Champions Cup Men’s Tennis Tournament : Toughest Trick for Van Rensburg Is Staying Fit

The first thing Christo van Rensburg has going for him is, of course, his name. He should be a rich playboy, bronzing himself on his luxury liner in the Mediterranean, with a name like that.

But to Miloslav Mecir, who is both a friend as well as an occasional member of the audience, Van Rensburg has another name: Magic.

Two of the things Christo van Rensburg does best are hitting tennis balls and burning handkerchiefs.

This is something of an unusual combination, but then it seems to suit the 26-year-old South African.

“After dinner when I’m with my friends and we’re having coffee, I’ll take a handkerchief and burn it,” Van Rensburg said.

The trick is that the handkerchief displays no burn marks. That is, if nothing goes wrong.

How would you like your handkerchief? Well done? Certainly, monsieur.

Van Rensburg certainly looks like a magician. His hair is spiked high on top in something of a frightened look, as if he had just stuck his finger in a light socket, or perhaps sawed someone in half by mistake.

The best trick Van Rensburg performs is not making a tennis ball disappear after crossing the net. It is his famous multiplying-Ping-Pong-balls trick and it goes like this:

Van Rensburg holds a Ping-Pong ball in one hand. He closes his hand and there are two balls. He closes his hand and voila, there are three balls.

“It’s a wonderful trick,” Van Rensburg said. “It’s wonderful because it’s hard and sometimes it doesn’t work.”

The bane of all magicians, whether they be full-time or part-time like Van Rensburg, is making a mistake. Every magician does it on occasion, though, even the great ones.

“I saw David Copperfield live once and he flopped a trick,” Van Rensburg said. “I felt really good.”

Whereas Van Rensburg has known only success in his career of prestidigitation, he is making yet another comeback from injury in tennis.

Van Rensburg has a history of disk problems. He hurt his back the first time in a qualifying match for the 1985 Lipton tournament when he hit a serve and couldn’t straighten up.

Then, in a doubles match at the 1987 French Open, Van Rensburg really got hurt. Once again he hit a serve and could not stand upright. Attendants brought a stretcher onto the court and stood it on end. Van Rensburg sort of leaned into it and was then carried off the court.

He missed 10 weeks of play. Then he also missed the hardcourt season, his specialty, for the second consecutive year because of injury.

Van Rensburg’s ranking, which had dropped to 58, rose to as high as No. 19 in February. He is now No. 38.

Peter Fishbach, who is Van Rensburg’s coach, said there may be just one factor that can affect his client.

“If he stays healthy, he’ll have a very good year,” Fishbach said.

Van Rensburg is the only player to have won a set from Boris Becker this year. He won his first-round match Tuesday, beating Lawson Duncan, 6-1, 6-2.

Ray Moore, with whom Van Rensburg stays on his trips to the desert, said he has seen magic in Van Rensburg’s preparation.

“He is one of the most meticulous, most methodical guys I’ve seen,” Moore said. “Now, he’s really working on his singles.”

Van Rensburg is better known as a doubles specialist. The last three tournaments that Van Rensburg teamed with Paul Annacone, they have won twice and reached the final of the other.

“Unless you do something really remarkable in singles, people are going to remember him for doubles,” Fishbach said.

Unless, of course, Van Rensburg devotes more time to his hobby.

When he was in Melbourne for the Australian Open, Van Rensburg did his trick with the Ping-Pong balls on a television show.

It wasn’t that difficult, Van Rensburg said. He has enough tricks up his sleeve that he could perform nonstop magic on stage for an hour.

As it is, though, Van Rensburg’s stage is movable.

In the players’ lounge at tournaments, in his hotel room or after dinner in a restaurant, he will cut a rope in half and join it together again. He will form a newspaper into a cone, fill it with water and make the water disappear.

If he felt like it, he could cut someone in half, but he said the equipment is too heavy to carry. Van Rensburg carries the rope trick, the handkerchief trick and the newspaper trick with him when he travels.

In the second round, he will play Andre Agassi. Van Rensburg can probably use a little magic in that one. Perhaps he can pull a big serve out of a hat or something.