TENNIS / THOMAS BONK : 1993: The Unusual Became the Usual

Nothing stays the same in tennis, which is turning the corner on one of its most turbulent years. Arthur Ashe died. Monica Seles was stabbed. Jim Pierce, the dark side of tennis fathers, was banned.

An American won again at Wimbledon, Pete Sampras this time, and it was expected. An American, Jim Courier, lost at the French Open, and it was a surprise.

John McEnroe retired, even though he didn’t call it that. Jimmy Connors kept playing, even though a lot of people thought he should have retired. Martina Navratilova announced her retirement plans, not paying any attention to what anybody thought.

Other than that, it was a routine year. Sure it was. In case you missed it, here is a short highlight film.

--Best match: Sampras’ five-set victory over Andre Agassi at Wimbledon, achieved against formidable odds considering Agassi’s guest was Barbra Streisand, who cheered him on wearing a sailor’s hat complementing her nautical outfit. As it turned out, Andre was sunk by Sampras’ serve.

--Biggest choke: (Tie) Gabriela Sabatini blowing a 6-1, 5-1, 40-30 lead against Mary Joe Fernandez and losing at the French Open, and Jana Novotna blowing a 4-1 third-set lead against Steffi Graf and losing in the Wimbledon final.

--Worst analysis: Novotna, after the Wimbledon final: “I don’t think it was nerves.”

--Best quote: Agassi, after losing to Thomas Enqvist in the first round of the U.S. Open: “I am not the type of player that responds well to a lot of thinking.”

--Biggest rip: McEnroe’s opinion on the possibility that Stan Smith would replace Tom Gorman as Davis Cup captain: “I think he’d stink. He’s totally out of touch. All he talks about is himself. He’s a complete joke.”

--Newest product: The Michael Chang watch. Wind it up and it goes for five hours.

--Best new, hot player: Andrei Medvedev. The quirky Russian reached the French Open semifinals and scored points for such things as handing out autographed cards, taking advice from his coach’s 4-year-old son, telling reporters he had nothing to say and then talking nonstop for 15 minutes and blasting the U.S. Tennis Assn. at the U.S. Open by calling the pasta in the players’ lounge poison.

Such criticism prompted J. Howard (Bumpy) Frazer, the USTA president, to take swift action. He ate in the players’ lounge, not long after hearing further criticism that there wasn’t enough variety of food there.

Said Frazer after dining: “There is variety, but it’s the same variety every day.”

So there you have it, the peculiar variety of tennis they were serving in 1993.

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Turn out the lights: What more of a sign do you need that the men’s tennis season is over? Pete Sampras loses in his second match at Stockholm. So do Jim Courier, Boris Becker and Sergi Bruguera. Becker loses in the first round at Sydney.

What does it all mean? It means these tournaments don’t mean a thing. The players have already made their fortunes this year, how they finish won’t affect their rankings.

Not only is the season too long, but with the current ranking setup in which the players count only their best 14 results, you can bet that late in the year the results are going to suffer. It may be that not even money can revive the players, a theory that will be tested soon when the $2.75-million ATP Championships and $6-million Grand Slam Cup are played.

Those are the official end-of-the-year tournaments. The unofficial end has already come.

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Chang’s gang: How big was Chang’s victory last week in Beijing in the first ATP tournament in China? Look at the partial guest list: Wan Li, the 77-year-old right-hand man of senior leader Deng Xiaoping, Politburo member Li Ruihuan and two who headed Beijing’s failed bid for the 2000 Olympics--Chen Xitong and Zhang Baifa.

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Court news: Thomas Muster’s lawsuit over his 1989 knee injury goes to trial Monday in Miami.

The suit names five parties, including Lipton Sports and Thomas J. Lipton Inc., the sponsor of the tournament Muster was playing in when he was injured in an incident involving a tournament hospitality car after a match.

Also named are General Motors Corp., which owned the car used by Muster, volunteer driver Linda Boyd and Robert Sobie, the driver of the car that collided with the tournament car.

Muster contends that his career and earnings were hurt when he tore ligaments in his left knee.

The tournament, General Motors and Boyd will defend their cases together and have filed a cross-claim against Sobie.

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Andre update: Agassi pulled out of his Dec. 10 exhibition at the Forum against Mats Wilander and will be replaced by McEnroe. Agassi has a wrist injury and said he won’t play again this year.

Tennis Notes

Billie Jean King accepted an invitation to serve on the board of directors of the Women’s Tennis Assn., a group she founded in 1973. . . . Charlie Pasarell has been reelected to a two-year term on the Assn. of Tennis Professionals tour board of directors. Pasarell is the tournament director of the Newsweek Champions Cup in Indian Wells.

Former Pacific 10 Conference stars Byron Black of USC and Jonathan Stark of Stanford won the doubles event at Vienna, their third title in four tournaments together. . . . With his victory at Lyon, Pete Sampras became the sixth male player to pass $2 million in tour earnings in one season. The others are Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier. Three women have done it--Monica Seles twice, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf, who has won $2.5 million this year and looks like a cinch to break Seles’ record for men and women, $2.622 million, set in 1992.

West End 1, a women’s team from the West End Racquet Club in Torrance, won the USTA national league championship for the 4.0 level. Players are Karen Duggan, Nancy Reynolds, Polly Jensen, Cindy Kramer, Gayle Hollenbaugh, Julie Tong, Cindy Salermo and Satchi Koyoma.