TENNIS ROUNDUP : Connors Loses Match but Displays His New Attitude

Jimmy Connors is no longer consumed by winning.

So Connors didn’t mind much when he lost Sunday, 6-3, 6-3, to qualifier David Engel of Sweden in the first round of the Lipton Championships at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Such a defeat might have triggered a temper tantrum from a younger Connors, but he shrugged off this loss.

“I showed up, that’s what went wrong,” said Connors, 40. “I don’t play enough anymore to keep my game sharp enough to just walk out there and play.”

The winner of eight Grand Slam events has split his six matches in three tournaments this year.

“I just don’t feel like playing that much anymore,” he said. “I’m enjoying spending more time at home and on away-from-tennis activities.”

Steffi Graf, Jennifer Capriati, Gabriela Sabatini and defending champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario all won second-round matches.

Capriati defeated Ines Gorrochategui of Argentina, 6-1, 6-0; Sanchez Vicario beat Rosalyn Fairbank-Nideffer, 6-3, 6-1; Graf downed Chanda Rubin, 6-2, 6-1; and Sabatini eliminated Jessica Emmons, 6-2, 6-3.

Fifth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez defeated Isabelle Demongeot, 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

In men’s play, Patrick McEnroe upset sixth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic, 6-3, 6-3.

“Last year I lost to his brother,” Ivanisevic said. “This year I lost to him. Maybe I’ll play his sister. Maybe I can beat her.”

Eighth-seeded Andre Agassi beat Aaron Krickstein, 7-5, 6-0; Pete Sampras swept Todd Martin, 6-3, 6-4; and Alberto Mancini, who lost in last year’s final to Michael Chang, was eliminated by Guillaume Raoux, 6-3, 6-4. Boris Becker won when Gianluca Pozzi of Italy defaulted because of illness.

Thomas Muster, playing his first match at Lipton since being hit by a drunk driver during the 1989 tournament, beat Karsten Braasch, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

Top-seeded Karel Novacek of the Czech Republic defeated Sweden’s Jonas Svensson of Sweden, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, to win an indoor tournament at Zaragoza, Spain. Novacek received $25,000 for the victory in addition $10,000 he got Saturday when he and Martin Damm won the doubles title.