Not Even a U.S. Crowd Can Keep Becker Down : West German Loses the First Two Sets but Wins His Match Against Wilkison

For Boris Becker, his first-round match against Tim Wilkison at the U.S. Open Tuesday night had all the elements he feared the most.

First, it was so much like the Davis Cup epics he played earlier this summer against the United States in Hartford, Conn. A noisy, patriotic crowd, trying to buoy the underdog. And, Wilkison, not unlike John McEnroe, was doing his best to charge up the spectators.

For that matter, Wilkison alone, even without a crowd behind him, has always given Becker problems. He’s beaten the 19-year-old West German once, and gave him a good run last winter at Indian Wells, Calif., which was the scene of Becker’s first tournament after his well-publicized, temper-tantrum Down Under.

Again, Wilkison was almost equal to the task, falling just short. As the last American to lose in the 1986 U.S. Open, Wilkison became merely another first-day casualty this year as Becker defeated him, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2, in a 4-hour, 3-minute match.

Although Becker is seeded fourth at the Open, and Wilkison’s rating has fallen to No. 51, the disparity in their rankings means nothing once they take the court.

As for Becker, once play began early in the evening at the National Tennis Center here in Flushing Meadow, the match began to take on the characteristic of yet another dreaded contest in the past, one across the ocean in June.

In the opening set, Becker squandered two break points--one in the second game and one in the sixth. Had he converted either, the contest might have taken on an entirely different tone.

“I had a few break points in the first set,” said Becker, who recorded a career first by rallying from a two-set deficit. “If he missed one of those volleys, I think I might have won it, three sets to love.

“Then, the crowd gets into it, and it was just another Doohan.”

As in Peter Doohan, the author of Becker’s second-round exit at the most recent Grand Slam stop, Wimbledon.

Wilkison, the 27-year-old from North Carolina who often answers to the nickname of Dr. Dirt for his hustling style on the court, knew he had a chance against Becker. When told of his seemingly bad draw, Wilkison said that if people wanted to see his opponent, Becker, at the Open, they had better come watch on Tuesday or else they’d miss him completely.

“When we found out I was going to play Becker, my coach said to me, ‘The legend has begun.’ I said, ‘What?’ It was almost like karma, we were thinking I was going to beat him.”

However, the karma only lasted so long. Becker found an opening and broke through in the second game of the third set.

“When I broke him, that gave me some hope,” Becker said. “I said to myself, I’m going to try to hold my serve and make him beat me with winners.”

Wilkison felt the momentum shifted once Becker began returning his serve better. Throughout the match Becker struggled with his own serve, double-faulting 13 times. However, even a sub-par effort from Becker, Wilkison noted, is better than most.

And, the longer the match lasted, the stronger Becker got. He won 11 straight points en route to winning the fourth set and taking a 2-0 lead in the fifth. Wilkison managed one last gasp, coming back to tie it, 2-2, as he broke Becker in the fourth game.

But Becker had one more hot streak, and it was more than enough. He won the last 14 points of the match, finally subduing Wilkison with a backhand passing shot service return down the line.

Despite the closeness of the match and how he failed to close out the contest when given the chance, Wilkison said he wasn’t disappointed.

Later, however, he talked about how high his hopes had been for this first-round meeting against Becker.

Wilkison smiled. “I don’t deal with reality. But that’s what we were talking about, that I could beat him.”

At 8:24 p.m., 11:24 in the East, and Becker leading, 1-0, in the fifth set, USA cable network was forced to cut away from its coverage because of a contractual agreement with CBS, which was showing highlights of the match at 11:30.

USA urged its viewers to turn to CBS for the conclusion of the match.