TENNIS / T. C. PORTER : On the Surface, Connors Praises Sherwood Club

Q: What do the grass tennis courts at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks have that Wimbledon does not?

A: A playing surface that agrees with Jimmy Connors.

After a workout at the club near Lake Sherwood this week, Connors playfully mocked Wimbledon’s grass courts, where a return is not just a return but an adventure.

Forget that the surface is less than smooth. What annoys Connors is the way a ball hits the lines, spews up a cloud of chalk dust and ricochets one way or the other.

“This court is pretty good,” he said of Sherwood, where he is practicing for the first time. “It’s just like Wimbledon is not.”

Connors has been working out this week at Sherwood in preparation for Wimbledon, which will be held June 22-July 5. He has not yet committed to playing in the tournament but says, “I have a feeling that when the time comes to get on the plane, I’ll get on.”

Connors’ presence at Sherwood means that, for once, club pro Roscoe Tanner is not the most prominent left-hander around.

And the most prominent right-hander at Lake Sherwood this week? Michael Chang, with whom Connors has been practicing.

Chang called Connors with the idea of training on Sherwood’s grass courts, and it is no wonder. As teaching pro Steve Wooldridge said, “There are not a lot of good grass courts in California. It doesn’t take long to find where the good ones are.”

Chang has another reason to like Sherwood. At this time last year, he was in England preparing for Wimbledon when rains washed out most practices. Consequently, he prepared on hard, indoor courts.

Privacy is another reason Connors and Chang like Sherwood. The club, nestled among rolling green hills, has been open for only a year and still has a relatively low tennis-playing membership list.

“How can you beat this?” Connors asked. “It’s like our own private club. Nobody bothers you.”

Almost nobody. After a workout this week, Connors finished a match with Chang and visited with one young couple and their two children at courtside: Sherwood members Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet Jones.

Back to Wimbledon: Much has changed since the likes of Connors and Tanner were battling for Wimbledon titles during the 1970s: Younger players tend to be taller, ball velocity has continued to approach the speed of light, and steak has given way to pasta as the athletes’ choice.

“I used to eat steak five times a week,” Tanner said. “It was the right thing to eat. Now pasta and chicken and fish are the right things.”

Tanner, 40, will be making a return to Wimbledon--in the senior doubles event. Tanner, who will be teamed with Erik Van Dillen, has lost 25 pounds in the past six months and is only five pounds over his playing weight of 1979 when he lost to Bjorn Borg in the Wimbledon final.

It will be Tanner’s first Wimbledon appearance since playing in the senior singles matches three years ago.

“I just can’t wait to get back,” he said. “I have great memories of Wimbledon. It was a rare occasion that I ever played badly there.”

Tanner has been Sherwood’s director of tennis since it opened a year ago.

One of the boys: Bill Lenaway mingles with the Quartz Hill High tennis team. His appearance--the earring, spiked hair and deep tan--suggests he must be one of the players.

But he is the coach.

Quartz Hill won its first Southern Section 2-A Division team tennis championship last week, and Lenaway, 27, has earned considerable praise for his youthful leadership.

“When we practice, he’s always out there with us giving 110 percent,” senior Owen Goudie said. “Being as young as he is, I think it’s easier for him to understand the things we do.”

Including the wearing of earrings. During last year’s playoffs, Lenaway made an agreement with the players that, if they advanced to the semifinals, he would pierce his left ear. They reached the semifinals, and he kept his part of the deal.

“Everything I make them do, I do with them,” Lenaway said. Pushups. Laps. Pierced ears. “At my age, I can communicate as a peer and as someone they can look up to at the same time.”

Lenaway graduated from Purdue in 1987 and accepted a job at Quartz Hill as math teacher and girls’ tennis coach.

One year later he took the boys’ job, and in his third season he led the Rebels to the 2-A semifinals. Quartz Hill’s ascent under Lenaway was punctuated last week with a 10-8 victory over five-time defending champion Harvard-Westlake.

Lenaway, who was moved to tears after the victory, reflected several days later.

“When I think about it, it’s going to mean so much to the kids for so long,” he said.

“The thing that strikes me is there’s such a bond between the kids. They are together constantly around campus, coming into my room together, everywhere together. More than ever they act like a team.”