Tennis Roundup : Players’ Union to Start Own Men’s Tour

The future of men’s professional tennis was thrown into disarray Wednesday when the players’ union broke from the sport’s governing body, announcing it will start its own tour in 1990.

The Assn. of Tennis Professionals, which includes most of the world’s leading players, said 21 have signed binding contracts to play on the new tour.

They include top-ranked Mats Wilander of Sweden, Wimbledon champion Stefan Edberg of Sweden, John McEnroe, Boris Becker of West Germany, Pat Cash of Australia and Tim Mayotte. No. 2-ranked Ivan Lendl has signed a letter of intent to join the new tour.

The ATP breakaway came after 2 days of talks in London within the 9-member Men’s Tennis Council, governing body of men’s tennis.

The Grand Slam tournaments, the Davis Cup and the Olympics--all run by the International Tennis Federation--will not be affected.

Wilander, seeded No. 1, lost 9 of the first 10 games but rallied to beat qualifier Niklas Kulti, a 17-year-old Swede, 0-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the second round of a $642,500 tournament at Stockholm.

Defending champion Pam Shriver and second-seeded Chris Evert breezed to quick victories in the opening round of a $300,000 tournament at Worcester, Mass.

Shriver, seeded fourth, took just 55 minutes to eliminate Leila Meskhi of the Soviet Union, 6-1, 6-2. Evert defeated Shaun Stafford, 6-3, 7-5, in just over an hour.