Evert, Sukova Lead Indian Wells Field

Even though she isn’t here, the pursuit of Steffi Graf begins once again today in the $250,000 Virginia Slims of Indian Wells.

Chris Evert, Helena Sukova and Pam Shriver--three players chasing Graf in the world rankings--lead the field of 28 in the first-year tournament at Hyatt Grand Champions.

Evert, ranked No. 4, is top-seeded in the tournament, which awards $50,000 to the winner.

Although Graf has shown no sign of vulnerability as the world’s No. 1 player, both Evert and Sukova think a shift in the balance of power may not be too far off.

“What happens, for a year a two, that particular player dominates and no one even touches them,” Evert said. “Then the more the players play that particular player, the more they train and work out, that’s their incentive.

“Pretty soon, the level of their game lifts. Then you’re going to have a completely different standard of tennis.”

Sukova is playing her first tournament since the Australian Open, where she reached the final before losing to Graf. Sukova practiced Sunday morning on the stadium court with her new coach, Lada Travnicek, and said she remembers how to hit the ball.

“You can’t forget,” she said.

Sukova moved up to No. 5 in the rankings last week, bumping Shriver to No. 6. At this stage in her career, Sukova said she would rather not announce her goal to supplant Graf as the No. 1 player in the world.

“It’s better not to put pressure on myself,” she said. “I said before I’d like to get to the top five and stay there. I am now No. 5, but only by a small margin. At least it shows a little bit my game has improved.

“I think I am playing a smarter game than I did and I’m enjoying myself more on the court, so that’s the most important.

“For sure (Graf) is going to start to feel more pressure because I think it is the same as Martina (Navratilova) those two years when she was playing so great. At first, she was winning the matches so easy, but people started to catch up to her and started to beat her. I think it’s going to happen the same with Graf.

Sukova has a first-round bye, but her second-round match should be difficult. She meets the winner of the Brenda Schultz-Robin White match. Schultz forced Sukova to two 8-6 tiebreakers before losing in the final at Brisbane.

Tennis Notes

The top match today is 18-year-old rising star Brenda Schultz from the Netherlands playing Robin White. . . . Top-seeded Chris Evert may not play her first-round match until Wednesday. Wild-card entry Tracy Austin is tentatively scheduled to play her first-round match Tuesday.