TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : U.S.-Mexico Match Could Be Postponed

Because of the war in the Persian Gulf, the United States Tennis Assn. is considering postponing its Davis Cup match against Mexico. The USTA will probably decide Monday whether to go ahead and defend its Davis Cup title as scheduled with a first-round match in Mexico City, Feb. 1-3.

“I definitely have a concern,” said U.S. Captain Tom Gorman. “We’re taking it very seriously.”

The International Tennis Federation has already notified the countries participating in the worldwide competition that they will be permitted to postpone their matches, under the circumstances.

According to Suzanne Maguire of the USTA, the USTA has been in close contact with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and a decision needs to be made soon because the U.S. team is scheduled to leave for Mexico City next Sunday.

“We are going to lean in the direction of the security of the players,” Maguire said.

The U.S.-Mexico meeting is one of eight World Group matches scheduled for Feb. 1-3. Maguire said she understood that France’s match with Israel at Marseilles has already been postponed, but that has not been confirmed. Other first-round matches are Spain at Canada, Argentina at New Zealand, Germany at Italy, Yugoslavia at Sweden, Czechoslovakia at Austria, and Belgium at Australia.

Gorman, citing the threat of possible terrorism, said he has discussed the possibility of a postponement with one of his players, Andre Agassi.

“We certainly have to look at it differently,” Gorman said. “We’re looking at it real closely.”

As for the ITF’s permission for postponement, Gorman said: “That might be a more realistic conclusion.” Since 1911, the only times the Davis Cup was played were in 1915-1918 during World War I and 1940-45 during World War II.

Money business: The Australian Open has long suffered an identity crisis as the first and least of the Grand Slam events, plagued by a poor date, an inadequate facility and low prize money. Now in its fourth year at Flinders Park, the Australian Open site is as good as the French Open’s, slightly better than Wimbledon and several light years better than the U.S. Open’s.

But the Australian still lags behind its more successful Grand Slam partners in both prestige and prize money.

Playing in the heat of the summer, which is the season Down Under in January, turns off a number of players, who are also concerned that the hard Rebound Ace surface becomes sticky when it is hot and may lead to injury. The players are also perturbed about having to play a Grand Slam event the first month of the year.

But even more crucial to the eventual fate of the Australian Open is the matter of prize money. The Australian offers $4 million, a record for that tournament but by far the smallest payout among the Grand Slam events. The 1991 French Open is expected to offer $5.4 million, Wimbledon $5.3 million and the U.S. Open $5.1 million.

Apparently, the increased prize money had an effect on this year’s field. The men’s singles winner will receive a record $266,778 out of a record $2.023-million men’s purse. So, 17 of the top 20 men’s players entered, although No. 5 Pete Sampras and No. 14 John McEnroe had to pull out because of injury. The only other no-shows among the top 20 were No. 4 Agassi, No. 7 Thomas Muster and No. 16 Michael Chang.

Wild cards: An automatic wild-card entry into the $1-million Newsweek Champions Cup will go to the winner of the Adidas Invitational college tournament at Hyatt Grand Champions.

United States Tennis Assn. national team members Michael Joyce and Adam Peterson are entered in the 56-player field that also includes Byron Black and Jonathan Leach of USC, Alejo Mancisidor of Pepperdine, Matt Lucena of California, Brent Hansen-Dent of UC Irvine and Sandon Stolle of TCU. Doubles winners also get a wild-card berth in the main draw of the Newsweek Champions Cup.

Joyce, a senior at St. Monica High School in Santa Monica, was the first junior to reach the Adidas semifinals last year and will be the first junior to be seeded this year.

Edberg back: Defending champion and No. 1-ranked Stefan Edberg heads another strong field in the Newsweek Champions Cup, March 4-10 at Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells.

Seven of the players ranked in the top 10 are designated to play, among them No. 2 Boris Becker, No. 4 Agassi, No. 5 Sampras, No. 7 Muster, No. 9 Emilio Sanchez and No. 10 Brad Gilbert. Top 10 players missing are No. 3 Ivan Lendl, No. 6 Andres Gomez and No. 8 Goran Ivanisevic.

The rest of the designated players in the 56-draw are Aaron Krickstein, Chang, Jay Berger, Andrei Cherkasov, Jim Courier, Martin Jaite, Guy Forget, Juan Aguilera, Henri Leconte, Horst Skoff, Mark Rosset, Richey Reneberg, Marcelo Filippini, David Wheaton, Wally Masur, Tim Mayotte, Christo van Rensburg, Derrick Rostagno, Darren Cahill, Kevin Curren, Sergi Bruguera, Alexander Volkov, Goran Prpic and Scott Davis.

Tournament director Charlie Pasarell has committed wild cards not only to the winner of next weekend’s Adidas Invitational but to the winner and finalists in the Challenger series event the week before the Newsweek tournament. Pasarell still has two wild cards and has talked to Jimmy Connors about his interest in playing.

Martina time: Last year, Martina Navratilova won the Virginia Slims of Indian Wells in a final that was played in a sandstorm. The $350,000 tournament has moved to Palm Springs for the Feb. 25-March 3 event and Navratilova is back to weather a stronger field.

At the top of the list is No. 2 Monica Seles, who beat Navratilova in the Virgina Slims of Los Angeles and in Oakland last year. Seles has bumped Navratilova down to No. 3 in the rankings. Besides No. 4 Mary Joe Fernandez, Navratilova is also faced with two-thirds of the Maleeva sisters--Katarina and Magdalena.

Other entries are Barbara Paulus, Nathalie Tauziat, Leila Meskhi, Ros Fairbank-Nideffer, Isabelle Demongeot, Gretchen Magers, Robin White, Catarina Lindqvist, Patty Fendick and Kathy Rinaldi.

Tennis Notes

Andre Agassi will play Michael Chang in an exhibition, the Forum Tennis Challenge, Feb. 27 at the Forum. . . . If this is 1991, well, for the third consecutive year, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario has begun the season with a new coach. Two years ago it was Juan Nunez. Last year it was Mike Estep. This year, it’s Spanish countryman Eduardo Osta, who has worked with Conchita Martinez of Spain. . . . Happy anniversary to Steffi Graf, who begins her 180th consecutive week ranked No. 1 on Monday. . . . Eight Californians are on the 1991 U.S. national tennis team, a combination of junior and college players. They are Michael Joyce of Santa Monica and Adam Peterson of Orange, Lindsay Davenport of Palos Verdes, Nicole Hummel of San Marino, Janet Lee of Rancho Palos Verdes, Nicole London of Rolling Hills Estates, Pam Nelson of Ross and Keri Phebus of Newport Beach.