TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : Players No Longer Have Rights, Connors Says

Three weeks short of his 40th birthday, Jimmy Connors is not quite as mellow as he seems in those TV commercials.

Connors was at his best--or worst--in the men’s tournament at UCLA when he questioned a line call, asked the chair umpire for a clarification and was promptly rewarded with a code violation--a $725 fine--for an obscenity.

Afterward, Connors launched into a diatribe on what is wrong with the men’s game.

“I’m out there playing for my 40-year-old life,” he said.

So in the interest of history, here is a transcript--partially edited, of course:

“It’s the same old story in this (crap). It’s the same (crap) all over again ever time. If they want to watch, buy a ticket.

“If I was 25 years old, I’d let him make any call he wanted to. (Lord), it’s tough enough out there playing against guys that are 15 years younger than me anyway, if they’re not paying attention.

“And then the players have no rights. I go up and say something. My back is turned and he gives me a verbal obscenity (code violation). My back is turned to him. What does he do? Read lips? (Darn).

“Believe me, I cannot wait for the senior tour to get going, I’m telling you. Just so I don’t have to put up with this crap anymore. For the players not to have any rights and not to be able to go over and grab that guy and say, ‘Look, one more call and you’re off.’ That’s the way they used to do it in the old days and it worked (darned) pretty . . . well. Now, they just let them sit there and enjoy themselves. If you make one bad one, it’s for sure you’re going to make a few more. It’s the same old stuff, the rules of the game.

“Where’s the big overrule? If they’re going to overrule, well do it. The guy can’t overrule a ball over there because he can’t see right in front of his face anyway. And we’re not talking winning or losing. I don’t give a damn anymore. My objective is to go out there and to play my (tail) off. But that. What happens out there is a joke. Not to be able to let somebody do their thing within the rules is a joke.

“The reason I say this is because I don’t mind taking my wins and losses, but how they let this continue on . . . they say, oh, play tennis, that’s part of the game. Is it? Is it? Is that why they have instant replay? Photo finishes at the race track?

“I appeal to him and I’m told to shut up and play. What rights do I have out there? Just grin and bear it and bite the bullet. (The heck with that.) I did that for 20 years. I don’t need to do that any more.

“You’re screwing up my game and they are going to be stuck with it. It’s gone so far, they cannot change it. They cannot change the rules, they cannot change the equipment, they cannot change anything now. Watch where it goes. It’s a shame because I spent 20 years trying to take it to the moon.

“Somebody has got to say it because nobody out there can talk. Nobody out there has the (courage) to talk. They’re afraid they’ll get their little wrists slapped. (My goodness), they just take it, take it, take it. Let’s see how many take it when there is only $50,000 in prize money, and all of the sponsors take off. See how many guys show up for the love of the game. You might only see one guy out there waiting to play somebody.

“I think I have a better attitude toward my tennis than I did, but I’m losing it quickly.”

Add Connors: Asked why more top players don’t play in Los Angeles, he said: “Maybe they know a lot of the linesmen out here, I don’t know.”

Chang Gang: He won three consecutive tournaments on hard courts in the spring and hasn’t been heard from very much since, but Michael Chang doesn’t think he peaked too early.

“I was so used to fast surfaces that by the time I got to clay courts, I was wondering how come the balls aren’t coming to me,” Chang said. “That’s when I started not to do well.”

Glad to be back on the hard surfaces, Chang said he expects to play well at the U.S. Open, where Jim Courier is expected to be the favorite.

“Its going to be difficult to judge who’s going to do well,” Chang said, “because the hard court season has been cut in half for many of the top players (because of the Olympics). So you’ll see a few upsets in the next few weeks because these guys are still going to be adjusting.”

Capriati update: So why does gold-medal winner Jennifer Capriati feel so great about playing in the U.S. Open?

“I like playing in front of the American people and stuff,” she said.

Ranked No. 7 on the computer and No. 9 in the tour point standings, Capriati can take something to the Open besides the gold medal she won at Barcelona--her first victory over Steffi Graf.

Capriati is 9-21 against the top five ranked players--2-5 against Monica Seles, 1-4 against Graf, 3-9 against Gabriela Sabatini, 1-1 against Martina Navratilova and 2-2 against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Beating Graf to win the gold could ease the expectations for Capriati to produce a major title.

“It was a feeling of relief that I had finally done something really big,” she said.

At last year’s U.S. Open, Capriati lost to eventual champion Seles in the semifinals, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), the closest Capriati has come to a Grand Slam final.

“Now, I am going to be very confident going in there,” Capriati said. “Now I know I can beat the top players. Hopefully, I will be able to keep the momentum going.”