Tennis : Los Angeles Tournament Doesn’t Figure to Be Hurt by Olympics

When it became known that the Summer Olympics--now with tennis as a full medal sport--would be conflicting with Volvo / Los Angeles and the Transamerica tournament in San Francisco, condolences seemed in order for the promoters of those events.

In 1987, both tournaments had a particularly tough time. Los Angeles? John McEnroe pulled out at the last minute because his wife, Tatum O’Neal, hadn’t delivered their second child. It left the organizers with just three players ranked in the top 20. San Francisco? The seeded players fell like . . . well, they fell right out of the event, leaving fans with a Peter Lundgren-Jim Pugh final.

But before you toss that last shovel of dirt on these two tournaments, patience is advised.

Somehow, in a weird, twisted way, the Olympics have left Los Angeles, in particular, with a good field.

Ivan Lendl wanted to play in Seoul, but he’s basically a man without a country. The Czechs would have given anything to have him represent his native country, but Lendl said thanks but no thanks. He wants to become a bona fide American, yet that won’t happen until long after South Korea. Thus, the No. 1-ranked Lendl is headed for Los Angeles, more specifically, UCLA’s L.A. Tennis Center, Sept. 19-25.

So is McEnroe. The No. 17-ranked player has missed so many tournaments because of injuries incurred during all of his comebacks he has to play at UCLA.

Which brings us to Andre Agassi, who has been deemed the most worthy successor to Mac and Jimmy Connors. Hey, at this time last year, Agassi wasn’t even a prospective entry on the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s dance card for Seoul because he was so far down in the rankings. Now the 18-year-old is No. 4 in the world and No. 1 in the hearts of the USTA. Unlike Chris Evert, however, Agassi couldn’t or wouldn’t change his schedule, which obviously would have broken the hearts of Los Angeles fans.

Pat Cash? Even though he sleep-walked his way through the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, losing to Paolo Cane, Australia’s finest was willing to give the Summer Games another shot. However, Cash had to pull out of two events earlier this summer because of injuries, which meant he would have to make them up later. Cash decided sooner would be better than later, leading to his entry in Los Angeles.

Whether Cash actually makes it to Los Angeles remains to be seen. He hobbled through an early-round loss last week in Cincinnati because of an injured Achilles’ tendon. When asked about his readiness for the U.S. Open, Cash didn’t think he or his leg would be ready.

But if Cash or one of the other top players doesn’t make it here, it won’t be anything out of the ordinary. In the last three years, the Los Angeles tournament has lost a top player at the last minute. And, this tournament hasn’t been alone in losing top players at a late date. Throughout this summer, events have been plagued with late withdrawals because of real or imagined injuries.

The women’s tour hasn’t been immune to this problem, either. Evert missed an event in Newport, R.I., after Wimbledon. Martina Navratilova had to skip Manhattan Beach. San Diego lost its top-seeded player, Patty Fendick, when she defaulted in the middle of her first match.

It’s definitely not the exception on the tour anymore, rather, it’s the norm these days.

No wonder Los Angeles tournament director Bob Kramer is prudent in qualifying his remarks about this year’s field.

“I’d have to say, looking at the list of players entered, it’s our strongest field in a long time, if everyone shows up,” Kramer said.

In 1986, he had Lendl and McEnroe entered, but Lendl was a no-show because of an injury. Kramer knows that the tournament’s position on the schedule--just a week after the U.S. Open--isn’t ideal on two fronts. First, many players don’t want to compete after a Grand Slam event. Instead, events before a major tournament fare much better than those held after one. Secondly, after a major event, the top players are generally banged up after two weeks of tough competition, and nagging injuries seem to turn into major ones.

But with four top names entered, even if one or two withdrew, the event would be better off than last year when it had Stefan Edberg as the only top 10 player. Boris Becker, Edberg, Mats Wilander, Henri Leconte and Tim Mayotte are the top players entered in the Olympics, so Los Angeles comes out quite well in comparison as far as big name players, even if it won’t have as much depth.

Then, however, there are other concerns for the tournament: The usual heavy sporting competition in the Los Angeles area. USC plays Oklahoma at home the same day as the semifinals of the tournament. The Dodgers are home in mid-week and then travel to San Francisco for a potentially big series.

There won’t be too much competition from the Olympics are far as tennis is concerned. Early-round action begins Sept. 20, but the quarterfinals won’t even be played until Sept. 26, after the Los Angeles event is over. Track and field mostly holds preliminaries the first week. However, the finals of the men’s and women’s 100-meter dash are on the same weekend as the tournament’s last two days.

That shouldn’t be much of a concern, though. If the big name tennis stars are at UCLA’s L.A. Tennis Center, the fans will be there, too. After all, Carl Lewis and Florence Griffith-Joyner can easily be captured on videocassette, if nothing else.

Eighteen-year-old Stephanie Rehe of Highland, Calif., returned to the world’s top 20 with her semifinal finish at the recent Virginia Slims of Los Angeles at Manhattan Beach. She went from No. 25 to No. 18.

Also moving up significantly in the rankings was 15-year-old amateur Amy Frazier of Rochester, Mich., who defeated Pam Shriver en route to the quarterfinals at Manhattan Beach. Frazier went up 46 places, from No. 119 to No. 73, because of her performance in Los Angeles.

One last comment on the Chris Evert / Elise Burgin / U.S. Tennis Assn. Olympic snafu, via Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. A writer from the News / Sun Sentinel there called Evert the Willie Gault of the U.S. summer team.

Gault, as you might remember, was named to the U.S. bobsled team after the NFL season finished, which upset many of the other team members. The bobsledder who was to be dumped for Gault, Don La Vigne, was allowed to stay on the team after an International Olympic Committee waiver.