Becker, Lendl Slip on Grass, Slide to Wins

Lush, green and carefully manicured, the neatly cropped grass courts of the All England Club once again served as Boris Becker’s back yard Monday.

On the first day of Wimbledon, the grass was a little different--it was the kind that sort of squishes under your sneaker--but Becker and Ivan Lendl were about the same.

Becker, the defending champion, and Lendl, the would-be champion, had more trouble with the unusually soft, slick grass than with their first-round opponents.

Against 199th-ranked Luis Herrera of Mexico, Becker served erratically but won, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5. The vital statistics: Becker had 10 aces, 14 double faults and slipped 10 times.

A gymnastics routine accompanied his tennis: He fell to one hand. He dropped to his knees. He flopped on his belly.

The grass made him do it, Becker said.

“It was very, very soft,” Becker said. “And very, very wet.”

But is Becker still confident on his favorite patch of grass? Very, very. Becker says he can actually pinpoint the precise moment he feels comfortable on grass: “Match point.”

The ball also bounced low for Lendl, who lost the first set to Christian Miniussi, a little-known Argentine clay-court specialist, then decided to change tactics. He began bending his knees.

That novel maneuver paid off for Lendl in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 winner over the 116th-ranked Miniussi.

If Becker is confident on grass, Lendl is the opposite. At least he has been in the past. On grass courts, Lendl has looked like a weed. “Look what Lendl said the first time he came here,” Vijay Amritraj said. “ ‘Grass is for cows.’ But look at his determination.”

Since winning the Australian Open in January, Lendl has spent most of his time working on his grass-court game, Wimbledon being the only Grand Slam title to have eluded him.

Lendl has worked with Coach Tony Roche on grass courts in Australia, at home in Greenwich, Conn., and in England. He skipped the French Open, the clay-court test that he has won four times, to concentrate on his grass game.

Lendl is using a new, wide-body racket made by a Japanese clothing and racket company. Roche hopes that it will produce sharper volleys and an improved grass-court serve.

Wimbledon great Fred Perry said he was impressed by Lendl’s careful preparation, but is cautious about Lendl’s chances. “Has he fully mastered the art of running on a grass court, because it’s a different ballgame?” Perry asked. “Normally, Lendl runs to the ball and gives it a clout. On grass, you run to a point where you can conveniently reach out and hit it. It’s a different rhythm and I think he has trouble with that.”

Lendl had trouble with Miniussi only at the start. In 13 minutes, he was down, 4-1. Lendl said his timing was off, but his new approach paid off.

“I don’t go on the court saying, ‘I’m playing on grass,’ ” Lendl said. “It’s just a tennis court. Before, I would say, ‘OK, be careful, you’re playing on grass.’ Now, I don’t worry about it.”

With eight Grand Slam titles to his credit, Lendl said he is naturally interesting in winning Wimbledon to complete his Grand Slam collection. He refused to call his drive an obsession, but he wasn’t quite sure what to call it.

“I have won everything else,” Lendl said. “Davis Cup, French, Australian, U.S. Open. I have been No. 1. I don’t think there is anything else you can do.”

Michael Chang’s first-round match with Jose Francisco Altur of Spain was postponed because it got too late to play. However, Yannick Noah wasn’t as lucky.

Noah, 30, lost in the first round for the eighth time this year, dropping a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 decision to 18-year-old South African Wayne Ferreira. Afterward, Noah said he has areas to improve.

“My serve, I could improve, you know; my move, my volleys, my serve, my head, I guess,” Noah said.

Wild-card entry Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion coming back from injuries, barely avoided an upset at the hands of Dimitri Poliakov of the Soviet Union, 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Poliakov, a qualifier, was playing his first tournament of the year.

Seventh-seeded Brad Gilbert and ninth-seeded Jim Courier won. Gilbert came from behind and beat Bruno Oresar of Yugoslavia, 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Courier defeated former UC Irvine star Mark Kaplan, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

With three Wimbledon titles, Becker has done just about everything possible at the All England Club. Herrera, 22, proved to be a pesky first-round opponent and one who certainly had some chances.

Herrera served for the first set at 5-4 and wasted a set point, blew a 3-1 lead in the second set tiebreaker, served for the third set at 5-4, lost the last game of the match after leading, 40-0, and double-faulted on match point.

Said Becker: “I’m content to go through.”

Next for Becker is Wally Masur of Australia. Lendl will play Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland. Becker assessed his confidence level on the green, green grass of home away from home.

“Pretty good,” he said. “Especially on grass, especially in this tournament.”

Wimbledon Notes

In the women’s singles Czechoslovak-born Australian Hana Mandlikova, who has announced that this will be her last singles tournament, hung on to reach the second round. The two-time finalist and former winner of the French, U.S. and Australian opens defeated Laura Lapi of Italy, 6-3, 3-6, 11-9, after saving three match points while trailing, 5-3, in the final set.

The English had something to cheer about as Sarah Loosemore, trying to figure if she should pursue a tennis career or go to Oxford, beat No. 16 Barbara Paulus of Austria, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.