TENNIS MEN’S TOURNAMENT AT INDIAN WELLS : Grabb Just Stops McEnroe in His Tracks

The moment many have been waiting for actually happened Wednesday. John McEnroe acted his age.

Even at a mature 32, McEnroe’s average days are still better than most, but there he was in the Newsweek Champions Cup, playing on back-to-back afternoons and his feet making no apparent move to answer the ringing in his ears.

As McEnroe explained: “My body didn’t answer the call today.”

Maybe not, but it left a message. Separated from McEnroe by six years and 57 places in the rankings, Jim Grabb power-served his way into the third round with a 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, upset of the 16th-ranked and 12th-seeded McEnroe.

Just three days after beating his brother to win a tournament, McEnroe loses to his brother’s doubles partner in the second round.

Does this make things even? Is this good, John?

“All of a sudden, I lose to him and beat my brother,” McEnroe said. “That’s not good. I should have beaten him. I should have beaten him in two sets.”

However, Grabb had other ideas. The 26-year-old from Tucson, known primarily as a doubles specialist and partner of Patrick McEnroe, sent 12 aces past McEnroe and won 81% of his first serves.

That was enough, McEnroe acknowledged. “I guess it was a combination of the way I felt and the way he served,” McEnroe said. “I couldn’t do what my mind wanted me to do. I just wasn’t moving . . . it’s hard to gauge.”

Old age, perhaps?

“I hope not,” McEnroe said.

So two days and two matches into the tournament and McEnroe is already out of it. Gone, too, are fifth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic, sixth-seeded Thomas Muster and eighth-seeded Andres Gomez, all upset victims Wednesday.

At the same time, Andre Agassi, Guy Forget and Michael Chang rolled into the third round, even if Chang had to get there on bad wheels. Chang sprained his lower leg, actually the top of his foot, ankle-high, leading Jimmy Arias a set and 3-0, then lost five straight games, but continued on to win, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Chang’s injury is not believed serious enough to keep him from his third-round date with qualifier Wayne Ferreira.

“It’s kind of weird, I was thinking how fortunate I was not to have an injury like Sampras or Agassi or Becker, I felt pretty good and all of a sudden this happens,” Chang said. “I guess it was my turn.”

Agassi served 10 aces and won his first match, 6-3, 6-4, over Goran Prpic, setting up a third-round encounter with familiar adversary Jim Courier.

On a day of upsets, the loss of Ivanisevic was probably the strangest. The 19-year-old Yugoslav left-hander absorbed a 6-0, 6-2 defeat inflicted by Fabrice Santoro of France, then beat a hasty retreat, taking his No. 7 ranking with him.

In fact, Ivanisevic left so quickly, he started running to the net to shake Santoro’s hands with the ball still in the air.

Ivanisevic’s explanation: “I don’t know, I wanted to leave the court. The mind, I am not strong.”

After recently hiring Bob Brett, Boris Becker’s former coach, Ivanisevic said he is struggling to find his game. “I cannot play tennis like this, it is impossible to play worse,” Ivanisevic said.

Neither Muster nor Gomez is experiencing much better results. Muster lost his third consecutive opening match in his last three tournaments, 6-3, 6-2, to Scott Davis, and Gomez lost his 10th opening match since winning the French Open, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) to Ferreira, a 19-year-old, big-hitting South African.

Muster, coming back from elbow and knee injuries, was playing his first hard-court tournament of the year. “Look at me, I am sunburned all over,” he said.

Continuing his slide down the rankings, which so far has carried him from No. 5 to No. 10, Gomez hasn’t been the same since he won the French Open final. There are indications that at least he has had some fun.

When he lost in the first round at Wimbledon, Gomez said there had been only one French Open victory party back home in Ecuador.

“But it lasted a week,” he said.

After taking time off to start the year, Gomez was asked how he spent his time. “Lying in the sun and drinking beer,” he said.

Meanwhile, McEnroe said he still has some work to do to get back into the top 10 and then the top five, which his where he wants to be, the sooner the better--if his body agrees.