Strong Supporting Cast Makes Infiniti a Hit Show

While the likes of Michael Chang and Richard Krajicek battle for top prize money at the Infiniti Open this weekend, Barbara Estes will play front-gate enforcer and Annette Buck will cut the checks.

Public-address announcer Mike Walden will wear a wacky outfit, his familiar voice springing from an obscured perch.

Jane Goodman will administer line judges and Martha Katsufrakis will give the players the star treatment from her post at the tournament desk.

The behind-the-scenes work of these and many other Valley residents--either as volunteers or employees of the Southern California Tennis Assn.--have helped make the Infiniti the cornerstone event for the greater Los Angeles tennis community.

“What is my job?” asked Estes of Sherman Oaks, whose varied tasks each year since 1984 have made the answer difficult.

“She’s the scam detector,” said Julie Ivanyi, a colleague from Sherman Oaks.

Estes has been a scoreboard operator and a VIP usher--Prince Albert of Monaco being her most-memorable ticket holder. Now she manages the will-call tent outside the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA, where she must cast a judicial eye.

Each day, Estes chases off a variety of impostors, posing as anybody from a reporter to a player’s sibling.

Estes was about to direct one ringer to press liaison Toby Zwikel, a man who runs a public relations firm in Tarzana.

That is until the fake asked about Zwikel: “Where is she?”

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Annette Buck of Woodland Hills, a top SCTA official, becomes “Ms. Bucks” at tournament time.

With $303,000 in prize money at her disposal, her job is not as pleasant as one might guess. All but three players--one in singles, two in doubles--walk through the door as losers.

Said Buck: “They usually aren’t in very good moods.”

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In a dimly lighted cubbyhole underneath the concrete bleachers of the stadium court, Goodman of Sherman Oaks sits at a desk and assigns court officials.

“Being the chief is not something a lot of people like, but I like the responsibility,” said Goodman, who is seemingly omnipresent in her blue jersey, khaki pants and straw hat at Valley events, big and small.

“The atmosphere [of the Infiniti] is terrific,” she said.

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Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist has just been eliminated from the Olympics. Is there still time to enter the Infiniti Open?

He calls Katsufrakis of Tarzana. And with a snap of her fingers, Enqvist is seeded third.

Krajicek needs tickets for a youth group from Holland, which is attending an international conference of students at UCLA. The Dutchman also hopes to score some movie passes for a friend. As always, Katsufrakis delivers. Krajicek pays her with a hug.

Katsufrakis, like Estes, Goodman and Buck, can count the number of matches she’s seen on one hand.

But she has befriended many a player in nearly 20 years on the tournament desk.

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Sports announcer Mike Walden has been the voice of UCLA and USC sporting events and is also known as the sidekick to Bob Einstein on the long-running syndicated comedy television show “Super Dave.”

But while manning the mike at the Infiniti the Tarzana resident, who plays tennis four days a week, usually hears barbs such as, “Hey, nice jacket.”

Walden’s pink striped blazer could easily be spotted Thursday from his booth next to the East grandstand. Walden wore a red tie, a red watch band, white slacks and court shoes.

Former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, a fixture at the Infiniti, made his first appearance Thursday.

“I said to Johnny, ‘Where’ve you been?’ ” Walden said. “He said, ‘I’ve been playing, hitting the ball well.’

“I said, ‘Yeah. We all are.’ ”

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This weekend marks the opening of the United States Tennis Assn. national junior championships.

Among the area favorites are twins Mike and Bob Bryan (Camarillo), defending champions in 18-and-under doubles, Nicholas Weiss (Calabasas) and Jieun Jacobs (Valencia) in 14-and-under singles, and Erin Boisclair in 18-and-under singles.

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Memorial services for former Birmingham High doubles player Yon Rojany will be held noon Sunday at Eden Mortuary in Mission Hills.

Rojany, 19, a 1995 Birmingham High graduate, died July 17 in the TWA Flight 800 crash.