Illness Is Winner at U.S. Open : Evert Pulls Out of Semifinal, Leach Defaults in Doubles

Last year, when the telecast of the second U.S. Open women’s semifinal match between top-ranked Steffi Graf and Lori McNeil ran into the “CBS Evening News” time slot, anchorman Dan Rather stormed off the news set in anger.

Just one year later, again on the women’s semifinal day, the problem was not too much tennis. In fact, it was just the opposite.

For CBS, the question this time wasn’t, where was Dan Rather? Instead, it was, where was Chris Evert?

And where was Rick Leach?

Where were the fans at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow?

Evert and Leach were no-shows Friday because of sickness.

The fans? They probably got sick, too, when they realized what the program would be after Gabriela Sabatini had defeated Zina Garrison in the first women’s semifinal.

Yeah, let’s stick around for that exciting Hank Pfister-Tom Gullikson match in the senior men’s invitational semifinals. Or was that Tim Gullikson? And for the grand finale, Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan vs. Marty Riessen and Sherwood Stewart in senior men’s doubles.

Before the program was changed because of the absence of Evert and Leach, the matchups were supposed to be Jim Pugh and Leach against Spain’s Emilio Sanchez and Sergio Casal in the men’s doubles final, followed by Evert against Graf in the second women’s semifinal.

Evert was forced to pull out of the match against Graf because of a stomach virus. She is the first semifinalist under the tournament’s current structure to default because of illness. Evert, 33, a six-time Open winner, came down with the illness Wednesday night about 10. She hadn’t practiced or even left her room since then.

“I’m disappointed,” she said in a statement Friday. “It came so suddenly after my match on Wednesday. I got through all my matches with the girls I was supposed to beat. I was really looking forward to playing Steffi and being part of her Grand Slam bid. I could have gone out there with no pressure, hit out and really given it a shot against Steffi.

“It’s the first time in 18 years of Grand Slams that I’ve had to default.

“My body feels like it’s been through a war. Every muscle and joint aches. Physically, I couldn’t go out and play. I don’t have any energy. I think I’ve been through the worst of it, with the vomiting and diarrhea, but I still have a temperature of 101 degrees.”

Leach got sick Thursday night, and his symptoms were worse. Friday, he had a 103-degree fever and couldn’t stand up. Because he had been vomiting since Thursday night, he was taken to nearby North Shore University Hospital for intravenous fluids and medication. He was released Friday afternoon.

Back home in Laguna Beach, Leach’s neighbors were getting ready to watch him and Pugh go after their first Open doubles title and second Grand Slam championship this year, according to Leach’s father, Dick, the men’s tennis coach at USC.

“He’s very sad,” Dick Leach said. “It’s very disappointing for him, but hopefully he will be in another final. You don’t get sick very often, and suddenly you get sick on a day like this, instead of the next day.”

Pugh did win the mixed-doubles title earlier with Jana Novotna, which was some consolation. But Pugh and Leach, winners in the Australian Open, were coming off a big semifinal victory over the No. 1 American team of Ken Flach and Robert Seguso.

“This whole summer, our No. 1 goal was to win the U.S. Open,” said Pugh, who lives in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Pugh said he realized that something was wrong when he tried to practice with Leach on Thursday. After about two minutes, Leach said he couldn’t continue because he was tired. Later Thursday night, Leach told Pugh he was improving.

When Pugh arrived at the center for practice on Friday morning, however, Leach was visibly ill, shivering and vomiting in the locker room.

“I didn’t say anything to him because I didn’t want to put pressure on him,” Pugh said.

Tournament doctor Gary Wadler, who examined Evert and Leach, said he had no idea whether the illnesses were linked, even though the two players had the same symptoms. For Pugh and Leach, at least, there probably is going to be a next time in the Open.

For Evert, who knows? This year has been a disappointment, to varying degrees, for her in Grand Slam events. In Australia, she started well against Graf in the final. Then it started raining and the roof was closed, turning an outdoor event into an indoor one.

In the French Open, Evert was suffering from an injured heel and lost to Arantxa Sanchez in the third round. At Wimbledon, her dramatic semifinal match against Martina Navratilova was decided on a questionable call. Now, sickness in New York.

“She was obviously sad, just to look at her, and very disappointed,” said Wadler.

“She emphasized that the U.S. Open and Wimbledon were particularly important events, and this was the first time that she ever had to do this in her career.”

There was another first, too, this one for Pugh.

He stood alone on the court, racket in hand, watching Sanchez and Casal hold up the championship trophy during the awards ceremony.

Finally, though, he had enough of that. He took his prize money and walked off the court, alone.