His Worst Enemy : Goran Ivanisevic Has Finished Second Twice at Wimbledon, but if He Can Overcome His Own Personality and Stop Beating Himself, This Year’s Championship Could Be His

Brilliant and volatile. Successful and infuriating. They are the dual and dueling natures of Goran Ivanisevic, the Croatian enfant terrible who returns to Wimbledon this week to revisit the scene of his great promise and terrible disappointment.

Twice he has been in the Wimbledon final and twice he has lost, most recently last year to Pete Sampras.

Unlike Sampras, whose body often lets him down, Ivanisevic, who is 6 feet 4, enjoys excellent health. His mind and his ability to control it, however, is shaky. Ivanisevic is ranked No. 6 in the world and seeded fourth here, but his history at the All England Club has often made his seeding seem like wishful thinking.

“Maybe everyone expects I’m going to win Wimbledon, maybe I can,” Ivanisevic said. “Maybe somebody needs one chance, maybe somebody needs four or five chances. I hope I can get another chance and try to win it. Andre [Agassi] did after three times in the final. He won it the fourth time. Maybe I can be lucky like him. I hope, but you never know. Maybe I get only two chances. But I’m going to try.”

His memory is selective. Agassi won at Wimbledon the first time he made the final.

Actually, Ivanisevic is trying to blot memories of last year’s Wimbledon and beyond. That loss began a dismal record in Grand Slam tournaments--Ivanisevic has lost in the first round of the last three.

Much will depend on his emotional gearing. His internal agonies are often telegraphed by his habit of clapping his hands to his head, as if slapping his skull might knock something back into place.

A more common sign of distress is audible. Ivanisevic verbally lashes out when he’s angry or frustrated. He is as likely to be a target of his own outrages as his opponent or an official. It’s no act.

“My mind goes away,” he said. “It just goes to the beach. I’ve told myself what I am doing is stupid. I play against five people every match--myself, my opponent, umpire, ball boys, everybody. Fighting with everybody. It is tough to win.”

Ivanisevic lost in straight sets to No. 21 Guy Forget last week in the third round at Queens, Wimbledon’s grass court warmup, and received a code violation for an audible obscenity.

It was an inauspicious lead-in to Wimbledon, which Ivanisevic should have won at least once. The fast grass courts here are a perfect complement to his big weapon--the serve. He led the men’s tour in aces last year.

So good is his serve--which has been clocked at 136 m.p.h.--that Ivanisevic has been criticized for not developing other parts of his game.

“That’s not true,” he said last week. “To be there in the final of Wimbledon, you can’t only come with a serve. You have to return also. I wish I could only serve and [get] to the final. To beat guys who are serving big, you have to hit returns and have to volley sometimes.”

On the men’s tour, only Sampras is in the same category as a server in terms of velocity, placement and basic oomph . Alas for Ivanisevic, Wimbledon officials have taken some of the sting out of the big serves this year with a heavier, slower ball intended to extend rallies and please spectators and television.

According to Ivanisevic, his serve becomes more crucial when he’s worried about long rallies and his ability to sustain them.

“I don’t like it when someone tells me, ‘[just] get the first serve in.’ I go there, throw the ball, try to hit ace. Sometimes I try to hit an ace with the second serve, when I’m nervous. I don’t want to play the point. I want to hit an ace. I always have a 50-50 chance.”

Ivanisevic’s serve has abandoned him in tight spots. Sampras beat Ivanisevic in last year’s final by serving better on the big points. In the 1992 Wimbledon final against Agassi, Ivanisevic had two double faults in his last service game.

This, from a man whom players call the Crazy Croat. Temperament is not always a debilitating characteristic for a tennis player. John McEnroe had temperament to spare. He called on it to disturb his opponent and invigorate himself. Rarely did McEnroe allow himself to get completely out of control. It just seemed like it.

Ivanisevic, 23, has yet to master his emotions. He and his game are a slave to them.

“I’m still going to swear. I’m still going to talk to umpires, still going to throw the racket sometimes,” he said. “because I feel like that. But it doesn’t have to be like before. I was losing games because I couldn’t control myself. Now . . . I can control myself.”

That’s what he said about himself last year. But the score in the final speaks volumes about Ivanisevic’s propensity to collapse when behind--7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5), 6-0.

His reputation for erupting on court is coupled with a reputation for tanking. His notorious tank at the 1990 U.S. Open is legendary. He gave up while losing to Darren Cahill and offered only token resistance. Ivanisevic won five points in the last set.

It has been suggested that his racket-throwing prowess be subjected to measurement, but Ivanisevic also throws fits. He was disqualified from the semifinals of the European 14-under championships after a monster tantrum--and he was winning the match.

“I have never seen a guy more like [Ilie] Nastase,” said Ion Tiriac, Ivanisevic’s manager. “When he was 15, he had the same look, the same eyes, the same skinny physique, the same shyness, the same ability, the same craziness on court. He has emotions, presence, charisma. You don’t get bored with him, that’s for sure.”

Ivanisevic is bored with explaining how he lost last year. When he meets fans and critics, they all have advice.

“They all want me to win a Grand Slam [tournament],” he said. “They all ask me, ‘Why didn’t you do that?’ They have their answers [about] how to play. They are all good tennis players. You watch on TV--doesn’t matter which sport--you [are] always smarter than the guy who’s playing. So they are pretty smart.

“I’m trying my best, you know, when I get to the final. It’s a difficult thing, the final of Wimbledon. On that day you have to try and play your best tennis. If you can’t, you just get the two plates that I now have at home to serve the tea.”