Evert Withdraws From Manhattan Beach Tournament

The Chris Evert goodby tour got a little shorter Monday when she pulled out of the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles, which starts next Monday.

Evert, 34, a five-time winner of the event and the defending champion, said she has not picked up a racket since losing to Steffi Graf in their Wimbledon semifinal match 25 days ago. Evert telephoned the Women’s International Tennis Assn. Monday morning and said that she was withdrawing because she wasn’t ready to play a competitive match.

Evert’s withdrawal cast doubt on her schedule for the rest of what she has said will probably be her last year. After losing to Graf, Evert said she would rest at her home in Aspen, Colo., and that her future on the tour was undecided.

Ranked No. 4 in the world--behind Graf, Martina Navratilova and Gabriela Sabatini--Evert has not been No. 1 in more than seven years, except for a five-month period in 1985.

The Virginia Slims of Los Angeles, played on the hard courts at Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach, was supposed to be Evert’s warmup event for the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 28 at Flushing Meadow, N.Y. If Evert intends to play the U.S. Open, there are two other tournaments she could use as tune-ups: the United Jersey Bank tournament at Mahwah, N.J., beginning Aug. 14, and the Player’s Challenge Canadian Open in Toronto beginning Aug. 21.

Evert, however, has not yet said for sure that she intends to play the U.S. Open, which she has won six times, but not since 1982. Unless she changes her mind, she is committed to play in the Federation Cup in Tokyo, Oct. 1-8, on a U.S. team that includes Navratilova, Zina Garrison and Pam Shriver.

Navratilova, Garrison and Shriver are scheduled to play in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles, joining Sabatini, Mary Joe Fernandez, Catarina Lindqvist and Hana Mandlikova in the 56-player field.