Chang Is Out but Not Done

Michael Chang had visions of his tennis obituary, out of the French Open and into the land of “Early Edition,” reading tomorrow’s news today.

He feared the worst.

“I hope you guys aren’t writing me off,” he said. “Give me a little more time.”

Well, what gave him that idea?

Perhaps it floated into his mind after questions led him to talk about his post-tennis career, possibly doing missionary work or going back to school. Or maybe it was his latest Grand Slam misfortune--a 6-2, 5-7, 6-0, 7-6 (10-8) first-round loss to top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia--and his plummeting ranking, No. 51, in the world.

Afterward, Chang cut a forlorn figure. This particular defeat hit hard because this is the 10th anniversary of Chang’s historic French Open title.

“It always hurts when you lose early in a major,” said the 27-year-old Chang. “I felt like I put in the work and came up a little short.”

The warm memories of his lone Grand Slam championship serve as a comfort and, at the same time, a cruel reminder of his once-lofty status. Quite simply, he can’t seem to win the close matches in Grand Slam events.

Chang lost to Mark Philippoussis in five sets in the second round this year at the Australian Open and exited in five sets in the second round last year against Carlos Moya of Spain after holding three match points at the U.S. Open.

The difference in survival skills was illustrated Monday. Both the fourth-seeded Moya, the defending champion, and No. 13 Andre Agassi showed the moxie to escape difficult situations.

Agassi, still feeling a twinge or two from an injured shoulder, defeated Franco Squillari of Argentina, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3, finishing the match with three consecutive aces. Moya struggled against little-known Markus Hipfl of Austria, winning 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, in 2 hours 55 minutes.

The only seeded male beaten to exit was No. 15 Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, who lost to Hicham Arazi of Morocco, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.

“The way I was playing, I didn’t see any way out to escape from this match,” Moya said. “What can you do when you are losing so badly? You just have to do your best and pray. That’s what I did and it worked out.”

The 11 a.m. start troubled Moya.

“I think I woke up,” he said. “. . . I’m going to ask them to put me on [court] No. 10 or No. 8, whatever, but not at 11 in the morning. It’s really tough for me. I’m a bit lazy, you know. It takes time for me to be awake. Next time I play at 11, I don’t sleep the whole night to be awake.”

Petr Korda, 31, of the Czech Republic said the French Open could be his last tournament if he loses his appeal of a one-year ban, imposed by the International Tennis Federation, for alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“I can say right now, it’s killed my game. It’s killed my personality on the court. But it didn’t kill me as a person,” Korda said of the ban.