TENNIS / JERRY CROWE : After a Year’s Absence, Seles’ Seeding Is a Thorny Issue

The unusual saga of Monica Seles took another curious turn last week when her name disappeared from the Women’s Tennis Assn. computer rankings.

A player must compete in at least three tournaments in a 12-month period to maintain a ranking. Seles, who has not played since she was stabbed by a spectator last April 30 during a tournament at Hamburg, Germany, has participated in only two in the past 12 months.

The question now is, when Seles returns, should she be given a special dispensation--namely a high seeding in the first tournament she enters?

She was ranked No. 1 at the time of the attack.

“That’s a tough issue,” fellow player Mary Joe Fernandez said. “She’s going to be out of the game for almost a year. It’s tough to put her (No.) 1 or 2 because everybody else has worked very hard and deserves to be where they’re at.

“I’m not sure what they should do. They should give her some sort of acknowledgment or seeding, but it’s tough to take away that spot from the No. 2 or 3 player.”

The subject of a special seeding consideration for Seles is on the agenda for a meeting of the Women’s Tennis Council Feb. 27-28 at Indian Wells.

Meanwhile, Seles has given no indication as to when she might return to the tour.

“We’re on the Monica watch like everybody else,” said Steve Simon, director of marketing for the Evert Cup Feb. 21-27 at Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells. “We all know that she’s going to play at some time this year, and I think every tournament is hoping that theirs will be the (first) one.

“We obviously think that our chances are as good as anybody else’s, only because she’s done well and I think she enjoyed her stay the one year she played here and won the tournament (in 1992).”

A spokeswoman for International Management Group, which represents Seles, said their client, who had hoped to have recovered in time for last month’s Australian Open, has not made any decisions about her schedule, “but has not ruled out any tournaments.”

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It doesn’t rank with the passing of the Helms Bakery, the Herald-Examiner or the Pacific Electric red cars, but the Los Angeles Strings are no longer.

The Strings, who brought three championships to the Forum and whose all-time roster includes Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, Ilie Nastase, Martina Navratilova, Bjorn Borg and Billie Jean King, announced this month that they will not be part of the 1994 World TeamTennis season.

“I feel sad only because it’s something that I’ve done for so long,” said Jeanie Buss, who since 1981 had run the team for her father, owner Jerry Buss. “But I don’t feel that we didn’t make our best effort. We tried so many different things--bringing in Jimmy Connors, bringing in Borg.

“I just think where team tennis has been most successful was in the intimate stadiums, where the people could be right in on the action, but we just didn’t have a facility (that would create that type of atmosphere).”

Of the 12 teams that will compete in the league this summer, only the Phoenix Smash, whose home is the 19,100-seat America West Arena, will not play in a facility designed for tennis. The Newport Beach Dukes will again play their home matches at the John Wayne Tennis Club, which seats about 2,500.

Average attendance for 84 World TeamTennis matches last summer was 2,287, with the Strings drawing an average of 2,087 for seven home matches.

“In some facilities around the league, that would be standing-room only,” Buss said. “As far as our attendance (is) compared to the rest of the league, we weren’t bad. But we were one of only two teams playing in a facility like this. When you’re talking about filling 10% of your capacity, that doesn’t sound very successful.”

She said she inquired about the possibility of renting a smaller facility to house the Strings, “but the goal of my department is to bring events to the Forum.”

She said the seven dates left open by the Strings’ demise would be filled by the Los Angeles Blades of Roller Hockey International, who have expanded their schedule, and by booking more concerts.

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Unlike some of his more celebrated U.S. contemporaries, including Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Michael Chang and Andre Agassi, Todd Martin went to college, playing for two seasons at Northwestern while studying linguistics.

If he had turned pro earlier, Martin said, he probably wouldn’t be playing on the ATP tour.

“It takes an awfully special person to be able to deal with the suffering and sacrifices you have to make to be on the tour,” Martin told the New York Times. “One, as an 18-year-old, I wasn’t a good enough tennis player. Two, I certainly wasn’t emotionally prepared to live on my own for 40 weeks out of the year in this setting.

“I was perfectly comfortable living 40 weeks out of the year on my own at college, with hundreds of friends and teammates.”

And now the 6-foot-6 Martin, 23, seems pretty comfortable on the tour, too.

Tennis Magazine named him the most improved male pro of 1993, and last month he reached the final of the Australian Open before losing to Sampras.

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Andre Agassi’s appearance in Helen Hunt’s fantasy during a recent episode of the NBC sitcom, “Mad About You,” lasted only slightly longer than his stay in last year’s U.S. Open, where he lost in the first round.

The character played by Hunt, Jamie, sat at a bus stop as Agassi, playing himself, approached.

“Excuse me, would you get a token out of my pocket?” he asked.

Said Hunt, standing up to retrieve it: “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” said Agassi, walking out of the picture.

An Emmy nomination awaits.

Tennis Notes

Boris Becker, who returned to the ATP tour this month after taking time out for his Dec. 17 wedding and the birth of a son, said last week in Milan, Italy, that he will apply for a wild-card entry into the Newsweek Champions Cup Feb. 28-March 6 at Hyatt Grand Champions in Indian Wells, but tournament officials have yet to hear from him. . . . Those attending the Newsweek Champions Cup will be the first to experience the ATP Tour Fan Fest, kind of a tennis theme park where fans can compare their grips to the top players’ and time their serves. Admission is free.

Tracy Austin has been granted a wild-card entry into the Evert Cup Feb. 21-27 at Grand Champions. . . . Top-ranked Steffi Graf, who is scheduled to play in the Evert Cup for the first time after pulling out at the last minute last year because of a pulled stomach muscle, is 60-2 since losing to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the final of the Citizen Cup at Hamburg, Germany, last May 2--the tournament in which Monica Seles was stabbed by a deranged fan of Graf’s--and has won 10 of the 11 tournaments she has entered, including the French Open, Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open.

Martina Navratilova, playing her last year of singles, is scheduled to make her only Southland appearance in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles Aug. 8-14 at Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach. She is an eight-time winner of the event. . . . A record 69 players earned $100,000 or more on the women’s tour last year. On the men’s tour, 171 earned that much.

India has yet to name its team for a first-round Davis Cup match against the United States March 25-27 on grass at New Delhi. Captain Tom Gullickson’s U.S. team: Jim Courier and Todd Martin in singles, Patrick McEnroe and Richey Reneberg in doubles. . . . Players who use wheelchairs will be paired with those who don’t in a unique doubles competition March 5-6 at Pierpont Racquet Club in Ventura.