TENNIS / JULIE CART : What Does Seles’ Quick Dominance Say About Women’s Tour?

Women’s tennis can’t seem to catch a break.

Without a sponsor for this year, the Women’s Tennis Assn. tour turned down the one that did come courting, the manufacturers of Tampax tampons, out of squeamishness.

The sport’s stars have either dimmed or gone out. Martina Navratilova retired, Jennifer Capriati remains uninterested in returning to the game, Steffi Graf is nursing injures to mind and body.

Then there is Monica Seles.

Her courageous and wildly successful return to the tour since she was stabbed during a match 2 1/2 years ago should be nothing but positive public relations for women’s tennis. But is it?

How is it that a player absent from professional tennis for 28 months can dominate as Seles has, dropping not a set to win the first tournament she entered? And then breeze into the U.S. Open semifinals? What does that say about the depth of women’s tennis?

Of course, Seles is a remarkable player and a unique case. In January, Graf was asked if she thought Seles was capable of coming back after such a prolonged absence. Graf said, without hesitation, that Seles, if anyone, would be able to do it.

What has happened to women’s tennis during Seles’ absence? Stagnation.

Graf dominated, with minor incursions from Arantxa Sanchez Vicario. With Seles out, Graf cruised along on grit and reputation while her back disintegrated.

Players have for some time harbored quiet thoughts about Graf’s vulnerability. But her tremendous court presence intimidates all but the most bold.

Men’s tennis is buoyed--and hyped--by the rivalry between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Should Seles and Graf develop a true rivalry, it would be wonderful for the women’s game.

But should Seles dominate, Graf fade and no other player rise to the fill the void, it would be another reminder of what a thin crust of top players exists on the women’s tour.

Seles’ return is good news, but only as long as it raises the level of the game among other top players.

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Zina Garrison Jackson had intended to retire, telling everyone this was her last year, her last U.S. Open and that she and her husband wanted to start a family and devote more time to her charitable causes. What made Garrison Jackson change her mind? The counsel of the person she called “Mother Tennis,” Billie Jean King.

“Sometimes I think she is like this little angel that hangs over people,” Garrison Jackson said. “I had been telling her that I was confused. Billie just said, ‘Do whatever you believe. Do what you want to do, not what other people want you to do.’ I said, ‘I don’t know if I want to retire. It’s driving me crazy.’

“One day, I was extremely depressed. I had just been crying and crying. The phone rings and it’s Billie. She asked how I was and I said, ‘Fine,’ trying to sound like I wasn’t upset. She just kept asking. Finally, she told me, ‘Zina, you have to make the decision. You can’t go with what other people want you to do. You can’t worry about the media. You can’t worry about your husband, your family. You have to make the decision.’

“I finally did.”

Garrison Jackson has been a fixture on the tennis tour and paved the way for a handful of African American players, although she is not fond of such distinctions.

“I was wavering within myself about if I really wanted to give it up,” she said. “Reality hit when people started calling and wanted to come down to do interviews in Houston before the Open. I started getting very, very depressed because it [tennis] is something I have been doing since I was 10, and I thought I could just give it up, walk away from it. I still love the game. I want to play some more and just kind of fade away.”

It’s not likely to happen in that fashion, given Garrison Jackson’s competitive nature.

Notes

The USTA pro satellite circuit will open its California segment Sept. 18 with a tournament at Rio Bravo in Bakersfield, followed by week-long events at Whittier Narrows Sept. 25, Anaheim Tennis Center Oct. 2 and the segment finale at UCLA the week of Oct. 9. Each tournament carries with it a $12,500 purse, plus important ATP tour points. . . . Perhaps the most impressive performance in the recent Mammoth Open was by B-Division player Tracey Fulford of Coto de Caza, who played 11 matches in five days at the 7,000-foot altitude event and won both the mixed and women’s doubles titles while being four months pregnant. . . . The Santa Monica championships are set for Sept. 16-17 at Lincoln Park in Santa Monica.