TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : Courier, 19, Could Be This Year’s Chang

Michael Chang’s victory in the French Open last year sent shock waves through the tennis world. At 17, Chang became the youngest winner of a Grand Slam event and the first American to win the French Open since Tony Trabert in 1955.

There were 34 years of American hopes buried beneath the red clay of Stade Roland Garros until Chang defeated Stefan Edberg in the 1989 final.

It can’t happen again this year, can it?

“Well, I wouldn’t rule it out,” said Jim Courier, 19, of Plant City, Fla., who may be the United States’ best hope in the French Open, which begins Monday.

Ranked No. 17, Courier has reached the round of 16 or better in seven of his 10 tournaments this year and has surpassed Chang and maybe even Andre Agassi as the American with the best chance of winning the world’s premier clay court tournament.

If Courier’s play had not earned him such a position, he might have gotten it by default anyway. Brad Gilbert is ranked fourth, but he might as well be playing on quicksand as on clay, so he isn’t here. John McEnroe, out of the top 10 at No. 11 for the first time in a year, is 31, ill-suited for clay and won’t play.

No. 12 Jay Berger is inconsistent. Chang has dropped to No. 14 and is still coming back from the hip injury he suffered last December. Tim Mayotte, another whose game is not suited for clay, won’t play either.

That leaves the fifth-ranked Agassi and Courier. Agassi is seeded third, Courier 14th. Agassi may be rusty after skipping the clay court season, although his unorthodox preparation methods somehow seem to pay off for him.

As for his own chances, Courier thinks big things might spring from his racket.

“I don’t know if it’s time for me to make another big jump, but I hope it is,” he said. “I think I’m ready to do it. I think my game is in place and my body is coming into place as far as fitness goes.

“There are a lot of floaters out there. I would never count (Alberto) Mancini out. Andre (Agassi) would definitely look to be one of the favorites with (Ivan) Lendl out. (Aaron) Krickstein beat Lendl, so that’s got to be a big boost for his confidence. (Jay) Berger is pretty rough, and (Emilio) Sanchez and (Andres) Gomez are playing the best they’ve ever played.”

Courier hasn’t played any better, either. The former Little League pitcher had a stretch of four quarterfinal appearances in five tournaments. After that, he lost to Thomas Muster in the round of 16 at Monte Carlo, to Jonas Svensson in the quarterfinals at Munich, to Juan Aguilera in the round of 16 at Rome, and to Andrei Chesnokov in the round of 16 at the Italian Open.

Chesnokov won a five-set marathon against Courier in the fourth round of last year’s French Open after Courier took the first two sets. That loss inspired Courier to train harder during the off-season at the Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla. Working alongside fellow pro and doubles parter Pete Sampras, Courier improved his conditioning with the help of trainer Sergio Cruz. Courier has since left Coach Nick Bollettieri and is traveling the circuit with Cruz.

Early in the year, Courier set his sights on the French Open, where he hopes to make a fast impression on the slow, red clay.

“Three out of five on clay, it’s war,” Courier said. “You’re waging war against your body as much as you’re waging war against your opponent. You have to fight to stay motivated. If you’re out there on the dirt, pounding balls for four hours, your mind can wander and you really have to fight yourself to stay focused.

“Last year, when I lost to Chesnokov, it wasn’t my mind wandering, it was my legs telling me they’d had enough,” Courier said. “Hopefully, this year my legs will tell me they’re feeling good and they’ll be able to keep charging.”

New coach, same plan: When she beat Steffi Graf and won the French Open last year at 17, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario was coached by the flashy Juan Nunez, who said she had “the eye of the tiger.” Insiders say that when Nunez asked for a raise up to $100,000 to renew his contract and guide her in Paris, Arantxa had the eye of the banker and bid Nunez au revoir .

Sanchez Vicario hired well-traveled Mike Estep, who coached Martina Navratilova in her prime and most recently worked with Hana Mandlikova. The latter let him go after this year’s Australian Open, and Estep retreated to his home in Ft. Worth, waiting for someone to call.

Estep has revamped Sanchez Vicario’s already successful baseline game and has mixed in more hardcourt tactics. It may be too early to know if Estep’s coaching has worked, though. Sanchez Vicario has been in five finals this year, all on clay, winning one--at Barcelona.

However, Sanchez is confident that Estep’s tutelage will pay off by giving her more of an all-court game.

“I’m more aggressive now, and he’s teaching me how to serve and volley and how to go to the net,” Sanchez Vicario said.

Estep reportedly earns $100,000 in the employ of Sanchez Vicario.

Defending her French Open title, the No. 4-ranked Sanchez Vicario may run into Graf again, which has been bad news so far this year: Graf is 3-0 against Sanchez Vicario. However, the defending champion says she will approach this year’s tournament just as she did a year ago.

“Last year, I was very (confident),” Sanchez Vicario said. “I was 100% positive against Steffi that I can win the tournament. This is what I am thinking. Nobody thinks last year I can win the French Open, but my game is improved. Nobody can take my name Arantxa off the trophy.

“I think it is very tough for Graf,” she said. “She knows there are a lot of young players who can play well. And there is no pressure on me. I think it will be a very interesting tournament.”

Sanchez Vicario is not fazed by losing to Graf in three finals this year, twice on clay and once on carpet. Three weeks ago in Hamburg, Graf needed three sets to defeat her on clay. And even though Graf won the last two sets, 6-0, 6-1, Sanchez Vicario doesn’t believe that can happen again in the French Open.

“It’s going to be different,” Sanchez Vicario said. “If I play Graf again, I’ll remember I lost the last time in three sets. Also, it’s the French, I like it, the crowd will be cheering for me. Maybe she remembers what happened last year, too. Who knows? I hope so.”

Monica/money: Financial news on the Monica Seles front includes a $3-million, three-year deal with Fila, an Italian apparel and shoe manufacturer, to produce a “signature line” for her. The new line of clothes will feature a Monica Seles logo designed by her father, Karolj, a graphic artist and cartoonist.

Seles, 16, and ranked No. 3 after five consecutive tournament victories, has winnings this year of $447,463. She said she is making plans to spend some of it.

“Maybe after the French Open, I’ll buy a car,” she told the Associated Press in West Berlin after beating Graf. “I’m the only one of the top players who doesn’t have a car.

“My taste is a little exotic,” Seles said. “I’d like a Lamborghini, but I’ll settle for a red BMW.”

Seles must overcome one problem, first: “I still have to get my driver’s license.”

Seles, who split recently from Bollettieri, said she is now coached by her father.

Plyometrics?: Tennis fitness/nutrition guru Randy McWilliams of Palm Desert has come up with an unusual new activity called plyometrics, which includes working out with one’s ankles connected by rubber bands. In another drill, someone holds surgical tubing that is attached to the player’s waist, creating sort of a human yo-yo.

Among McWilliams’ converts is doubles specialist Jim Pugh, who said: “My speed has increased tremendously and my endurance has increased tenfold.”

Strong fields: Martina Navratilova will play in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles Aug. 13-19 at the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach, and if everyone shows up who says they will, defending champion and No. 2-ranked Navratilova may be in trouble.

Both Seles and 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati are committed to the event, a hardcourt warm-up for the U.S. Open.

Gabriela Sabatini and Mary Joe Fernandez have also entered.

Graf, who hasn’t played Los Angeles in three years, has entered the Great American Bank tournament Aug. 6-12 at the San Diego Tennis & Racquet Club.

Elsewhere, Sampras has entered the Volvo/Los Angeles tournament July 28-Aug. 5 at UCLA, joining the No. 2-ranked Edberg, Krickstein and Chang in the event.

Sampras, who won his first pro tournament at Philadelphia in February, is ranked No. 20. Krickstein beat Chang for last year’s championship.

Tennis Notes

Czechoslovakian-born Ivan Lendl and Hana Mandlikova have made donations to Czechoslovakia’s only independent democratic newspaper, Lidove Noviny.

David Mirisch expects a number of celebrities to take part in three fund-raising events he is organizing next month: June 9 at North Ranch Country Club in Westlake for United Cerebral Palsy/Spastic Children’s Foundation; June 17 at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Long Beach for the D.A.R.E. program, and June 30 at Half Moon Bay Resort near San Francisco for the Peninsula Humane Society. Information: (213) 275-9485.

The Southern California Tennis Assn. will offer instructional clinics for children 8 to 18 at locations throughout Southern California beginning the week of July 9. The annual program, the USTA/National Junior Tennis League, is designed to provide youngsters in disadvantaged areas with an opportunity to gain tennis experience. Information: (213) 208-3838.

In the second annual “Youth vs. Experience” championships at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, the older players won 14 matches to 10 for the younger players. Alex Olmedo won one for the experienced players, defeating Philip Tseng of Los Angeles, 6-3, 6-4, but Dodo Cheney of Santa Monica was defeated by the younger Venus Williams of Compton, 6-1, 6-0.