Wimbledon Show Given a Big Boost by Jimmy Connors

Wimbledon television ratings have been slipping steadily since John McEnroe’s four-set victory over Bjorn Borg in the 1981 men’s final drew an all-time high national Nielsen of 7.9.

Prospects for changing that downward trend weren’t looking good when Boris Becker, this year’s No. 1-seeded men’s player, lost in the second round.

With McEnroe not competing, NBC began wondering who could possibly salvage the men’s division.

Up stepped Jimmy Connors.

“You just never know what story is going to develop here,” NBC’s Dick Enberg said from Wimbledon. “First, Connors rallies from a deep hole to beat Mikael Pernfors. Then he comes back the next day to beat Slobodan Zivojinovic.

“Try saying that name four times in a row,” Enberg said, then doing it. Obviously, he’s had some practice.

Added Enberg: “Connors has made this a fun championship.”

The presence of Connors also makes NBC’s five-hour Wimbledon show today an attractive one. He’ll face Pat Cash in the second semifinal, with Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg meeting in the first.

“I think it was a break for Connors that Cash beat (Mats) Wilander,” Enberg said. “Wilander would have stayed on the base line and hit with Connors.

“Connors will have a better chance against Cash’s serve-and-volley game.”

About the other semifinal, Enberg said: “I’ve been saying for several years that Edberg will eventually win at Wimbledon. Maybe this is the year. But you can’t forget that Lendl is the No. 2-seeded player. People seem to be overlooking him.”

Today’s delayed coverage begins at 10 a.m. That’s about the time those who stayed up to watch NBC’s coverage of Steffi Graf’s semifinal victory over Pam Shriver will be getting up, since that match was shown at 12:45 a.m.

Great scheduling, huh? At least, Graf didn’t waste any time in winning, 6-0, 6-2.

Add Enberg: The hard part is over, since the last of NBC’s 11:30 p.m. Wimbledon highlight shows was televised Thursday night.

“It takes about a 14-hour day to put one of those 15-minute shows together,” Enberg said. “Actually, they are only eight minutes (not counting commercials).

“With live coverage, you say goodby when it’s over. But to do one of those highlight shows, you watch tennis all day, then spend hours editing and taping. The day can end as late as 1 a.m.”

Enberg got off a little early Tuesday night, so he took his wife to a private London disco where British royalty often can be seen.

“I had signed off the highlight show by saying, ‘And now stay tuned for the Tonight Show, starring Johnny Carson.’

“So, who do we run into at Annabelles? Johnny Carson.”

Ah, the wonders of television.

NBC is showing “The Best of Carson” this week while Carson is on his honeymoon with new wife Alexis Maas at Wimbledon.

Add Wimbledon: NBC’s coverage both Saturday and Sunday will begin at 8 a.m., a delay of two hours.

The women’s final between Martina Navratilova, who is going for a record sixth-straight Wimbledon singles title and record-tying eighth overall, and Steffi Graf is Saturday.

The men’s final is Sunday.

He’s everywhere: Following Sunday’s Wimbledon coverage, NBC will show more of Enberg on “SportsWorld” at 2 p.m. as he announces taped coverage of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships, held June 20-21 at Kansas City, Mo.

Enberg, who was already in England preparing for Wimbledon, had to take the Concorde from London to New York, then fly to Kansas City for the gymnastics meet, after which he flew back to New York to catch the Concorde back to London.

“I’d make a good poster man for jet lag,” Enberg said.

Rumor Dept.: You’ve probably heard that Channel 2’s Jim Hill might be headed for Channel 7. A new one heard this week was that San Diego’s outspoken, bombastic, often arrogant and sometimes hard-to-stomach Ted Leitner might be headed for Channel 7 instead.

Said Leitner: “That’s news to me. No one has called me, although John Severino (Channel 7 general manager) did talk to me about a job several years ago.

“Actually, I don’t think the L.A. market is ready for me. I’ve been studying it for years. All they do is kiss (bleep), be nice to everyone, interview (Tom) Lasorda every day, be everybody’s friend, do a commentary ripping Peter Ueberoth once a year and show taped highlights, taped highlights and more taped highlights.”

Oops Dept.: Last week in this space, ABC was criticized for not fully explaining golfer Tommy Nakajima’s options after he hit a shot into a tree during the third round of the U.S. Open and a youngster scampered up the tree after it.

Reader Ron Bauer of Santa Ana writes: “You must surely have been at the package store when Frank Hannigan of the U.S. Golf Assn. explained all the rules relating to the shot.”

Others also pointed out that we bogeyed that one.

TV-Radio Notes The Dodgers’ game at St. Louis Monday night will be regionally televised by ABC. Channel 7 will carry the game live at 5 p.m., with Gary Bender and Tim McCarver reporting. . . . Attention surfing fans: Channel 7 is televising consecutive events Saturday. At 2:30 p.m. it’s the Pro Bodyboard Championships, held in January at Hawaii’s Banzai Pipeline. Steve Jam reports. At 3 p.m. it’s last year’s riot-marred OP Pro Championships, held at Huntington Beach. Channel 13 sportscaster Mike Chamberlin reports. . . . Attention NFL fans: It’s only five weeks until ABC televises the Aug. 8 Hall of Fame game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs. . . . Among those being considered as guest NFL commentators by ESPN are Lyle Alzado, Ed Marinaro and Dick Butkus.

Pat Summerall of CBS was inducted into the National High School Hall of Fame in Denver Thursday. Summerall was a four-sport prep star (football, basketball, baseball and tennis) in Lake City, Fla. He is the first Floridian to be so honored. . . . CBS will televise highlights from Monday night’s old-timers’ baseball game at Washington’s RFK Stadium during its “Sports Saturday” show Saturday at 2 p.m. Joe DiMaggio, Bob Feller, Hank Aaron, Whitey Ford and Luke Appling, the oldest player at 79, were among the participants. . . . On Sunday, CBS begins its Tour de France coverage on “Sports Sunday” at 1 p.m. . . . Gil Stratton, who recently returned to Los Angeles after spending several years in Hawaii, will share duties with Charleye Wright as host of the “Racing from Oak Tree” show on non-racing days during the fall meeting at Santa Anita.

WFAN, the new 24-hour sports radio station in New York, began operation Wednesday. Among the regulars on the station will be ABC sportscaster Jim Lampley, former ESPN sportscaster Greg Gumbel and--are you ready for this?--Steve Somers. Somers, you may recall, worked for KMPC radio and, before that, was Fred Roggin’s predecessor at Channel 4. Somers’ hours on WFAN will be midnight to 6 a.m. Somers has recently been working in Sacramento. . . . Former Cleveland talk-show host Pete Franklin, currently recovering from a heart attack, will handle the prime 3-to-7 p.m. hours when he is ready to go back to work. Until then, guest hosts will fill in. Bud Furillo, formerly of KABC radio, will handle next week’s show, and Fred Wallin of KFOX-FM in Redondo Beach and also the FNN/SCORE cable TV show will be the host July 27-Aug. 1.