Lendl’s Exit Is Even Faster Than Usual : Wimbledon: He doesn’t stick around for questions after second-round defeat to Frenchman Boetsch. Ivanisevic rallies to win five-setter.

Ivan Lendl couldn’t get out of Wimbledon fast enough Thursday. Seconds after he had lost to Arnaud Boetsch in the second round, Lendl picked up his bag, walked off the court, got into a car and sped away.

He did not go to the locker room, he did not shower, he did not change clothes, he did not pass go. He also did not do an interview, which under the circumstances seemed perfectly understandable.

What could he have said? Lendl just can’t seem to get this Wimbledon thing right. If Wimbledon is grass, Lendl is hay fever--a weed, totally out of place, doomed to unhappiness.

In 14 years and 62 matches at Wimbledon, Lendl’s ledger shows that he hasn’t made the final since 1987, the second time in succession he got that far and the best he has done here.

So the world’s most famous tennis tournament said another brief farewell to its saddest pursuer as Lendl once again failed to get even a glimpse at the only Grand Slam event trophy he never has held aloft.

Will it ever happen?

“I don’t think so,” Boetsch said.

A 24-year-old Frenchman, Boetsch sent Lendl off to his second-earliest Wimbledon exit, a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 decision that was straightforward in its outcome but slightly unclear in its aftermath.

It was Lendl’s worst Wimbledon result in 12 years, since he lost to Charlie Fancutt in the first round in 1981. Lendl also lost to Peter McNamara in the first round in 1979.

Until this year, those two first-round defeats represented Lendl’s low-water mark in Grand Slam events.

This hasn’t been Lendl’s best year in the Grand Slam tournaments. He lost to Christian Bergstrom in the first round of the Australian Open, but probably hit bottom last month when he lost to 297th-ranked Stephane Huet, the 23rd-ranked player in France, in the first round of the French Open.

Mix in this second-round loss and it’s pretty simple to see a pattern developing. At 33, Lendl appears not to have it anymore. That is the prevalent theory and one to which Boetsch subscribes.

“I saw his game in Nice (France), and I thought he was a bit slow and a bit lazy on the court,” Boetsch said.

“It’s a shame. It’s a pity because it’s good to see a personality like him. I’m a bit sad about that because I like to watch all the players like Becker, like Lendl and like all these guys and I don’t want them to leave (the) game.”

Although the game--here at least--may be over for Lendl, it goes on for others. Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier moved into the third round with easy victories, but fifth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic was pushed to the limit by Britain’s Chris Bailey before pulling out a 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, 9-7 decision in 3 hours 34 minutes.

A 25-year-old wild card ranked 263rd, Bailey held match point on Ivanisevic’s serve at 5-6 in the fifth.

Always unpredictable, Ivanisevic was classic in the match-point situation. A finalist last year, Ivanisevic hit a second serve that clipped the top of the net and landed a foot inside the service line.

With a new second serve, he aced Bailey.

It was one of 34 aces Ivanisevic launched at Bailey, against 14 double faults. Just before, the sixth-ranked player in the world had assessed his own situation.

“I saw myself in the airport tomorrow, checking the luggage,” Ivanisevic said. “Then I said, ‘I think it is too early to check the luggage.’ ”

There was no early checkout for Edberg. The second-seeded player blasted Amos Mansdorf, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, and will play Chris Wilkinson in the third round. Third-seeded Courier, who cruised past Ronald Agenor, 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), plays Jason Stoltenberg next.

Michael Chang, the newest purveyor of the serve-and-volley trade on grass, went the distance for the second time in his two matches and prevailed again, 6-7 (7-2), 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, over Todd Woodbridge.

Chang comes in behind each of his first serves in his new strategy, which he plans to carry on in his next match, a third-round encounter against a natural grass-court performer, David Wheaton.

Another who faltered was Ukrainian Andrei Medvedev. The French Open semifinalist, seeded 10th, lost to Cedric Pioline of France, 6-7 (9-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-4, and blamed unspecified personal problems.

“I cannot get it out of my mind what happened, what’s happening, and it’s just very difficult,” Medvedev said.

Asked why he would not talk about the problems, a subject he brought up during his post-match press conference, Medvedev said he had a good reason.

“Because you will write it in the newspaper,” he said.

German reporters said Medvedev is having problems with his girlfriend, Anke Huber, an 18-year-old German player. Medvedev’s sister, Natalia Medvedeva, characterized her brother’s relationship with Huber.

“I don’t think it’s a big love,” she said. “I don’t think it’s more than a friendship at the moment.”

There were no big problems for the top women’s players.

Martina Navratilova swept Rosalyn Fairbank-Nideffer, 6-0, 6-1, and will play Patricia Hy in the third round. Gabriela Sabatini defeated Kathy Rinaldi, 6-2, 6-2, and meets Medvedeva next. Mary Joe Fernandez and Zina Garrison won in straight sets and will play one another in the third round.

Tennis Notes

Ivan Lendl will not be fined for ducking a post-match news conference because he never was told he had been requested to appear. He wasn’t told because he left so quickly. The most he could be fined anyway is $2,000. Lendl has banked slightly less than $20 million in prize money in his career.

So far, so good for Richard Krajicek, the 21-year-old Dutchman who has reached the third round for the third consecutive year. He has never gotten further, but he has a good shot this time, playing 20-year-old Belgian qualifier Laurence Tieleman. Krajicek, seeded ninth, is in the difficult top of the draw with top-seeded Pete Sampras, defending champion Andre Agassi, three-time winner Boris Becker and 1991 champion Michael Stich. It won’t be easy, Krajicek said. “I have never done great on grass, but my game is getting better and better,” he said. “You never know what can happen. I mean, grass is a funny game, and you don’t always have to be the best player on the court. You just have to hang in there.”