Chang Says His Peers Have Patriotic Vision : Tennis: Being an Olympian is more important than money or trophies, ’89 French Open winner says.

After a 60-year hiatus because of a rift between the International Olympic Committee and the International Tennis Federation over facilities and spectator seating, tennis returned to the Olympic Games as a medal sport in 1988. The ideal of the Olympic experience was somewhat tarnished in the process.

Soviet teen-ager Natalia Zvereva told reporters she was very excited to come to Seoul because of “the very nice leather clothes” in the shopping district. Horst Skoff of Austria rushed the net and returned Stefan Edberg’s shot with a soccer header.

While most athletes in Seoul were devoting years of their lives for a chance at winning an Olympic medal worth $105, the nouveaux riches of professional tennis’ elite were trading ground strokes at an exhibition in New Jersey for $100,000.

But Michael Chang, for one, has seen the Olympic light. And he believes his peers are peering at the Olympics in a new way, too.

“It’s becoming more and more important to all the players as far as tennis is concerned,” he said. “You’re not going out there for the money or a trophy, you’re representing your country. It’s very different from anything on the tennis tour. You look at the field, and virtually all the top players are playing. I think that pretty much tells you how important it has become.”

Chang, who has a 4-2 record in Davis Cup singles matches and helped the United States win the Cup in 1990, admits there are some similarities, but says the difference resides in the Olympic Village.

“With the tennis not starting until Wednesday and the opening ceremony on Saturday, I think all the tennis players will be really inspired to get out there and compete,” he said. “I plan to go to some of the events, and that should get the adrenaline going. Just being around the other athletes, seeing them compete, seeing the intensity there, I think that will inspire me to go out and play better.”

Chang figures it will be an intoxicating mix of stimulation and pressure. Will he play inspired tennis? Or will his legs turn to rubber?

“You have certain images of what the Olympics will be like, but you don’t really know until you get there,” Chang said. “In that sense, it’s like playing Davis Cup for the first time. People say, ‘It’s tough to play. There’s so much pressure.’ And you can say to yourself, ‘Well, really, it’s just another match.’

“But when you get out there and start to feel that pressure, it’s something you can’t really describe unless you’re actually out there playing.”

His greatest glory came halfway around the globe on the red clay courts of Roland Garros in Paris. Next week, more than three years after that dramatic French Open victory, Chang will be on the red clay courts of Barcelona, trying to recapture the form that catapulted him to the top of the tennis world.

At age 17 in 1989, Chang became the youngest player to win the French Open, fighting off leg cramps and the best players in the game. Later that summer, he became the youngest player to be ranked in the top five in the world.

It hasn’t been all downhill since, but lately, it clearly has been an uphill battle. He lost in the first round at Wimbledon and didn’t make it past the second round in recent tournaments in Switzerland and Germany.

“Maybe I’m overdue,” he said, managing a laugh.

Chang, a 20-year-old Coto de Caza resident who also has a home near Las Vegas, actually is not unhappy with his game. He has been working hard to dispel his image as a gutty little base-liner who ventures to the net only when chasing a drop shot and whose serve is merely a way to get a rally started.

“I feel I’m improving and making real progress,” he said. “I feel like I’m on the right track. It’s just that sometimes you’re not able to put it all together. So I’ll just keep persevering at it, continuing to work hard and trying to solidify everything.

“Whenever you try to improve certain aspects of your game, it always takes time. You don’t always see the results right away because it’s not an overnight thing, especially in tennis. There are no shortcuts. Sure, it can be frustrating at times, but you just have to keep working at it and try to get that consistency, that rhythm.

“Some days it’s going to be great and some days it’s not going to be so great. But I know the hard work will pay off, whether it’s now or sometime down the road.”

Chang hopes he’ll find that rhythm somewhere on the road to Barcelona, that he’ll be dancing to a heavy-medal beat on the victory stand Aug. 8.

He will have a couple of important tangible factors in his favor:

--He’ll be playing on red clay, and he has some very pleasant memories of that 1989 springtime in Paris on red clay.

--The competition is a best-of-five-set format and, barring leg cramps, Chang can keep running a long, long time.

“I should like the surface,” Chang said, “but I’ve never played in Spain before, and there’s a lot of difference in clay courts. Clay varies from country to country. In Germany, it’s a little bit quicker, and France is slower.

“But my success (at the French Open) should help me out confidence-wise. It’s also three out of five sets, and I expect it will be hot, too, so that means you have to be in really good shape.”

Players might be wilting under the pressure more often than the Mediterranean sun, though. It’s conceivable that Chang could face another slow-court specialist, Spain’s Emilio Sanchez, in a match that would give new definition to home-court advantage in tennis.

“That would be wild,” Chang said. “Playing anyone there is going to be pressure-packed, though.”

Clearly, Michael Chang is not headed to Spain with a shopping list or plans of practicing his soccer talents on the court. He’ll be like most of the other athletes in Barcelona, taking deep breaths and trying to persuade himself to find perspective.

“I’m not putting pressure on myself to go out there and win a medal,” he said. “I don’t think that’s the true goal or spirit of the Olympics. Obviously, you’d like to do well and it’s important to go out and represent yourself well and your country well. You want to give your very, very best so you can come off that court knowing you gave your very, very best.

“I wouldn’t mind winning a gold medal, but I think you should be able to walk away from the Olympics, win or lose, feeling inspired.”