Grounds and Rumors Are All Wet : Wimbledon: First day of play is rained out, so search for answers to Seles’ withdrawal goes on.

A news story that should really be a non-story became an even bigger non-story Monday when much rain begot much nonsense at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

No matches were played. The rain began about 20 minutes before play was to have begun at noon, and it poured, dripped and drizzled from then on. As one British broadcaster put it, the rain was “consistently insistent.”

So, by default, the news of the day was the same as the news of yesterday. And of the day before: Monica Seles.

What is the matter with her? What sort of injury or ailment or state of mind prompted the No. 1 player in the world and the No. 1-seeded woman in this most prestigious of tennis tournaments to call in sick? Indeed, since Friday, the burning question around here has been: What makes Monica run . . . away from Wimbledon?

The problem with the Seles silliness was not so much that she withdrew, or even that she did it so close to the opening of Wimbledon, but that she has been so close-mouthed about exactly why.

When the world press doesn’t know, it speculates. That means that few portions of Seles’ anatomy have gone undiscussed--in terms of injury, of course--in both the written and broadcast word.

Finally, late Monday afternoon, there appeared to be a glimmer of hope. Gerry Smith, the executive director of the Women’s Tennis Assn., would conduct a news conference. Because Smith, the former publisher of Newsweek magazine, is a straight-talking guy with some journalism in his background, hopes were high for facts and details.

But when Smith met reporters, he really didn’t know much, and he pretty much said so. His effort turned out to be a well-intentioned attempt to hold back the wolves, but in the end, lacking both detail and first-hand information, he was eaten alive.

Smith produced the following gems:

--He had been informed that the injury was not serious. (A simple, rather than compound fracture?)

--It was not an arm injury. (That still leaves lots of anatomy unaccounted for.)

--She was not going to have surgery. (Traction, perhaps?)

--She had not withdrawn from either of two other events to which she had previously committed, the Federation Cup matches July 22 and the Mazda tournament at San Diego on July 29. (Ah, but she still has lots of time to call in sick for those, too.)

Smith also said that he expected Seles back playing in two to three weeks, but admitted that was speculation. It was also his speculation, he said, that her current situation was related to the shin-splint problem she complained of after winning the French Open.

No, he hadn’t talked directly to Seles or her family. No, her representatives, IMG, weren’t at liberty to talk about what they knew. Yes, the WTA would impose its normal $6,000 fine for a player missing a tournament she had committed to playing, but no, that did not indicate any judgment of guilt by the WTA against Seles. It meant only that she had used up her alloted one injury exemption, and the fine was automatic for a second occurrence.

Late in the news conference, Smith even tried to turn the silliness into a public relations forum for the WTA. In baseball parlance, he took a swing and missed. Some samples:

--”The WTA’s relationship with Monica and her family has been terrific.” (That’s why he can’t even reach her on the phone, which he acknowledged.)

--”Monica has been . . . terrifically cooperative. She accepts her responsibility as the world’s No. 1 player remarkably. . . . As you know, she has become perhaps one of the spokespersons for the WTA.” (Actually, no, we hadn’t noticed.)

So, today will bring Day 4 of the Seles Watch. At this point, dozens care.