TENNIS / FRENCH OPEN : For Krickstein, Pain Is Gone; so Is Stich

After spending what seemed like a lifetime in and out of doctors’ offices, Aaron Krickstein is among the living.

With five-inch screws holding together each foot and the aches of too many other injuries in the last decade to recall in detail, Krickstein returned to Center Court at the French Open on Thursday and routed second-seeded Michael Stich of Germany, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4, in a second-round match that was as nondescript as a signpost.

The victory was nice. It really was. But after years of pain on the professional tour, Krickstein, 26, is simply happy to be playing.

Relaxing after his victory, Krickstein patiently recited the litany of injuries that has kept a once-promising career off balance. He has had five stress fractures--three in the left foot, one in the right foot and one in the right leg.

“And there was the taxi in 1987,” he said, a smile coming over his face.

Shortly after recovering from one of his foot injuries in 1987, he suffered bruised ribs in New York when a taxi hit him as he stepped off a curb. Another car had run a stop sign and hit the taxi, knocking it into Krickstein.

None of that mattered Thursday when a physically sound Krickstein met an opponent who soon realized it would not be his day.

“It’s just one of those days when you’d better stay in bed,” Stich said.

Stich, ranked No. 2 in the world, had no explanation for his poor play, coming on the heels of last weekend’s World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany, where he defeated No. 1-ranked Pete Sampras and defending French champion Sergi Bruguera. Although ranked second, Stich has done little in Grand Slam events beyond winning Wimbledon in 1991 and reaching the semifinals here in ’91 and in the Australian Open in ’93.

This year, he is off to an abysmal start, losing in the first round in Australia to Mal Washington, and now in the second round at Roland Garros.

It was not so much that Stich lost, but the way he played. He had 57 unforced errors to Krickstein’s 19. He swung at balls as if he were trying to catch butterflies. And he had 10 double faults.

“If his serving is off, he is not the second-best player in the world,” Krickstein said.

Stich, 25, has not been on the scene as long as Krickstein but has gone farther in shorter time. And because of that, he summarily dismissed Krickstein as a viable opponent. “If he’s playing normal and I’m playing normal, I’m going to win,” Stich said.

Countered Krickstein: “When you beat someone in three straight in a Slam, that is pretty good, whether or not he is playing bad. If conditions aren’t perfect for Michael, he has trouble.”

With storm clouds blowing over Center Court, Stich was unable to utilize the express-train serve that makes him so dangerous.

But the German did not seem to get flustered. He simply played as if he would rather be somewhere else.

Krickstein knows the feeling. After gaining a No. 8 ranking in 1989, he has fluctuated between the top 10 and No. 50 when fit enough to play. He currently is No. 33 and trying to remain injury-free.

If it seems that the Michigan player has been around forever, well, maybe he has. He was the Assn. of Tennis Professional’s youngest tour winner in 1983 at 16.

“I’ve outlived a few guys,” Krickstein said. “I’m one of the few guys left who started out with a wood racket.”

Krickstein was expected to be the next great American player. But he stalled when his body failed him. After his best season in 1989, he suffered an awful stretch of injuries the next year. He had a pulled groin, a recurring elbow problem and a hamstring strain. And then his father, a pathologist, accidentally closed a car door on his right hand late in the year.

He won one title last year and has won only nine in 11 years. Now he has a chance to reach the fourth round of the French Open for the second time.

And with Stich and No. 3 Stefan Edberg out of the lower half of the draw, Krickstein has as good a chance as anyone to reach the final.