ATP’s No. 1 Problem: Players Don’t See They’re Fueling Fire

Marcelo Rios was saying he was bored on the tour, that the ATP should do more for players during rain delays. No one was quite sure what he meant. Was the ATP supposed to supply a Sony PlayStation for every guy in the top 100?

Yevgeny Kafelnikov was saying he didn’t care whether he lost in such places as Monte Carlo and then said he really didn’t mean it. When John McEnroe came up to him here and commented on his No. 1 status, Kafelnikov had a one-word answer on his place at the top: “Unfortunately.”

And Goran Ivanisevic was being . . . himself. The tournament director at Prague in late April, upset at the early losses of Ivanisevic and Kafelnikov, refused to pay them their appearance fees.

Self-implosion seemed a few ground strokes away, and it couldn’t be happening at a worse time for men’s tennis. It was time for Mark Miles, the ATP’s chief executive officer, to show Kafelnikov the error of his self-destructive ways, before he pulled everyone into the abyss.

Miles flew to Europe to meet with Kafelnikov, and Larry Scott, the tour’s chief operating officer, went to Dusseldorf, Germany, and had a series of discussions with players at the World Team Championship. Scott also spoke with Patrick Rafter, who recently wrote in his syndicated column in Australia that there is no doubt players tank tennis matches.

Miles had some press clips and a transcript of Kafelnikov’s comments in hand when he met with the player and his coach, Larry Stefanki.

“I said, ‘Look, you’re a smart guy,’ ” Miles said, recalling the conversation on Monday at the French Open. “ ‘Let me give you my perspective on what has happened the last couple of weeks: You’ve become No. 1 in the world. You deserve it. Nobody had a better record. By chance, the last four weeks, you lost the first round. So, guess what, Yevgeny? The media and the public is figuratively scratching their heads, saying: How is it possible that a guy who is No. 1 in the world goes 0-4 four weeks in a row?’

“ ‘You lose in Monte Carlo, you come off the court and say you don’t care how you play until you get to Paris.’

“I said, ‘This isn’t taken out of context, this is the damn transcript.’ ”

Miles said he talked with Stefanki and Kafelnikov and was convinced Kafelnikov cared, that he was trying to figure how to break his slump.

“I said, ‘I don’t believe that you or other top players don’t care when they lose,’ ” Miles said. “I don’t care where it is. These are the facts. You become No. 1, you go 0-4, and you tell people you don’t care. Guess what? Then I hand him a bunch of clippings. I said, ‘This is what people write because this is what you said. Get it?’ ”

Everywhere, Kafelnikov’s accomplishment was overshadowed by his losses and his statements. His credibility was not enhanced by a second-round loss here.

“I said, ‘You’re not the poster child for what you did on court. You’re the poster child for the malaise,’ ” Miles said.

The ATP has a rule, lifted from the PGA Tour, that states players can be fined and/or suspended for comments detrimental to the tour. But Miles wants a swifter punishment process than the current, drawn-out system allows.

“Maybe this isn’t a perfect analogy--as the father of four, with the oldest that is 16--if they do something that is unacceptable, you can’t wait six weeks to let them know,” Miles said. “We are recommending to the tour board, and I fully expect, at Wimbledon, they’ll pass a significant streamlining of the process. . . .

“That’s the stick part. And I think it is important we use the stick if we have to. They haven’t seen it as a real threat or real risk.”

The ATP is also going to try to educate its younger generation. The WTA has a mentoring program; Chris Evert, for example, is an informal mentor to Martina Hingis.

One problem men’s tennis has is that there isn’t much of that between generations, other than McEnroe issuing unsolicited advice during his television gigs.

“We need to help guys,” Miles said. “We’re looking at whether we can have people they have confidence in, in more locker rooms, at more tournaments. Mentors.

“It [the new program] is not quite finished. But we might talk to a guy like Pat McEnroe in the States. He has great credibility, knows all the guys, and we’re also trying to think of Pat McEnroe-types for Europe.”

It’s difficult to envision Rios even listening to a lecture on tour conduct from a Pat McEnroe-type, much less taking it seriously.

Perhaps a more realistic goal for the tour is getting a player to actually enjoy being No. 1.

COMMERCIAL APPEAL

Barbara was a race car driver.

At least Barbara Schwartz of Austria looked like one when she went into the interview room after beating Venus Williams on Sunday in the fourth round. Her T-shirt was plastered with a handful of commercial ads. It looked as if she were rerouted on the way to the Indianapolis 500.

“They help me,” she said. “It’s very difficult to get a sponsor if you are [ranked] 129 [actually 125]. But now I have hope.”

Schwartz pointed out individual sponsors and displayed a good sense of humor.

“I have Adidas, which is very good,” she said. “I have Vitacan. They give me the drinks, so I can go to the third set. These are the [racket] strings. This is a marketing firm. They also sponsor me.”

So, what was the yellow and blue ad?

Schwartz giggled. “They also give me some money.”

Then she laughed some more.

QUOTE, UNQUOTE

* “I’m just normal. A bit crazy. Everyone who is playing professionally and working every day and going for so many tournaments has to be a little crazy,” Schwartz on herself.

* “I think [lighting] the little candle in the church of Sacre Coeur helped. When I saw the draw and saw both of them on my side, I was like, ‘I really have to work if I want to win this tournament.’ Now both of them are out of the draw,” Hingis on Venus and Serena Williams’ losses.