Return to San Diego Doesn’t Change Play of 1985 Champion : Croft Still Is Pressing Too Much

At match point, Annabel Croft’s topspin forehand was good. Game, set and match to Croft, a relatively unknown 18-year-old who was then ranked 83rd in the world in women’s tennis.

After she won that 1985 Virginia Slims of San Diego tournament, Croft shook Wendy Turnbull’s hand at the net and rushed to a phone near courtside to call her parents in Kent, England. Moments later, there were calls from the English press, which wanted to know all about the first professional victory for the country’s newest tennis hope.

“I felt on top of the world after that one,” Croft said. “After that, I felt was I going to go from strength to strength. I flew off to Australia and played well there, but I haven’t played well since.”

Croft, now 21, says she hasn’t felt as relaxed or carefree on the court since her victory in San Diego. That was the last time nothing was really expected of her. Since that victory, she has been under the scrutiny of the British press.

“They are some of the most brutal press in the world,” Croft said. “All of a sudden they expected me to be out there in the top 10 of the world, saying she’s the next champion, the next Virginia Wade. I put so much pressure on myself as well. I felt I had to win as much for England as well as for myself. You read a few of the reports and then you start expecting yourself to win every single match you play and that just doesn’t happen . . .”

This year Croft has eight first-round losses in 14 tournaments, in which her singles record is 8-14. Her first-round match Tuesday morning in the Virginia Slims tournament at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club followed the pattern.

Croft lost, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, to Sharon Walsh-Pete, who is ranked No. 75 in the world.

It has been a long and very difficult two years for Croft, who has slipped in the Women’s International Tennis Assn. rankings from No. 24 in 1985 to 70 in 1986 to 109 today. She is the third-ranked player in women’s tennis in England, but only two years ago, she had fulfilled a lifelong dream when she was the top-ranked woman in England.

The fame was too much for her.

“They’re really tough,” Croft said of the press. “They pair you up (romantically) with people. It’s very glamorized. They’re very quick to criticize anyone out there who is trying to do it (play tennis). They really can come down on you like a ton of bricks. They build people up and then just really enjoy squashing them.”

And this was the week Croft thought she might turn her game around.

In 1985, Croft also was struggling when she came to San Diego. She had lost five straight first-round matches and almost decided to skip the tournament.

“I was at rock bottom before I got there,” Croft said. “I got to San Diego, decided to hit out and go for it. I remember being very relaxed and very concentrated in that tournament.”

To prepare for this year’s tournament, Croft spent the past two weeks hitting with longtime friend John Lloyd in Los Angeles. She had not played in a tournament since losing to Elizabeth Smylie in the second round at Wimbledon.

“I was hitting the ball well before I came here,” said Croft, who appeared frustrated during the final set Tuesday and dropped the final five games of the match. “I was really thinking that maybe this would be the turning point. Guess I’ll have to wait till next week.

“I’m perfectly capable of winning these matches. It’s obvious. I go up in one set, lead in the second set, then go downhill. I lose concentration. . . . A lot of thoughts come rushing in. I try to tell myself to stop all that now because I get fed up with that. But obviously, if you’d had two years of constant battling, it’s pretty difficult.”

Last year was so bad, Croft said she “was shaking like a leaf” every time she walked on the court.

“Now, I’m not quite as bad as that. I feel I’ve sort of reached bottom,” she said.

“The main problem with me is I never really hit out. I tense up.”

When that happened, tennis stopped being fun. Looking back on a professional career that started when she was 15, Croft says: “I wish I could have realized it’s only a game and it should be fun. I was taking it really, really seriously. I wasn’t enjoying it for a while.”

Is playing tennis fun again?

There was a long pause.

“Ummm . . . I’m trying to make it fun,” Croft said. “I’m trying to do lots of other stuff off the courts. I enjoy being where I am instead of just always being around the tournament and talking to the same people all the time.”

Croft said she is thinking about moving her home base “from an airplane” to Los Angeles, where she likes the atmosphere and life style.

“I want to get away for a little bit,” Croft said. “I’d never (permanently) leave England because I like it a lot, but the pressure from everything has built up over the past two years. It would be good to have a break from that.”

Croft said it is possible she would stop playing tennis after another year.

“Players do start so young, and unless they get things into perspective and try and enjoy stuff off the court as well, then I think people do burn out,” Croft said. “I never used to agree with it (theory of burnout), but when you start feeling low, you see how it does happen.”