Edberg Has Lead, but Rain Rules : Becker Trails, 3-2, in First Set When Final Is Suspended

These championships seem a complicated form of cloud seeding. Matches are scheduled and then, after a while, it rains. Any region currently experiencing drought conditions ought to think about holding its own Wimbledon. Besides the rain, there is the benefit of a considerable concessions business.

Wimbledon did its drizzly commerce Sunday, without the distraction of too much tennis. Thousands of people milled about the dozen or so gift shops with a renewed purpose. The men’s final, between two-time champion Boris Becker and third-seeded Stefan Edberg, was put off until evening and then lasted just five games, interrupting an English mist that was, for once, all too palpable and plainly unrelieved. Not even the tournament forecaster could put a good face on it, though he seemed to try: “The showers will become less frequent before some longer spells of rain, heavy at times.”

In other words, this might be a good day to buy that T-shirt for $12.

Beginning at 6:33 p.m. here, about 4 1/2 hours after the scheduled start, they did get in some tennis, but not enough that it mattered. With the sky turning the color of carbon paper, they dragged the finalists onto Centre Court and got exactly 22 minutes of play out of them. Edberg started strong, taking the first three games by virtue of some wonderful passing shots, and then Becker came back to survive break point and five deuces to win a game finally. Then he broke Edberg, passing him on the final point and the rain returned. There’s your men’s championship, so far, Edberg ahead, 3-2, in an event that could take as long as the Tour de France.

And so we were left to wonder a little longer--their match rescheduled for 11 a.m. here (3 a.m., PDT; tape-delayed for television at 8 a.m.) today--about these two players, whose strange careers can bear the examination. Their progress through this tournament, in all kinds of weather, allows no easy conclusions. Becker has breezed, Edberg struggled. Becker has been playful, Edberg gritty. Obviously, both have won.

It is curious that throughout this tournament the big West German has seemed more solidly constructed, and not just physically. With his on-court manner, which sometimes tends toward farce, he projects immense confidence. A 20 year old, without a care in world, busting service winners at the helpless opposition.

Yet it was not so long ago, if it’s in his past at all, that Becker was considered a fragile little flower. The story is told that earlier this spring, Becker returned from his WCT tournament win in Dallas (over Edberg, as it happens) to practice with his Davis Cup teammates. Eric Jelen, ranked well below Becker, was frustrating his teammate with cute little winners, just inside the lines. Becker boiled in frustration, until the team coach, Nikki Pilic, entered the picture and began calling Jelen’s shots out.

There has not always been somebody there for Becker, or at least not the right person. Gunther Bosch coached the prodigy to his 1985 and 1986 Wimbledon titles. Yet Bosch had no effect on the champion in the 1987 Australian Open when Becker broke into his now-famous rampage, bashing rackets and good feelings. Becker, the indomitable, went on to finish the season by losing to Peter Doohan in Wimbledon’s second round. Bosch is no longer Becker’s coach. That job now belongs to Bob Brett, an Australian.

Edberg’s makeup is no less suspect. At the Queen’s Club, a grass-court tournament held just before Wimbledon, Becker unsettled the Swede by stopping him in mid-serve. Edberg politely cooperated and then proceeded to double fault. Becker beat him in another final. It’s not for nothing that Becker, who may hide his gamesmanship under the cloak of playfulness, says he is mentally tougher than Edberg.

Then again, what to make of Edberg’s play in the semifinals, when he came back from two sets to love to beat Miloslav Mecir. More remarkable: In the third set of that match, Mecir had four break points with the games tied, 3-3. Edberg was about to serve when the electronic eye, the one that beeps on long serves, blipped. Edberg halted, looked at the machine, and then served out the match, beginning his comeback with that game.

“It made the people who said Edberg had no fire in his belly look pretty silly,” said his coach, Englishman Tony Pickard.

Has Edberg changed? Has Becker?

Someday yet, we may find out. Becker can be counted on to test Edberg’s psyche. For goodness sakes, he tested Ivan Lendl’s psyche, and he doesn’t seem to even have one. With Lendl serving, trying to save one of the nine match points, Becker walked back to the lineswoman and asked her what shot he should choose for a return. The crowd didn’t like it (they clapped, a sign of disapproval), the umpire didn’t like it (he said, “Let’s play.”) and Lendl didn’t like it (he aced Becker on the following serve). Then again, Becker won the match on the point after that.

“I did the same thing at Queen’s and it helped me a little bit,” said Becker, ever the prankster. “It brought me good luck.”

Was he winking? No.

“It has not too much to do with tennis once you are in the semifinals of a Grand Slam, or even in a final. It can change so much that you just go out there and try to win at almost any price possible.”

For Wimbledon, it will not come a day too soon, but perhaps a day too late. This headline is taken from the Sunday Sport, a tabloid of suspect credentials: “Wimbledon Final Put On Alien Red Alert!” According to the story, “A tennis ball-shaped UFO from outer space has earmarked Wimbledon’s Centre Court as a landing zone and today players in the men’s final will be serving in fear of a visit from evil astronauts. Wimbledon insiders are terrified the aliens will zap the tournament’s showpiece--beaming up tennis stars in front of millions of TV viewers.”

The story, quoting an unnamed expert, went on: “They’d probably love to get hold of a top tennis player and force him to take part in intergalactic tournaments.”

The story concluded: “Men’s final tickets last night selling for 1,200 Gdonks on the outer space black market.”

This would be bad news for Wimbledon, if true. It would mean they had missed a marketing opportunity after all.

HOW THEY REACHED THE WIMBLEDON FINAL

STEFAN EDBERG (No. 3 seed)

Round Opponent, score First Guy Forget, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Second Richey Reneberg, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 6-2 Third Ken Flach, 6-2, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 Fourth Simon Youl, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 Quarterfinals Patrick Kuhnen, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) Semifinals Miloslav Mecir, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4

BORIS BECKER (No. 6 seed)

Round Opponent, score First John Frawley, 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 Second Karel Novacek, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 Third Sammy Giammalva, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-4 Fourth Paul Annacone, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 Quarterfinals Pat Cash, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 Semifinals Ivan Lendl, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 6-4