Champions Tour Missing Old Get Up and Go

Mats Wilander has spent only two years on the senior tennis tour, but he’s been around long enough to know his sport is losing the race against senior golf.

“We don’t have that many players still playing that are able to play at a very high level,” said Wilander, 36, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion from Sweden. “There’s just not enough tennis interest in the world at the moment.”

The Champions Tour returned to Newport Beach Wednesday after a two-year stay in San Diego, but attendance fell short of its 1998 heyday--when a three-day, made-for-television event with John McEnroe, Yannick Noah, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg drew nearly 15,000 to the Palisades Tennis Club.

Through six sessions at a venue that holds, 2,100, the average attendance is 1,350. But Wilander’s comment that “McEnroe is carrying this tour” proved true. McEnroe, who will play Pat Cash in today’s 1 p.m. final, drew average crowds of 1,950 for his three matches. The other three day sessions drew average crowds of 750.

Compare last week’s turnout to the Toshiba Senior Classic golf tournament held in March at Newport Beach Country Club. More than 80,000 turned out to see golf legends such as Chi Chi Rodriguez, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Hale Irwin play.

Steve Joyce, owner of Newport Beach Tennis Club, said he wasn’t concerned about attendance when he sought the tournament, that he simply wanted a unique experience for his members.

The tournament features Wilander, McEnroe, Henri Leconte and Cash, the points leaders on the senior tour, in a round-robin field with Noah, Scott Davis, Guillermo Vilas and John Lloyd. Wilander, McEnroe, Cash and Noah have won 16 Grand Slam singles titles among them.

“These are a group of guys you can’t see anymore,” Joyce said. “It’s a different type of tennis than we’re used to seeing and it’s a style of tennis you’ll never see again.”

But it’s a style that many sports fans don’t care to see, especially when compared to senior golf, says Stephen A. Greyser, a Harvard University marketing professor.

“The senior golfer can still make birdies and an occasional eagle,” he said. “There’s a bigger gap between the tennis player in his prime to the player on the masters’ circuit.”

Wilander, an avid golfer who carries an eight handicap, doesn’t dispute Greyser’s argument. It’s harder to age gracefully and remain competitive in tennis, he said.

“In golf, you hit the ball a lot shorter,” he said. “But you can still score the same and play your own game. In tennis, it’s different. You have to be fit. It’s a hard sport.”

A baseline specialist known for his marathon matches, Wilander is only five years removed from the ATP tour, but he is far from the form that made him the world’sNo. 1-ranked player in 1988.

“Once you reach a certain stage in your life, you can’t improve anymore,” said Wilander, who lost to McEnroe, 6-4, 6-0, Saturday afternoon. “I weigh the same and look the same, but I’m probably half a step slower. I’m hitting the ball about the same, just not as hard at 30-40 anymore. And my breathing might be a little heavier these days.”

For the first few years of the senior tour, Connors was its biggest name. As the tour’s co-founder, he helped sell senior tennis with his feisty play and occasional crazy antics. As Connors began playing fewer events, McEnroe took over as the No. 1 player and No. 1 showman.

But McEnroe didn’t even show up for a promotional pre-tournament news conference last week.

Wilander said the tour doesn’t need any more showmen, just solid tennis players.

“We’re headed in the right direction now,” he said. “The first few years of the tour were great, but it was a show. It’s so much more serious now. That’s why we’re getting guys like Pat Cash. He’s not a showman. He’s a serious competitor. The competitive part is going to attract sponsors and other players who need money.”

The tour hopes to attract recently retired stars such as Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier. Whether that’s enough to keep American sports fans interested in senior tennis remains to be seen.

After all, it is hard enough keeping them interested in an ATP tour that is dominated by international players.

Last year’s U.S. Open men’s tennis final drew a 4.2 television rating. By comparison, the final round of the Masters golf tournament drew a 13.3 rating last month on CBS.

Henry Brehm, co-founder and executive producer of the Champions Tour, said he is well aware of tennis’ numbers problems.

“Tennis on TV is seventh or eighth among all sports,” Brehm said.

Ratings like that prompt Brehm to buy time on Fox Sports Net and Fox Sports International and then syndicate to various markets for showing on tape delay. The Newport Beach event, for example, will be shown at 2 p.m. next Saturday and Sunday on Fox Sports Net.

Most of the senior events are played overseas. Of the 19 stops on the Champions Tour this year, only six will be played in the United States.

David Carter, a sports-marketing consultant in Los Angeles, said that is probably just as well.

“It doesn’t really make for compelling TV,” he said. “And for most tennis fans, their appetite is already being satisfied by the traditional circuit.”