 6-4, in the second round Wednesday at Grand Champions Resort.

“You can’t forget that in the last 59 matches I played before, I was fine,” he said. “A few people forgot that.”

In Becker’s mind, it wasn’t a routine opening match because this was his first Grand Prix tournament since the debacle in Melbourne, and Wilkison had defeated him in their previous meeting last year in Atlanta. Throw in the fact that it was windy and cool on Wednesday, and Becker felt somewhat lucky to escape.

Wilkison was just getting warmed up when the 1-hour 52-minute match ended.

“I sort of like it when it gets hard,” Wilkison said. “It was just starting to be fun out there at the end with wind blowing and the dust flying through the air. I’d liked have been out there for two more hours.”

As far as Becker was concerned, it was enough strain for one day. At least, for one day, watching him was like observing a John McEnroe match: When will he lose his temper?

And Becker echoed a somewhat familiar refrain, one usually heard from McEnroe: Somebody is watching me.

“I felt they were watching my every word or every gesture, so I was trying not to do anything bad today,” Becker said.

The eventual question was asked of Becker. Why the outburst Down Under?

“If I knew, I wouldn’t do it,” he said. “It starts from a little thing and once it starts rolling it’s done.”

Of course, as in almost any match, there were a number of things that might have provoked an incident Wednesday. Becker was ruffled by a couple of calls but otherwise acted fine, taking the first step in reputation repair.

“He gets mad,” Wilkison said. “He’s been fined before. He’s unbelieveably mature for his age, but he’s only 18 or 19 and sometimes he acts like it.

“A couple of times he dropped his racket and it looked like he was going to cry. I drop my racket but I don’t think I ever look like I’m going to cry.”

Then again, not many 19-year-olds have won Wimbledon twice and have already sailed past the $2-million mark in career prize money. It has all come relatively easy for Becker with the early on-court success and until recently, the luxury of Bosch taking care of his life.

Although Becker hired conditioning coach, Frank Dick, after the Australian Open, a replacement for Bosch hasn’t been found. So, Team Becker is minus one, and now consists of his girlfriend, and ever-present manager Ion Tiriac.

And now, there’s another companion. A new reputation, one which Becker hopes to lose . . . quickly.

Tournament Notes

In contrast to Tuesday’s matches, the top-seeded players won easily, with the exception of Boris Becker. All four singles matches on the Stadium Court went three sets Tuesday. On Wednesday, Swedes Joakim Nystrom, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg all won in straight sets. Edberg is the No. 1-seeded player here and passed Becker for the No. 2 spot in the world with his victory at the Australian Open. . . . Today’s top featured matches include: Wilander versus Milan Srejber; Becker versus Scott Davis; Edberg versus Todd Witsken; and Yannick Noah versus Tarik Benhabiles. . . . It isn’t clear how the new tournament site, Grand Champions Resort, is faring with the public. Players and spectators have commented favorably about the complex but actual attendance figures are non-existent. Unlike other tournaments, the actual or paid attendance hasn’t been released all week. Approximately 4,500 people were in the Stadium Court for the Becker-Tim Wilkison match Wednesday. During the other matches, about 1,000-1,500 people had been in the stadium at various times the first three days.