TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Becker Says He Has Sore Leg, Loses to 151st-Ranked Jarryd

Boris Becker’s stay at the Australian Open was a short one, thanks, he says, to a sore leg, but surely in large part to the play of qualifier Anders Jarryd.

Jarryd, a Swede who had dropped in ranking from No. 5 in 1985 to No. 151, took fourth-seeded Becker out in the first round, 3-6, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, on Stadium Court today at the National Tennis Center in Melbourne.

Becker had lost only once before in the first round of a Grand Slam event, at the 1990 French Open.

Flinging his racket at times, yelling at himself on occasion, Becker tried but failed to raise the level of his game to counter the smooth, almost effortless mix of spins and flat shots Jarryd hit at him.

Becker, who had 11 double-faults and 10 aces in the 3-hour, 41-minute match, blamed the loss on an injury to his right thigh suffered before the tournament.

“I couldn’t move on my first serve,” said the three-time Wimbledon champion. “That’s the muscle I use when I serve, when I run.”

Becker said he had considered pulling out of the tournament before it began, but decided to give it a try after making the long trip.

Jarryd said didn’t even notice that Becker was hurt.

Besides, he had his own injury to contend with, a pulled right calf muscle that he had wrapped during the match and that began to ache in the fourth set.

But it apparently didn’t bother him too much.

“Everything I did I felt pretty relaxed,” he said. “Before, a lot of times, I would get fired up and tense.”

Meanwhile, two-time defending women’s champion Monica Seles had little trouble advancing to the second round, defeating Gloria Pizzichini of Italy, 6-1, 6-2.