A Full Plate

A well-tuned car, a tank of gas, a modest discretionary income and 21 days of vacation time are all that are needed to achieve a rare state of tennis burnout.

Beginning today, Southern California will play host to three consecutive weeks of professional tennis, the kind of one-sport saturation seldom found in one area. Three tournaments in three cities in three weeks offer the promise of all the head-swiveling action any tennis fan can stand.

The Infiniti Open, a men’s event at the L.A. Tennis Center at UCLA, begins the lineup, followed by two women’s events: the Toshiba Tennis Classic at the La Costa Resort at Carlsbad next week, then the Acura Classic at Manhattan Country Club at Manhattan Beach.

Like the professional golf tour, tennis’ nomadic circus usually breezes into an area once or twice a year, at different ends of the calendar. To have three professional tournaments in a row is unprecedented.

Last summer, the Olympic Games discombobulated the men’s and women’s calendars locally, causing the La Costa and UCLA events to conflict. The stars are back in alignment--or at least the schedules are now that the three tournaments are piggybacking for nearly a month.

“It’s wonderful,” said Raquel Giscafre, co-director of the La Costa tournament. “It’s great that we don’t conflict. The tennis fans have a great opportunity. Three tournaments in a row says something about the health of the sport in Southern California.”

It helps that the tournaments are bringing in many of the sport’s biggest draws. Among the women are Martina Hingis, the 16-year-old who earlier this month won Wimbledon; Monica Seles, winner of nine Grand Slam tournament titles; and such draws as Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Mary Pierce and Amanda Coetzer.

The men are only slightly less noteworthy. Not the highest-ranked but undoubtedly the most well-known is Andre Agassi, who will play in only his second tournament since taking an injury time out 2 1/2 months ago. Also in the field at UCLA are former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek; Mark Philippoussis, the hardest server on the men’s tour; the brilliant and unpredictable Goran Ivanisevic; and Jim Courier, Thomas Enqvist and Patrick Rafter.

With three tournaments fighting for the patronage of Southern California tennis fans, isn’t there the danger that the events will infringe on one another.

“It’s a natural place for tennis, but the audience is different,” said Bob Kramer, tournament director for the Infiniti Open.

“There are those who play tennis and participate, there are those who watch it on television and there are those who come out for big events, no matter what. We also think there’s a fan of men’s tennis and a fan of women’s tennis.”

If it seems the women’s fields are better than the men’s, it’s true. The women’s tournaments here benefit from the geographic logic of the WTA Tour’s summer hardcourt schedule. The Tour moves from Palo Alto this week to the stops at Carlsbad and Manhattan Beach. Having the Tour’s top players in such a compact area maximizes a tournament director’s ability to snag one or more of the stars.

For the players, it is attractive to commit to a three-week playing schedule in which travel time is minimized and they never have to leave California.

It’s tougher for the men. The UCLA event is preceded by tournaments the same week in Washington, D.C., and Stuttgart, Germany, each of which would require substantial travel time.

Worse, the UCLA tournament is followed by consecutive Super 9 tournaments at Montreal and Cincinnati. Players such as Pete Sampras and Michael Chang will rest up this week for the Super 9s, which each offer $2.3 million in prize money and amplified opportunities for earning rankings points.

The two women’s tournaments are designated Tier II events, the mid-level in terms of prize money and player field. Still, each has managed to put together a stellar field.

The Toshiba event was voted by the players last year as their favorite tournament, and that positive word of mouth makes it easier to persuade players to include it on their schedules. The event managed to lure Steffi Graf for years; she was entered this year but is still recovering from knee surgery.

The tournament hasn’t suffered in Graf’s absence. It has Hingis, No. 1 in the world, and tennis fans have responded to her presence with a 35% increase in ticket sales over last year.

The UCLA event is designated a World Series tournament, the lowest level on the men’s tour. The relatively meager prize money isn’t enough to draw a respectable field. But that is augmented by twice as much money available for paying guarantees--up-front money paid to players for entering a tournament. Appearance fees are within the rules, and Kramer is thankful for that.

“We have the chance to move players in a free market,” Kramer said.

Agassi was one such trickle-down acquisition.

With all the tennis coming up, some worry that the saturation will ultimately hurt one of the tournaments.

“In a perfect world, it would make more sense for these tournaments to be spread out,” said Jim Curley, tournament director of the Acura Classic. “But we should look at the fact that we have three great events. I’m hoping that, from a tennis standpoint, the Infiniti Open does a great job. It’s good for tennis and it will help us all.”

The Acura Classic is the last of three tournaments and Curley is counting on the interest of tennis fans to have been piqued, not sated, at the tail end of the three weeks.

The UCLA event is first, and gets first shot at drawing fans.

“We probably benefit from being the first of the three,” Kramer said. “It’s true we are competitors, there might be a somewhat different audience. We’ve shared some information with the Manhattan Beach tournament and discovered that there’s less than 10% overlap on our ticket buying lists. So I think the fans see these as three different events. The biggest overlap is media--we don’t want to wear people out over three weeks.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Southland Swing

A look at the professional tennis tour stops in the area the next three weeks.

INFINITI OPEN (MEN).

When--Today-Sunday.

Where--L.A. Tennis Center at UCLA.

Top players--Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Enqvist, Mark Philippoussis, Richard Krajicek, Andre Agassi.

Prize money--Total purse $303,000, winner’s share $43,000.

Ticket information--(310) 824-1010.

TOSHIBA CLASSIC (WOMEN)

When--July 28-Aug. 3.

Where--La Costa Resort, Carlsbad.

Top players--Martina Hingis, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Mary Pierce, Venus Williams, Amanda Coetzer.

Prize money--Total purse $450,000, winner’s share $79,000.

Ticket information--(760) 438-5683.

ACURA CLASSIC (WOMEN)

When--Aug. 4-10.

Where--Manhattan Country Club, Manhattan Beach.

Top players--Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Jennifer Capriati.

Prize money--Total purse $450,000, winner’s share $79,000.

Ticket information--(310) 546-5656.

INFINITI OPEN

MONDAY’S SINGLES SCHEDULE

STADIUM COURT

Beginning 11:30 a.m.

* Vincent Spadea of United States vs. Stephane Simian of France

* Sandon Stolle of Australia vs. Michael Tebbutt of Australia

* No. 5 Patrick Rafter of Australia vs. Lionel Roux of France

Beginning 9 p.m.

* No. 2 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden vs. Steve Bryan of United States

GRANDSTAND COURT

Beginning 11 a.m.

* Gaston Etlis of Argentina vs. Guillaume Raoux of France

* Sebastien Lareau of Canada vs. Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark

THE DRAW

SEEDED PLAYERS

No. 1 Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia

No. 2 Thomas Enqvist, Sweden

No. 3 Mark Philippoussis

Australia

No. 4 Richard Krajicek

The Netherlands

No. 5 Patrick Rafter, Australia

No. 6 Jim Courier, United States

No. 7 Andre Agassi

United States

No. 8 Alex O’Brien

United States

OTHERS

Mahesh Bhupathi (India), Byron Black (Zimbabwe), Bob Bryan, Steve Bryan, Kenneth Carlsen (Denmark), Olivier Delaitre (France), Gaston Etlis (Argentina), Doug Flach, Justin Gimelstob, Neville Godwin (South Africa), Roberto Jabali (Brazil), Sebastien Larea (Canada), Daniel Nestor (Yugoslavia), Marcos Ondruska (South Africa), Eval Ran (Israel), Guillaume Raoux (France), Lionel Roux (France), Sarqis Sarasian (Armenia), Stephane Simian (France), Vincent Soadea, Grant Stafford (South Africa), Sandon Stolle (Australia), Michael Tebbutt (Australia), Glenn Weiner (South Africa).