Rehe Has a Day Delay Then Opens with Graf

The idea was to jump in and get her feet wet. She just doesn’t want to drown in the process.

As the Great American Bank Tennis Tournament gets under way today at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club, Stephanie Rehe, the winner here in 1988, will have to wait one more day to make her professional comeback appearance. Then at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Rehe, 20, will meet defending champion Steffi Graf, a Grand Slam winner fresh off a victory Sunday at the Canadian Open in Montreal.

Martina Navratilova, the world’s No. 2 player and nine-time Wimbledon singles champion--seeded second here--will play Rancho Bernardo’s Rosalyn Fairbank-Nideffer in her opening-round match Tuesday night. Third seeded Zina Garrison, Wimbledon finalist and runner-up here last year, will meet Gigi Fernandez. Fourth-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere will meet Alisia May Monday afternoon.

The 32-player field features players ranked from the top all the way to 355th on the computer rankings, but Steffi and Steph provide the greatest contrast. Graf is top-seeded here and the No. 1 player in the world. Rehe is unranked and a wild-card entrant.

“I couldn’t imagine a harder draw,” said Rehe, who has played Graf a half dozen times and has one victory--in the Girls 14s at the Orange Bowl--to her credit. “But there’s no ifs, ands or buts, that’s how my name came up. For me to have major back surgery, come back and then get a chance to play the No. 1 player in the world, it’s a dream come true.”

Rehe’s last professional tournament was in Chicago in November, 1988. At the time she held the 14th spot in world rankings. But a car accident during the tournament left her with a severe back injury that she has been rehabilitating from ever since. She sat out all of 1989 and fell out of the rankings.

“I finally feel ready to play,” Rehe said. “I don’t know if everything is 100%, but I’m ready in my mind and my body feels good.”

Rehe chose to make her comeback in San Diego mainly because she said she felt ready, but also because of her sentiments toward this event, in which she was a finalist in 1986 and champion two years ago.

“San Diego’s a great place, and this is a great tournament,” said Rehe, who lived in Highland, Calif., before her parents recently moved to Oceanside. “It helps to be in a comfortable environment. Having won it, I have strong feelings about this event.”

So does Jane Stratton, tournament director since 1984. Stratton and promoter Raquel Giscafre have watched this tournament, previously the Virginia Slims of San Diego, grow in prize money, prestige and popularity.

“We thought San Diego has a lot of possibilities,” Stratton said. “There are thousands of tennis players here, there’s a lot of community support, it just seemed like a natural.”

Besides the increase in prize money, sweetened considerably from its original $50,000 to the current $225,000 pot, the San Diego event reached primary status for the first time last year, making the tournament as valuable as other tour stops worth more money.

“That was the goal all along,” Stratton said, “to get primary status. We were the last tournament to get it. Now if you want to try and get it, you have to buy it.”

While Graf’s appearance last year was certainly a major coup, adding Navratilova’s name to the draw has allowed this event to harvest the kind of national attention reserved for few.

“To have the No. 1, 2 and 5-ranked players in the world here,” Stratton said, “it’s a dream you’d say. No way in the world would I be disappointed with this field.”

Despite the financial problems that have plagued Great American Bank recently, Stratton said the corporation has remained supportive of the tournament.

“Great American has stayed with us all the way,” Stratton said. “Their problems have been unfortunate, and they deserve a lot of credit.”

Stratton is also encouraged by ticket sales, which have been brisk.

“We added 1,000 seats from last year’s capacity,” Stratton said. “And we’ve already passed last year’s sales at this time.”

Tennis Notes

Rosalyn Fairbank-Nideffer isn’t the only San Diegan to play this week. Angelica Gavaldon of Coronado, who upset Fairbank-Nideffer in the first round last year and turned professional in February, will play Claudia Porwik at 6:30 tonight on center court. Gavaldon, 16, lost to Porwik in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open last year. Seventh-seeded Gretchen Magers of San Diego will play Terry Phelps in today’s first match. Robin White of Del Mar was scheduled to play, but withdrew. The winner will receive $45,000, the runner-up $22,500.