U.S. Open : Seems Like Old Times as Connors Wins

Early evening showers prevented Michael Chang from beginning his first-round match and Ivan Lendl from ending his, but Jimmy Connors just kept rolling along at the U.S. Open, like Old Man East River.

Connors made his 19th Open appearance Tuesday before the rain and increased his record for victories to 89 with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, victory over Tom Nijssen of the Netherlands.

It was about as routine a victory as Connors could imagine in a year where winning has been anything but a routine.

Champion of 107 tournaments, Connors has won twice in the past 4 1/2 years. In the 10 tournaments he has played this year, Connors advanced past the fourth round only four times.

Connors decided to do something about it. After he lost to Dan Goldie in the second round at Wimbledon, Connors put his racket in the closet and got away for a while.

Connors spent time riding in his brother’s boat and eating. He gained 15 pounds, which he has since lost. But that’s all he has lost.

Conners obviously enjoyed his break from tennis.

“It put me in a better frame of mind,” Conners said. “Getting away from tennis made me realize that I still enjoy playing the game.”

Conners showed he was clearly in vintage form when he engaged in a brief conversation with chair umpire Rudi Berger.

“I don’t want you overruling . . .” Conners said. “If you say one word I’m going to drag you out of that chair.”

Unlike Connors, not everyone completed their first-round matches. Fourteen matches never started and seven were suspended until today, including Chang’s encounter against Tim Wilkison. Chang came out, hit a few balls, then scurried for cover from the rain.

Ivan Lendl was also forced to leave quickly. His opponent, Diego Perez of Uruguay, was in the process of leaving even faster.

Lendl led, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), 2-0, then waited for play to be called off just before 9 p.m. to hit the Connecticut Turnpike home.

Lendl will be back today to finish, not as lucky as Andre Agassi and Stefan Edberg, who played and won well in advance of the rain.

Agassi wobbled briefly in the second set against Robbie Weiss, then finished fast in a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 victory.

Agassi lost interest briefly during the second set, but not long enough for Weiss to do any damage.

“I went through a lapse there,” said Agassi, who also has let his No. 3 ranking lapse this year.

After reaching the semifinals in last year’s Open, Agassi needs a good showing here to keep his No. 6 ranking.

“I look at it this way, if I do reach the semis, there will be problems and if I don’t reach the semis there will be more problems,” he said. “I’d rather get to the semis and have problems.

“People will read all sorts of things. If they want to read last year as fluky, then that’s their choice. And if that’s not their problem, then something else will be, so I’m not concerned.”

Weiss, the 1988 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. singles champion at Pepperdine, found himself unable to put enough pressure on Agassi from a position on the baseline.

Edberg, someone who is rarely on the baseline, got a nice first-round workout and advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 7-5, over Javier Frana of Argentina.

At least Edberg was healthy. Last week, he had to pull out of an exhibition because of an allergic reaction. The subject of his illness came up in Edberg’s post-match news conference, which produced the early leader for the most boring quote of the week.

Question: What were you allergic to?

Answer: I wish that I knew because I don’t know.

So in Edbergese, Frana--a first-round loser in three of his last five tournaments--probably never knew what hit him because he didn’t know.

Edberg has been one of the most consistent players the last four years at the Open, where he has reached the fourth round or better each time. Third-seeded, Edberg said there are only a few players with a chance to win this year.

“You probably can name them yourselves, probably Lendl, Becker, Mats, myself, Agassi, McEnroe.”

No Chang?

Tuesday night’s rainout might mean tough going for Chang. Instead of playing Wilkison in the Stadium Court, Chang will have to do it on an outside court, Court 16.

Connors, who will celebrate his 37th birthday Saturday, said he isn’t going to say he can’t win the Open for a sixth time.

“I don’t think about things like that,” he said. “I just come out and play the best tennis I can every match. If I continue to win, well, that’s even better.”

U.S. Open Notes

Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Gabriela Sabatini breezed through their first-round matches. Evert, playing her last U.S. Open and her last major tournament, defeated Bettina Fulco of Argentina, 6-4, 6-2. Navratilova spent 46 minutes in defeating 21-year-old Ei Iida of Japan, 6-0, 6-2. Iida (pronounced E-da), has a brother name Ai (pronounced Eye) and played at Pepperdine in 1986. Sabatini defeated Claudia Porwik of West Germany, 6-1, 6-2. . . . 10th-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez lost to Wendy White of Fort Worth, Tex., 6-4, 6-3.

Entrepreneur Donald Trump is an Evert fan. Trump attended Evert’s first-round match Tuesday. The night before, Trump sat next to Evert and husband Andy Mill at the Women’s International Tennis Assn. banquet at Trump’s hotel, the Plaza. But before dessert, Evert deserted the table. With Mill in tow, she left Trump at the table with two empty chairs.

Chuck Adams, 18, of Pacific Palisades, lost his first-round match to Ronald Agenor of Haiti, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). Adams got into the main draw as a wild-card after he won the USTA nationals 18-and-under age group.