TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : Borg Only Eight Days Away From Return

He’s Bjorn again. Only eight days remain in the countdown to Bjorn Borg’s return to tennis at the Volvo Monte Carlo Open, a clay court tournament that promises to be one of the most interesting tennis events of the year.

Borg, who will turn 35 on June 6, has not played a match since July 1984, when he lost to Henri Leconte in Stuttgart, West Germany. Borg all but disappeared from the scene after 1981, although he did play one tournament in each of the next three years. For 1982-84, Borg’s record was 3-3.

But now, he’s coming back. Can anyone guess why? Borg won nearly $4 million in prize money during his career, but the staying power of the financial empire he set up in his retirement was about as long as the stubble on his chin. Borg’s former company reportedly owes Swedish tax authorities $250,000, and his debts abroad have been estimated at more than $8 million.

However, Borg has insisted that he is not returning to play tennis for the money. Apparently, he merely rekindled his love affair with the game.

So in February, he rummaged through the Belgium warehouses of racket manufacturer Donnay to look for wooden racket frames. Donnay had stopped making the Borg signature model rackets in 1986. Donnay eventually found blueprints of the Borg wooden racket and made several for him to use in his comeback.

Ron Atkin of the London Observer recently saw Borg practicing with a wooden racket at the All England Club at Wimbledon and later interviewed Borg. Atkin asked Borg if the racket with which he had been practicing was like the one he used when he last won Wimbledon in 1980.

“He sort of smiled and said: ‘It’s not like the racket I used to win Wimbledon, it is the same racket,’ ” Atkins said.

It is yet to be seen how well Borg will fare playing with an outmoded wooden racket when the player on the other side of the net is swinging with a technologically superior metal racket, but chances are Borg will not be able to stay on the court for very long before getting blown off it.

Monte Carlo resident Borg, who won Wimbledon five times and the French Open six times, has said he will accept wild cards to enter the Italian Open and the French Open, which are played on clay. And next? How about Wimbledon? Stay tuned.

Connors update: For those keeping track, 38-year-old Jimmy Connors’ ranking has moved from No. 936 to No. 577. He looks like a sure bet to break into the top 500 next week, based on his performance in the Japan Open, where for the first time since 1989 he won two matches in the same tournament.

Net results: So far, it’s been a banner year for both the men’s and women’s tennis teams at UCLA and the men’s team at USC with NCAA tournament time drawing closer.

The latest rankings show UCLA No. 1 and USC No. 2 in the men’s Volvo Tennis/Collegiate Rankings. Although the Trojans knocked off the Bruins and No. 3 Stanford last weekend, the rankings will not change until April 24. Coach Dick Leach’s USC team beat UCLA again on Friday, 6-0, and probably will be ranked No. 1 when the new rankings are released. The UCLA women’s team is ranked No. 4, but looks forward to a rematch against Stanford after losing to the Cardinal last weekend.

UCLA women’s Coach Bill Zeima has juggled his lineup all season while trying to nail down the third or fourth seeding in the NCAA tournament May 8-16 at Stanford. Zeima expects Florida to remain No. 1 and Stanford No. 2, which leaves UCLA and Georgia battling for the third seeding.

The top women’s singles player at UCLA is Iwalani McCalla, but she is ranked only No. 20, so Zeima has been forced to change his players constantly to find a winning combination.

“I’ve been called the Billy Martin of tennis and accused of pulling my players’ names out of a hat,” Zeima said.

His top singles players are Kimberly Po and McCalla, and Po and Stella Sampras make up the top doubles team.

Mark Knowles is the highest-ranked UCLA men’s player in singles at No. 7. Byron Black leads USC at No. 15. Black and Brian MacPhie are ranked No. 6 in the men’s doubles.

Second helping: On the IBM/ATP Tour, scores of 6-0, 6-0, are fairly rare. Known as a double bagel, it just doesn’t happen that often. Last week, there were two, the first of 1991.

Michael Chang double-bageled John Fitzgerald of Australia in Tokyo, and Sergi Bruguera of Spain double-bageled Aussie Mark Woodforde in Barcelona. Spain.

Kuhlman update: Remember Caroline Kuhlman? Now 24, Kuhlman was an All-American at USC before tearing up both of her knees. After graduating in 1988, she spent two years rehabilitating her knees and used the time to get her master’s degree in finance at USC.

When Kuhlman came back to the women’s pro tour last August, her ranking had slid to No. 475, but she has steadily moved up. When the latest computer rankings are announced Monday, Kuhlman will be No. 182 after reaching the second round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships last week at Amelia Island, Fla.

Tennis Notes

Nancy Neeld of Albuquerque, N.M., will defend her women’s 60-and-over singles title in the U.S. Tennis Assn. Hardcourt Championships April 30-May 5 at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. . . . The Volvo Tennis/Collegiate Championships are moving to the University of Texas in Austin, Tex., from Athens, Ga., and the University of Georgia. The national men’s invitational, the fall equivalent of the NCAA Championships, will be held Oct. 17-20 and features the top 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams.

For the record: The name of Rollin Rhone of Culver City was misspelled in a story about the men’s 35 age group in the Southern California Senior Sectional Tennis Championships. . . . According to Tennis Buyer’s Guide, 1990 sales of oversized rackets increased faster than any other tennis product compared to 1989. Sales of midsized frames were up 30%, and ultrawide frames were up 20%. . . . Pete Smith, Cal State Long Beach men’s coach, will hold his junior tennis camp on campus July 8-19 and July 23-Aug. 2 for boys and girls 8 to 18.

The USC men’s team will play a series of fund-raising exhibitions from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. today at Cabrillo Racket Club in Camarillo. . . . John McEnroe, interviewed with his brother, Patrick, in World Tennis magazine, said he would never want his children to play professional tennis: “Whenever someone looks at a person like me and then they talk about a younger brother or son, no one’s considered successful unless they’re better than I was. It’s absolutely insane for anyone to think that way. What are the odds of someone having a record as good as mine anyway?”