Tennis Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Steffi Graf Admiration Thread Vol 2

864K views 6K replies 140 participants last post by  Michael! 
#1 ·
This is a great idea to start this topic...
I shall dedicate this thread to the player who made me notice tennis and follow it eversince I saw her play.....

Steffi Graf!
:bounce: :bounce:
 
#4,580 ·
The whole "biweekly ranking" idea was another joke, another reason you cannot compare eras under different systems. As you can see, it could buy a player an extra week ranked whatever and penalize another player in terms of seeding at tournaments that happen in between updates.

EVERT'S LOSS TO BE GRAF'S GAIN ON COMPUTER
Sun-Sentinel
Saturday, February 21, 1987
By JIM SARNI, Staff Writer

BOCA RATON -- Chris Evert Lloyd must ponder life at No. 3.

Evert will lose her No. 2 computer ranking after falling to Kate Gompert in the third round of the Virginia Slims of Florida Thursday night.

Evert leads Steffi Graf by a scant six points (210.11-204.29) in the point average rankings, which came out Monday.

The next biweekly rankings, due March 2, will reflect the latest 52-week cycle. Evert will lose 489 points from her tournament victories at the 1986 Virginia Slims of California and the 1986 Lipton International Players Championships. She gained only 27 from this week's tournament.

Graf is assured of 81 points here and will drop fewer points than Evert.

Graf has been gaining steadily since Evert was injured in September.

Evert has not been lower than No. 2 on the computer since she slipped behind Tracy Austin and Martina Navratilova in the fall of 1979 and winter of 1980. Evert was seeded third at Wimbledon in 1980 but regained the No. 1 ranking by the end of the year.

Evert lost the top ranking to Navratilova in the middle of 1982. Evert regained it briefly after she won the French Open in 1985.

-- Evert's surprise defeat should help Lipton sell tickets next week. There is no certainty of a Chris-Martina final. . . Evert took the loss well, according to Pam Shriver, her doubles partner. ''Chris was funny in the doubles. She cracked some funnies,'' Shriver said. Evert and Shriver, the third seeds, are playing their second tournament together. They won at Brighton. . . Wendy Turnbull gave Hana Mandlikova, who is fussy about keeping the court clean, a Dustbuster for her birthday Thursday. . . Gabriela Sabatini is conducting her press conferences in English after improving her skills listening to American pop music. ''She has a good ear,'' said Patrico Apey, her coach. ''But when she speaks in English, she loses her personality. Gaby is a very warm person, but her English is so basic that it doesn't come across.''

-- Steffi Graf has one of the shortest latest names on the tour but there are five players who have a shorter latest name. Can you name them?

Time's up. Grace Kim. Susan Leo. Mercedes Paz. Patricia Hy. And, of course, Hu Na.

-- Slims tickets are scarce for the weekend. There are 781 remaining for today, 462 for Sunday. The stadium seats around 6,000.
 
#4,582 ·
This was such a fascinating time in tennis after the monotony of the stranglehold Chris and Martina had had on the game since 1983 (I still felt there was a glimmer of hope for others even in 1982!). I finally had a villain and it just so happened I LOVED her unique and thrilling game. With Chris and Martina I began to lose interest in tennis around 1983, still following the scores/watching matches but missing Evonne, Tracy, Wade and a competitive mandlikova who seemed to be on a never ending walkabout. Then almost out of nowhere this Graf/Olive Oyl comes along with a demeanor almost haughtier than Navratilova in 1983, racing onto the court in every match like she owns the stadium no matter who she is playing and the following season she backs it up and starts winning, and winning easily! When 1987 began she got better and better and better, almost as if right before our very eyes. It was almost as if she was visibly improving/learning/adapting in every match (at least the latter rounds I witnessed that were televised). The only other player who I felt exhibited the same behavior was Nadal in spurts in 2007 and 2008. Other players seemed to improve dramatically in an off season and basically become The Player They Were Meant To Be and sustain it....Navratilova in early 1982, Borg in early 1978, Federer in beginning of 2004. Clearly Steffi had improved over the 86-87 early winter, but it almost seemed like with each match she got better and then even betterer.

Within just a few weeks of the last article it seemed like she had every single player on tour, none more so than an early onset midlife crisis Martina, literally shaking in their shoes. Not since Martina started killing everyone in 1983 was there this kind of fear of being demolished on court. Even though Steffi lost those two big matches to Martina at W and the USO, it almost seemed like her fear factor in '87 was bigger than '88-89 because it was so new. No one could figure out what to do, no one had that sense of the familiar that they did the following few years. And no one had seen or felt a shot ricochet back the way her forehand did, like a scythe. Her speed unrivaled, her sense of entitlement written all over her face and demeanor AND all of sudden she was backing it up.

I was eating this all up. Even though the Chris and Martina Show was tiresome, when a supporting player other than Hana suddenly bumped one of the stars, the finale was inevitably even more of a bore...Chris rolling thru the '83 French, Martina doing the same weeks later at W, or Sukova knocking off one or the other and not being able to back it up. Only Hana could back up an upset and even that was only on the average of once in a blue moon. But this Graf kid that moved like Borg with a fluffier wig on, bigger frown included, looked like the real deal - athletic, tenacious and hungry.

And her game! The loveliest, nastiest, most defended shot in the history of the sport in her slice backhand—what? no Chrissie clone?—and a forehand never seen before in the game, men included. Bouncing, bouncing, bouncing AND the SINGLE moment she stood still, the beautiful frozen pose of her iconic service motion, that split second she paused for what seemed like minutes waiting for her oh-so high ball toss to return to earth. She was a keeper.

It appeared that Chris was ready to exit the game in 1987, but by that time her villain status had flipped and I realized that along with family and a few close friends she had remained a trusty and familiar constant in my life, always in my living room on at least one Saturday and Sunday a month, nearly year round. I turned 19 in January and was enjoying college, not watching as much tennis as I used to, but caught every match I could. Saying goodbye to Chris America meant saying hello to Graf, but Steffi was someone I could root against Olde Lady Martina. But you had the feeling that Steffi would be there, unlike Hana who couldn't be trusted with your grammar schoolbrown bag lunch. And, low and behold—BOOM—there she was picking up right where Chris and Martina left off making the final, and giving me someone to root against, of every single grand slam until even after I graduated college by W of 1990. And, as good as she was, you had to feel that Martina The Underdog had a very good chance in every single match they played during those Steffi glory years of 1987-1989, or at least there would be drama, no matter how frightened Martina was with that death grin that BJK made her wear like a ghoulish mask. If only Martina had her head straight they might have met more than once or twice a year and it really would have been a blast, but a W final here and hopefully a USO or VS final there and who missed Chris?

By the time Monica grew into her gangly body Chris was literally gone and it was Steffi's turn to be frightened and I couldn't have enjoyed it more, but I kept thinking what a fool she was being, much like Martina shaking like a leaf while facing Steffi '87-89... Steffi was such a better athlete, such a better, more nuanced player. But the tables had turned again.

Good times.
 
#4,583 ·
[...]When 1987 began she got better and better and better, almost as if right before our very eyes. It was almost as if she was visibly improving/learning/adapting in every match (at least the latter rounds I witnessed that were televised). The only other player who I felt exhibited the same behavior was Nadal in spurts in 2007 and 2008. Other players seemed to improve dramatically in an off season and basically become The Player They Were Meant To Be and sustain it....Navratilova in early 1982, Borg in early 1978, Federer in beginning of 2004. Clearly Steffi had improved over the 86-87 early winter, but it almost seemed like with each match she got better and then even betterer.
Steffi made tennis her own sport, a whole new sport. There was so much dogma (and really still is, it's just a slightly different dogma now) in tennis that it's ridiculous. While Steffi gave lip service to some of the various fossilized theories from time to time, she certainly did her best to make a mockery of them in practice. I always saw her a problem solver extraordinaire, sometimes delicately brilliant, sometimes Gordian-knot-cutting brute force, sometimes Indiana-Jones-on-the-rope-bridge crazy, but always alert to changing conditions, always ready to add or improve/refine, always capable of analyzing in real time, always prepared to improvise when necessary. And she had to do all this without an instruction book for the way she wanted to play or any other player in her memory to provide examples. Yes, there was a learning curve and she made blunders, but that's one of the prices of being ahead of the game. She had to improve/learn/adapt as she played because only playing provided feedback. Even later on in her career, the same attitude was noticeable.

Meanwhile, everyone else, especially Aunt Chrissie and Aunt Martina, are stuck back in the early Eighties. Maybe if Austin, Shriver, Mandlikova, and the rest of that lost generation had been more durable/athletic/talented/mature/focused/whatever and Chris 'n' Martina had needed to fend off serious challengers all along, Steffi would have been much less of a shock to their system. Instead, they were like, "Whoa, did Steffi improve? Nah, can't be, because nobody improves except us and maybe not even then." I mean, Evert as a TV commentator was still talking about Steffi's "new" topspin backhand in 19-freaking-95! Navratilova as a TV
commentator was still talking about how all you had to do was serve to Steffi's backhand and charge the net even in 19-freaking-99! "If it were that easy how did you ever lose to her, Martina?" -- "Well, she just never has to hit a backhand..." -- "So then how do you serve to her backhand?" -- "Oh, you serve to her backhand and... wait, what?" -- "Did someone really hire you as a coach?"

Within just a few weeks of the last article it seemed like she had every single player on tour, none more so than an early onset midlife crisis Martina, literally shaking in their shoes. Not since Martina started killing everyone in 1983 was there this kind of fear of being demolished on court.
Because, as you say below, they didn't even know how they were being demolished. Martina's serve-and-volley was familiar and tried and true. Even into the late Nineties, Steffi was curb-stomping people and they don't know what happened. Or they even have her on the ropes only to find themselves dropped on their heads and they don't know what happened. I am sure Steffi was laughing behind her hand at everyone for long stretches of her career. "Ooh, baby, you are so talented .... and they are so dumb!"

Even though Steffi lost those two big matches to Martina at W and the USO, it almost seemed like her fear factor in '87 was bigger than '88-89 because it was so new. No one could figure out what to do, no one had that sense of the familiar that they did the following few years. And no one had seen or felt a shot ricochet back the way her forehand did, like a scythe. Her speed unrivaled, her sense of entitlement written all over her face and demeanor AND all of sudden she was backing it up.
As will be seen, Steffi as a 16- and 17-year-old was completely conscious that what she was doing on court was revolutionary and that no one else had the mental equipment to process it. After the 1987 Lipton win, Steffi speaks the Grail Question of Tennis and reality resets or something and everyone else is flattened by the shockwave -- the moment truly modern tennis is born.

She knew almost everyone expected the ladies-in-waiting and the new kids to keep on waiting and be content with a "subsidy" until Evertilova retired with whatever records they wanted, but in the best barbarian-at-the-gate tradition, Steffi saw no reason to be content with a mere sack of gold every now and then when she could sack a whole empire.

The WTA often forgets that the entertainment value of tennis is in the match being played, what two people are doing with their feet and to the ball, not in some "quest" for a numerical record or other hokey stats. That "Can we play tennis?" attitude has been totally missing from the game for at least two waves now. They need another barbarian invader who can't be bought off with some candy, clothes, and money and doesn't want to wait until the current star players are "finished" before having her turn.

And her game! The loveliest, nastiest, most defended shot in the history of the sport in her slice backhand—what? no Chrissie clone?—and a forehand never seen before in the game, men included. Bouncing, bouncing, bouncing AND the SINGLE moment she stood still, the beautiful frozen pose of her iconic service motion, that split second she paused for what seemed like minutes waiting for her oh-so high ball toss to return to earth. She was a keeper.
I saw no reason to make her the villain. Steffi was the one that made me see that tennis is an interesting sport and not a glorified game of tic-tac-toe. And she was an instant foil for any playing-type. Even at her attitudinal worst, she was far more sarcastic/funny than bratty -- especially in 1987.
 
#4,584 ·
You gotta laugh at the way Shriver managed to spin this. Has a whopping 2-0, 30-30 lead and there was absolutely, positively no way she could lose the set. Because Pam Shriver never has her serve broken, and Steffi Graf never breaks serve multiple times in a set.

Graf, Sukova reach Slims of Florida final
St. Petersburg Times
Sunday, February 22, 1987
DARRELL FRY

BOCA RATON - It literally rained on Pam Shriver's parade Saturday.

Although down a set in their Virginia Slims of Florida semifinal match, Shriver began sticking it to second-seeded Steffi Graf from the first point of the second set. She had broken Graf to open the set and held her own serve at love to race to a 2-0 lead. Everything was going her way. The set was all but hers and a third set seemed invarible.

Then the rain came. After a 2 1/2-hour delay, play resumed under the lights. However, less than 20 minutes later, a befuddled Shriver was standing at the net shaking hands with one of today's finalist of the $250,000 tournament.

No upset. No third set. No shot at the $50,000 winner's check.

''It was all a jumble,'' third-seeded Shriver said about the post-rain portion of the match. ''She doesn't give you much time to ease into anything.''

In that 19-minute span, the West German used her ferocious forehand to take six of seven games from Shriver and win the match 6-4, 6-3, advancing to today's final against fourth-seeded Helena Sukova. Earlier in the day, Czechoslovakia's Sukova downed 16-year-old Gabriela Sabatini 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the other semifinal match before 4,800 fans at the Polo Club in Boca Raton.

The rain delay caused the doubles semifinals and final to be postponed until today.

The crowd that sat through the 84-degree afternoon heat will remember the Sabatini-Sukova match most. In her haste to get to the net against Sabatini, the 21-year-old Sukova almost rushed herself right out of her championship match with Graf today. So eager to charge in behind every looping, top-spin return of Sabatini's, Sukova ended up approaching behind short, easy shots that Sabatini sent zipping back past her.

Her impatience translated into 14 passing shots by the 10th-ranked Argentine teen-ager and cost Sukova the first set, 6-4.

Sukova began stretching out points in the second set and attacking the net when possible. The longer rallies and the emergence of the third set took a physical toll on Sabatini.

She managed to hold serve to open the third set, but from there Sukova's more sensible strategy swept her through the next six games of the deciding set.

The sixth-ranked Sukova said of today's title match against the 17-year-old Graf: ''I have nothing to lose, because right now I think (Graf) is the second-best player in the world.''

- Information from UPI was used in this report.
 
#4,585 ·
"I was in control of most of the points in the first set." Pam, you lost the first set!

"When you leave the court you tend to forget what was working for you." Pam, unless you have a real mental impairment (but she probably does), you should be able to remember what was working for you. The delay was 3 hours, not 3 years! Steffi was thinking about what she needed to do better, while Pam totally forgot how to play tennis?

GRAF VS. SUKOVA IN SLIMS SHOWDOWN THIS TIME STEFFI'S LIKELY TO DO MORE THAN JUST SHOW UP - TODAY'S SCHEDULE STADIUM, 2 P.M.
Sun-Sentinel
Sunday, February 22, 1987
By JIM SARNI, Staff Writer

BOCA RATON -- Steffi Graf will wake up this morning to play a tournament final in South Florida, and this time she will not expect to lose.

The last three times the West German teen-ager played a final here, she just had to show up.

Graf was the sacrificial lamb at the altar of, first, Martina Navratilova -- at the Lynda Carter/Maybelline Classic at Bonaventure in the fall of 1985 -- and then Chris Evert Lloyd -- at the Virginia Slims of Florida in Key Biscayne and again at the Lipton at Boca West last winter.

Today Graf is the star, the favorite to defeat Helena Sukova in the 2 p.m. final of the Virginia Slims of Florida at The Polo Club. There are 378 tickets remaining.

In Saturday's semifinals, Graf, the second seed, stopped Pam Shriver, the third seed, 6-4, 6-3 in a rain-delayed match; and Sukova, the fourth seed, wore down Gabriela Sabatini, the sixth seed, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

''I'm not playing my best tennis at the moment,'' said Graf, who has not lost a set in four matches since returning to the tour after a 2 1/2-month break. ''I feel I can play a lot better.''

''Steffi is not playing well and winning,'' said Peter Graf, her father. ''That makes me happy.''

Graf and Shriver were involved in another one of their tense duels when a thunderstorm turned The Polo Club into the Pool Club in the late afternoon.

Graf had won the first set with a break in the final game, but Shriver had won the first two of the second set, and she was starting to roll.

But when the players resumed the match nearly three hours later, Graf did the coasting, winning six of seven games and doing so in 19 minutes.

About 200 fans and one shaggy dog (who has watched every point from his mistress' box seat this week) from a crowd of more than 5,000 hung around for the quick end.

''Maybe the delay helped me,'' Graf said. ''I played more aggressively when we came back. During the break I was thinking what I could do to win.''

''When you leave the court you tend to forget what was working for you,'' said Shriver, who lost the first 10 points after the resumption.

''I was in control of most of the points in the first set. The conditions changed when we came back, and I wasn't as ready to go out as I should have been.''

''I knew I had to win that first game,'' Graf said. ''I couldn't let Pam go up 3-love.''

Sukova knew she had to win the second and third sets for the third match in a row to stay in the tournament. The tall Czech serve-and-volleyer did not flinch.

''I had chances in the first set, and I didn't make them, but I just kept trying,'' said Sukova, who rallied to beat Patty Fendick and Bettina Bunge in her two previous matches.

''I wanted to come in as much as I could, and in the beginning, Sabatini was passing well. I kept the pressure on because I didn't think she could do it the whole match.''

Sukova kept Sabatini on the go in the hot sun, chasing the ball from side to side and up and back with dropshots. The 16-year-old Argentine, who is in her best shape, still got tired.

Sabatini could have used a thunderstorm.

''I was hoping I could win the match in two sets,'' Sabatini said.

Sukova beat Graf in their first match at Brisbane, Australia, on grass in 1983 (Steffi was 14), but then Graf has won the three matches since. Graf routed Sukova 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals at Lipton last year but needed three sets to win at the European Indoors and the Virginia Slims Championships.

''We've had tough matches, but maybe Sukova will be a little tired,'' Graf said.

At least Sukova didn't have to stick around and play doubles Saturday night. The Sukova-Claudia Kohde-Kilsch vs. Shriver-Chris Evert Lloyd doubles semifinal was postponed until today, after the singles.

Sukova could play three matches today as the doubles final will conclude the session.

''I hope I can play better against Graf,'' Sukova said.

''I need to volley better and play more consistently. I win some very good points, then I lose some very bad points.''

Steffi Graf vs. Helena Sukova

Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and Sukova vs. Chris Evert Lloyd and Pam Shriver

Doubles final

Court 9, 2:30 p.m.

Svetlana Parkhomenko and Larissa Savchenko vs. Hana Mandlikova and Wendy Turnbull
 
#4,586 ·
Comically oversized conspicuous ice pack. "I'm injured. See? See?!"

"When you have momentum and it rains, you're at a disadvantage." No, pausing does not necessarily put you at a disadvantage.

"She was picking the ball up a lot better under the lights than I was." Excuse me, Pam, but is that an excuse?

"I did a lot of stretching but I didn't warm up and she doesn't let you ease in. I always want to cover all bases, but I didn't cover that one." So you didn't warm up because...?

Meanwhile, Steffi is like, "In the first set, which I won by the way, I was just getting the ball back, just playing 'OK,' nothing great. So I decided to put my foot on the accelerator and, by extension, Pam's neck. And hey, I won the equivalent of a 6-1 set in 19 minutes, changeovers included. I think 'going for it' is the way I'm born to play. Now I will go home and see what's on HBO and be pissed off if I missed half of a good movie. Stupid rain delay."

GRAF JOINS SUKOVA IN SLIMS FINAL
The Miami Herald
Sunday, February 22, 1987
JIM MARTZ, Herald Sports Writer

It would have made a good story. Pam Shriver, she of White House state dinners and matches with the vice president, upsets Steffi Graf to move within one victory of a tournament title.

But Shriver was rained out, figuratively speaking, Saturday night in the semifinals of the $250,000 Virginia Slims of Florida at the Polo Club of Boca Raton.

Just as Shriver grabbed momentum and a 2-0 lead in the second set late Saturday afternoon, a deluge halted play for nearly three hours. When the match resumed, Graf played as if she had a roast in the oven and swept to a 6-4, 6-3 victory before only a few hundred of the 4,882 who witnessed the start.

Earlier, Gabriela Sabatini produced the shots and Helena Sukova provided the savvy. And savvy prevailed as Sukova, a gangly, 6-2 Czechoslovakian who turns 22 Monday, kept Sabatini, a 16-year-old Argentine who lives on Key Biscayne, out of sync with everything from booming serves to deft backhand drop shots to win, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Graf, 17, and Sukova will meet in the final at 2 p.m. today. Graf, from West Germany, has won three of their four meetings, the most recent by 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden in November.

"I always have a tough match against her and look forward to playing her," said Graf.

Shriver had looked forward to building on her 2-0 second-set lead when a summer-like monsoon arrived.

"When you have momentum and it rains, you're at a disadvantage," said Shriver, 24, who strapped a huge ice pack on her right shoulder after the match. "You never know how it's going to turn out. She was picking the ball up a lot better under the lights than I was.

"I did a lot of stretching but I didn't warm up and she doesn't let you ease in. I always want to cover all bases, but I didn't cover that one."

Graf, who already is assured of moving ahead of second-round loser Chris Evert Lloyd to No. 2 in the computer rankings, changed tactics after the rain and it paid off.

"I was thinking about what I could do better and decided to play more aggressively on her second serve," said Graf. "In the first set, I was just getting the ball back."

Sabatini was pleased with her play this week, saying "I'm more confident, I'm happy." But she realized she could have beaten Sukova and reached her first final since the U.S. Clay Court Championships last summer.

The match slipped away in the second set as Sukova played heady tennis, changing the pace and forcing more errors by making Sabatini hit on the run.

The turning point came at 2-2 in the second set. Sabatini had a break point on the second deuce but plunked a backhand approach shot into the net. Sukova won the game, and suddenly Sabatini came unglued and dropped her next three service games.

"I had a lot of chances to break her serve," Sabatini said. "I didn't do anything in the third set."

Her coach, Patricio Apey, added, "At two-all, she was a little tentative, a little nervous. Helena didn't give her any pace, she couldn't get any rhythm. When she got a chance, she didn't take advantage.

"I think Gabriela thought she was going to win the match. But she wasn't producing the points, she was waiting for Helena to make mistakes. She should have gone and grabbed it."

For Sukova, it was another long day at the office. She had needed three sets to get past 98th-ranked Patty Fendick in the third round and had to win a third-set tiebreaker to overcome Bettina Bunge of Coral Gables in the quarterfinals.

"I feel I can still play much better," Sukova said. "Maybe I was a little lucky, especially (Friday)."

Though her strokes didn't always work as she wanted, her strategy did.

"I was trying to keep the ball in play, trying to make her run into the backhand side, then the forehand side," said Sukova. "If she just stands there, she'll hit well. If she runs, there's more chance of an error.

"She likes to hit hard topspin. If I hit hard all the time, it takes strength out of me. I'm not going to overpower from the baseline, so I try to come in as much as I can. At the beginning, she was passing me a lot. But I tried to keep the pressure on, I figured she can't keep it up."

Saturday's results

(Seedings in parentheses)

SINGLES

Semifinals -- Steffi Graf (2) d. Pam Shriver (3), 6-4, 6-3; Helena Sukova (4) d. Gabriela Sabatini (6), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

DOUBLES

Quarterfinals -- Hana Mandlikova-Wendy Turnbull (3) d. Barbara Potter-Wendy White, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 (completion of match suspended Friday night).

Today's schedule

2 p.m., stadium court -- Singles final, Graf vs. Sukova, followed by doubles semifinal, Claudia Kohde-Kilsch-Helena Sukova (1) vs. Chris Evert Lloyd-Pam Shriver, followed by doubles final.

2:30 p.m., Court 9 -- Doubles semifinal, Svetlana Parkhomenko-Larisa Savchenko (6) vs. Mandlikova-Turnbull.
 
#4,587 ·
Actually, Steffi, being down 3-0 would be nothing to you.

Graf tops Shriver, will face Sukova in Florida Slims final
Houston Chronicle
Sunday, February 22, 1987
Houston Chronicle News Services

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Steffi Graf waited out a three-hour rain delay, then won six games in 19 minutes to beat Pam Shriver 6-4, 6-3 in Saturday's semifinal round of the $250,000 Virginia Slims of Florida.

The secondseeded Graf is to meet No. 4 Helena Sukova in today's final. Earlier Saturday, Sukova defeated Gabriela Sabatini 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Graf took the first set, then Shriver appeared to gain some momentum and was up 2-0, 30-30 in the second set when the rain came. After the lengthy delay, Graf won six of the seven games to end the match 19 minutes after it resumed.

"I didn't feel happy (about the rain delay)," said Graf, 17. "I wasn't really playing too good. I was OK, but not my best. After the delay, I was playing more aggressively, especially on her second serve, which I didn't do in the first set."

Shriver, the third seed from Lutherville, Md., said halting play hurt her.

"I think any time (there's a delay), whoever has the momentum when the rain falls is at a disadvantage," Shriver said. "I really felt in control at the first of that (second) set, unlike the last few games where she totally dictated play."

Graf, 17, said she knew she had to hold serve in the third game of the second set to avoid a three-set match.

"I felt in the first set, I wasn't really taking advantage on her second serve, so I decided (during the delay) to do that," Graf said. "I also knew I had to make it 2-1, because being down 3-0 would be too much."

In the first semifinal, Sukova got off to the kind of slow start that has typified her play in the tournament.

After posting a straight set win in her first match of the tournament, Sukova, who turns 22 Monday, has lost the first set of her last three matches before rallying in the final two sets. Sabatini, 16, broke Sukova once in the first set and used crisp cross-court passing shots for winners.

After pulling out the second set, Sukova lost her serve at love to start the third set. But she shook off the momentary lapse and ran out five straight games with the loss of only five points to lead 5-1. In an 18-point final game, Sabatini couldn't convert on six game points and Sukova won the last three points with a drop shot service return, a crosscourt volley placement and a Sabatini error.

''I think it looked like I was in better condition at the end," said Sukova.

''I wasn't tired at the end," Sabatini countered. "She played better. I had a lot of chances to break her service and win in the second set."

Edberg, Becker breeze

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. - Top-seeded Stefan Edberg and No. 2 Boris Becker coasted to straight-set victories to advance to the final of the $435,000 Pilot Pen Classic.

Edberg, seeking his third straight title after victories in the Australian Open and U.S. National Indoors in Memphis, Tenn., recorded a convincing 6-1, 7-5 triumph over Davis Cup teammate Mats Wilander.

Becker, who has not dropped a set in four rounds of the tournament, eased past No. 3 seed Yannick Noah 6-4, 6-2. Becker yielded only eight points in nine service games spiced with six aces.

Edberg has won his last 15 matches and will attempt to break a string of six straight losses against Becker in today's final. The winner of the best-of-five setter gets $59,500.

"It's always hard to beat Boris, but it can be done," said Edberg, ranked No. 2 in the world. "I have to play my game, serving well and coming to the net, and also return his serve well."

Said Becker: "Today was the highlight of the week in beating Yannick. Tomorrow, I hope it's better. Stefan is such a good serve and volley player, one of the top in the world."

Edberg, who narrowly escaped elimination Friday with a three-set quarterfinal victory over No. 7 Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia, quickly took the upper hand against Wilander, winning the first five games.
 
#4,588 ·
Laugh with me! :lol: There will be a lot of gobsmacked people at the 1987 Lipton.

TOUR COULD STRUGGLE WITHOUT CHRIS, MARTINA
The Miami Herald
Sunday, February 22, 1987
JIM MARTZ, Herald Sports Writer

Muhammad Ali boasted that boxing would never be the same after he retired. He was on target with that blow.

Chris Evert Lloyd doesn't promote herself, so she will never say anything so bold about her pending retirement from tennis.

Yet when Evert leaves the tour, not only can we say Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie, we can say good-bye to women's tennis as we know it today.

In two or three years, watch attendance fall and television ratings for women's matches slip. They will blame it on something else, on not enough Americans on the tour or people not playing the game as much.

There will be umpteen reasons. But the real reason will be the absence of Evert.

No one has ever been so prominent in the sport for so long as Christine Marie Evert Lloyd. Not Margaret Court, who won a record 25 Grand Slam singles titles; not Billie Jean King, the heart and soul of the start of the pro circuit in the early 1970s; not Martina Navratilova, the greatest athlete ever on the tour.

There already has been some erosion in tennis interest in the U.S. as no American male players have followed in the footsteps of Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. Now imagine what women's tennis will be like when the greatest spokesperson ever for the sport sits in the stands or a television booth rather than gives us the grace, class and sportsmanship she has on the court since the early 1970s.

RETIREMENT APPROACHES

Retirement seems imminent this year or next, especially in light of Evert's recent announcement that she will cut her schedule back after 1987. She is 32, she is coming off a five- month hiatus and the first serious injury of her career. If there are more upsets such as Thursday night's loss to Kate Gompert at Boca Raton, she likely will hang up the rackets this year.

Now imagine life in women's tennis after Chris and Martina retire. You're talking about the end to the best individual-sport rivalry in modern history.

They are the only players -- men or women -- to win 1,000 matches on the circuit. Except for a few weeks in the summer of 1980 when Tracy Austin moved to the top of the computer, Evert and Navratilova have been the only No. 1-ranked players since Chris climbed there in 1974.

Their career prize money, $11.8 million for Navratilova and $7.2 million for Evert, dwarfs third-place Pam Shriver's $2.7 million.

Their head-to-head battle has dwarfed all others, too, outlasting Borg-Connors, McEnroe-Borg and Connors-McEnroe. They have met 70 times, from Akron to Sydney to 11 Grand Slam finals, with Navratilova winning 37.

HELPING THE TOUR

And they have been actively involved in the welfare of the tour, Evert serving this year as president of the Women's International Tennis Association a record fifth time and Navratilova having been president three times.

As ESPN commentator Cliff Drysdale has noted, women's tennis has been "celebrity tennis" dependent upon the presence of Navratilova and Evert, whereas men's tennis has featured "more stars and greater competition."

I asked 20 players, promoters and officials in tennis if they thought there would be life in women's tennis after Chris and Martina. Most said something to the effect that "There is always a star coming up. They will make Steffi Graf or Gabariela Sabatini or Mary Joe Fernandez into superstars."

Or they would say, "It will be good to have variety. Who wants to see the same two all the time?"

SOME RESERVATIONS

Two expressed reservations -- Evert in rather candid remarks, and Merritt Stierheim, chief executive officer of the WITA.

"I figure the tour definitely will go on and you'll see new and exciting players, like Graf and Sabatini," said Evert. "What is going to lack is leadership, what Martina and I have been involved in.

"Billie Jean (King) started it. She was No. 1 and held it together. And Martina and I are now. That's what I worry about. Will the 16- and 17-year-olds of today want to be involved?"

Stierheim, former Metro Dade County manager, said, "I obviously want to see Chris and Martina stay. They've been tremendous leaders and spokeswomen for the greatest women's sport. Yet when I look at the players ranked Nos. 3-10, I see tremendously exciting players. It will be a terrible loss, but there will be tremendous media focus on the new generation as to who will be the grande mesdames of women's tennis."

He added, "I was concerned when I interviewed for this position in 1985. Golly, here were these two great women, and I was being interviewed by them. What happens when they step down?

"I feel better and better about it, but we'll have to groom Hana Mandlikova and others. Pam Shriver already is active.

"They're going to have to serve and command the world-wide respect of Chris and Martina."

Nothing against the Mandlikovas and Shrivers, but don't look for it to happen. Hope I'm wrong.
 
#4,589 ·
Ah, they try to bait Steffi into uttering another "Eppur si muove" statement, but she's wise to them now. Yet, she cannot resist taking a subtle swipe at the Jerry Diamonds, Merritt Stierheims, and Jim Martzes of the tennis world who think Americans will not watch foreigners play tennis or even settle for anything less than Evert vs. Navratilova in a final. As to hitting drop shots off of a "bullet," Steffi did that all the time! Too bad she didn't have any talent... :lol:

NEW NO. 2 GRAF WINS SLIMS FINAL
The Miami Herald
Monday, February 23, 1987
JIM MARTZ, Herald Sports Writer

A modest changing of the guard may have taken place this week in the back yard of one of the old guard (if 32 can be considered old).

Steffi Graf, the 17-year-old West German with the bombardier forehand, nudged ahead of Chris Evert Lloyd for the No. 2 computer ranking and celebrated the occasion Sunday by drubbing Czechoslovakia's Helena Sukova, 6-2, 6-3, in the final of the $250,000 Virginia Slims of Florida before 5,742 at the Polo Club in Boca Raton.

The Women's International Tennis Association said that when the next computer rankings are released March 2, Graf will be second behind Martina Navratilova. Evert, the new Polo Club resident who lost in the second round to Kate Gompert, will slip to third.

And that will mark the first time since 1981 that anyone other than the Grande Mesdames -- as WITA boss Merrett Stierheim calls them -- has been in the top two. Tracy Austin vaulted to No. 2 when she won the U.S. Open in '81.

"I'm really happy to be No. 2, but I'm not going to go on the court thinking about it," said Graf, who earned $50,000 for winning her ninth pro tournament title. "Martina is still for sure No. 1. And Chris can get up there again. She needs to play more tournaments."

Graf was asked if she thinks Navratilova and Evert have reached the tops of their games and the others are coming up to them. Graf winced and said, "They've reached a certain age. . . . No comment. . . . I'm 17 and they're over 30."

Perhaps Graf this year will even challenge for No. 1. She beat Navratilova in the German Open last year and battled her to the limit in their dazzling three-set U.S. Open semifinal won by Navratilova.

For now, Graf is delighted to be off to a quick start in her first tournament of the year.

"I surprised myself a bit," said Graf, who had been runnerup in her three previous South Florida appearances (Lynda Carter/Maybelline Classic in 1985, Virginia Slims and Lipton International Players Championships in '86). "In your first tournament, you don't expect to win."

She told the crowd after the match, "For sure, I'm going to come back here next year. It was really great. You came out even though no American was in the final."

Graf knows the No. 2 ranking may be short-lived. At the Lipton that starts today, she is in the same half of the draw as Navratilova and Pam Shriver. "I really have a tough draw," she said. "I couldn't believe it."

Graf didn't lose a set in five matches at Boca Raton that included Shriver and Claudia Kohde-Kilsch. Her forehand, which just about everyone says is the strongest in women's tennis, kept serve-and-volleyer Sukova pinned to the baseline more than she wanted. And just when she had Sukova practically climbing the fence, she would slip a drop shot just over the net.

Meanwhile, Sukova seldom tried the drop shots that had worked so well Saturday against Gabriela Sabatini. As Shriver said, "It's hard to hit a drop shot off a bullet."

Graf doesn't produce bullets from weight-room work, a la Navratilova. So how does she do it?

"It's very easy," said Graf. "Hit it at the right time. It's hard to say where it comes from. If you have confidence enough in yourself, you just go for it."

And that took Sukova out of her game.

"Because she returns serve so well, I was trying too hard on my serve," said Sukova, who won $21,300 the day before her 22nd birthday. "She hits deep in the court, so it's hard to get into the net.

"And compared with the other baseliners, she serves really well. It's hard to come in on her second serve because she serves so deep."

SOVIETS WIN DOUBLES

In the doubles final, Svetlana Parkhomenko and Larisa Savchenko of the Soviet Union defeated the team of Chris Evert Lloyd and Pam Shriver, 6-0, 3-6, 6-2. The winners split $15,000; Evert and Shriver shared $8,800. . . . Before Sunday's matches, Shriver received the Rado Top Spin Award selected by the media for superior sportsmanship during the tournament.

Doubles results

SEMIFINALS

Svetlana Parkhomenko-Larisa Savchenko d. Hana Mandlikova- Wendy Turnbull, 6-2, 6-4; Chris Evert Lloyd-Pam Shriver d. Helena Sukova-Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, 6-7 (8-6), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

FINAL

Parkhomenko-Savchenko d. Evert-Shriver, 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.
 
#4,590 ·
Just putting in this photo caption in anticipation of a minor event that will happen in the 1995 timeline.

WINNING GRIN
The Miami Herald
Monday, February 23, 1987
DAVE HOGERTY/Miami Herald Staff

Steffi Graf, above, displayed a $50,000 smile after winning the Virginia Slims tennis tournament in Boca Raton Sunday. Her father, Peter Graf, left, carried Steffi's check to the car. Below, Leo Lajoie and the Professional Men entertained the crowd.
 
#4,591 ·
The minimum her game runs on is JP-7!

Graf gets game in gear, takes Slims
St. Petersburg Times
Monday, February 23, 1987
DARRELL FRY

BOCA RATON - After her 2 1/2-month layoff, the $250,000 Virginia Slims of Florida tournament was to be a tune-up event for Steffi Graf. And after her 6-2, 6-3 victory over Helena Sukova in Sunday's final - it took only 59 minutes - there was no doubt her game is still running on high-octane.

The 17-year-old Graf swept through the 56-player field without dropping a set to earn the top prize of $50,000. Sukova received $21,300.

More important for Graf are the Women's International Tennis Association points she'll gain. With Chris Evert Lloyd's early departure in the second round here, the third-ranked Graf likely will replace her as No. 2 when the rankings are released March 2.

''It's great to be No. 2, but I don't think about what number I am when I'm on the court,'' Graf said afterward.

Evert Lloyd also was a loser in the doubles final Sunday night. She and fellow American Pam Shriver were defeated by the Soviet team of Larisa Savchenko and Svetlana Parkhomenko 6-0, 3-6, 6-2. The winners shared $15,000 and the losers $8,800.

[????] 80-degree heat very long.

Graf jumped to a 2-0 lead, winning the first five points and 11 of the next 13. Many of her forehands were so strong that Sukova didn't even attempt returns.

Sukova, 21, then managed to keep the ball away from Graf's forehand long enough to hold serve twice to 2-3. But Graf reloaded. More crushing forehands, plus a few deft drop shots and a couple of bullet serves, produced eight straight points and two games for Graf. Up 5-2 now, the West German easily held serve to take the set 6-2.

''I started really well and got the early service break, so I was playing really well today,'' Graf said. ''I returned serve well, but she didn't serve as well as she usually does.''

That meant trouble for Sukova, whose game is built on serving and volleying. It was especially hurtful on the big points when she couldn't get the first serve in. Graf was able to take a Hank Aaron swing at Sukova's second serve and send her scrambling.

Before Graf closed out the match 6-3, Sukova did have one opening. Trailing 3-2, she held two break points in the sixth game that might have put her back in the match. But she squandered each opportunity with unforced errors.

''I was lucky in that game, because I think it was an awfully important game for the second set,'' said Graf, who now has defeated Sukova four times in five matches.

''Everything was going well for me,'' Graf added. ''This was my first tournament of the year and I did not expect this. I think I beat some really good players, so I'm feeling good about it.''

Notes: Box-seat spectators were treated to a complimentary glass of champagne by tuxedo-clad hosts as they entered the stadium court. In addition, each woman received a flower and every man got a deck of cards. Shriver, who lost to Graf in the semifinals, got a new watch as winner of the Rado Top Spin Award for sportsmanship during the tournament. ''My mom will be so happy,'' Shriver joked.
 
#4,592 ·
Either Papa Graf and Coach Slozil were being very circumspect or nobody suspected that Steffi was about to open a can of whoop-ass.

'SPECIAL' VICTORY FOR GRAF COACH SEES HER BEAT CZECH COLLEAGUE'S DAUGHTER
Sun-Sentinel
Monday, February 23, 1987
By JIM SARNI, Staff Writer

BOCA RATON - When Pavel Slozil needed permission from the Czech Tennis Federation to coach Steffi Graf, he went to Cyril Suk, the president.

Suk gave his countryman the OK.

Sunday at The Polo Club, Slozil watched with wry interest as Graf smashed Helena Sukova 6-2, 6-3 to win the Virginia Slims of Florida. Helena is Cyril's daughter.

''It was a special feeling to watch Steffi play Helena,'' said Slozil, who has retired from the tour to coach Graf full time. ''The better player won today. I was happy for Steffi, but if Helena had won, I would have been the first to congratulate her.''

Graf needed only 59 minutes to dispatch Sukova to win her opening tournament of the year.

''I was very satisfied with the way I played today,'' said Graf, who was seeded second behind Chris Evert Lloyd, an upset victim in the third round.

''I was playing great in practice and I wanted to see how I would play in the tournament. I beat some good players. This was my first tournament of the year and I didn't expect to win it. I hope this is the start of another good year.''

Graf won eight tournaments in 1986 and rose to No. 3 in the rankings behind Martina Navratilova and Evert. After this victory, Graf will pass Evert, who missed five months with a knee injury, on the next computer rankings.

It's too bad the rankings don't come one week earlier. Graf is seeded No. 3 for the Lipton International Players Championships, which begin today at Key Biscayne, and she finds herself in the same half of the draw with Navratilova.

''Steffi is always in the same half with Navratilova,'' said Peter Graf, her father. ''But she will have some confidence after winning this tournament. It was very important. There was a little doubt that she would have the same success as last year.''

Graf left little doubt that she would roll over Sukova. Graf broke Sukova at love to win the first game, then held easily for a 2-0 lead.

Graf had game points in every game in the first set.

''I watched Steffi play so well against Pam Shriver in the second set and I was ready for that,'' said Sukova, the fourth seed. ''I think she made more winners than normal today and I wasn't playing as well as usual. She was hitting deep and putting pressure on my serve.''

Sukova wasn't too concerned over dropping the first set. She had lost the first set to Patty Fendick, Raffaella Reggi and Gabriela Sabatini and rallied to win all three matches.

Sukova hung tough in the second set. She improved her serve to stay with Graf to 2-all.

Graf broke Sukova for 3-2, but Sukova had two break points in the next game to even the match. She missed the first with a wide volley and the second with a forehand long.

''I was lucky there,'' Graf said. ''I lost a bit of my concentration and I wasn't getting enough of my first serves in. That was an important game for the second set.''

Graf didn't need another break, but she got one to end the match.

Graf received the $50,000 winners' check and got the opportunity to make the victory speech. In three previous South Florida tournaments, Graf played second racket to Navratilova and Evert.

Now Graf is No. 2 and will try even harder.

''When I go on the court, I'm not going to think what number I am,'' Graf said. ''I just want to play good. I don't know if I can keep it up.''

''I'm optimistic,'' said Slozil, who began working with Graf at the Virginia Slims Championships in November.

''She has a lot of work to do and she has to improve on other surfaces, indoors and on grass. It will take two or three years. Lendl took his time. Steffi is still very young. But at the moment she is playing unbelievably.''

-- In doubles, third-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd and Pam Shriver upset the top seed of Claudia Kohde-Kilsch and Helena Sukova 6-7 (8-6), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in an exciting match, but couldn't carry the momentum into the final. Sixth-seeded Svetlana Parkhomenko and Larisa Savchenko, who disposed of Hana Mandlikova and Wendy Turnbull in the other semifinal, roared to a 6-0 first set and won 6-0, 3-6, 6-2.

-- Pam Shriver won the Rado Watch Top Spin award, given to the player in the tournament who demonstrated the best sportsmanship, as voted by the media.
 
#4,593 ·
Graf makes short work of Sukova
The San Diego Union
Monday, February 23, 1987
From Union News Services

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Second-seeded Steffi Graf needed less than an hour yesterday to dispatch fourth-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia 6-2, 6-3 in the finals of the $250,000 Virginia Slims of Florida tennis tournament.

Sukova wasn't the only player to have trouble with Graf. The West German lost 20 games in winning five matches on the way to the $50,000 paycheck she picked up yesterday.

Graf's victory, coupled with Chris Evert Lloyd's second-round loss in Boca Raton to Kate Gompert, will propel her past Lloyd to No.2 in the next computer rankings out March 2. Martina Navratilova is No. 1.

"It's the first time I'll be ranked No. 2," Graf said. "Now I must see if I can keep it up."

Graf took the initiative from the opening game when she broke Sukova's serve and won 11 of the first 13 points. Graf had 10 break points against Sukova in the 27-minute first set, and broke her service again in the seventh game with speed, power and excellent passing shots. In the final three games of that set, Sukova managed only two points.

Sukova took a 2-1 lead in the second set before Graf won three straight games for a 4-2 advantage, scoring service breaks in the fifth and ninth games of the second set while coasting in every one of her own service games, except one. Sukova, runner-up to Navratilova at last year's U.S. Open, received $21,300 to help her celebrate her 22nd birthday Monday.

"I like the way I played for sure," Graf said after the 59-minute match. "I served very well. Everything was really working well today. She was not serving too well today. I kept the pressure on her, and I was returning very well, and my serve also worked very well. I was mixing it up some, throwing in a drop shot."

Sukova, who has lost four straight matches against Graf, was disappointed but not shocked.

"She put a lot of pressure on me," Sukova said. "She served real deep. Steffi has been playing well for a period of time now. She has the best forehand in women's tennis."

Graf came into this tournament after taking 10 weeks off. "I came into the tournament not expecting to win but wanting to see how well I could play after 2 1/2 months," she said. "It is a great start."

BECKER GETS 7TH STRAIGHT WIN OVER EDBERG

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Boris Becker of West Germany defeated Stefan Edberg of Sweden 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 yesterday to win the $435,000 Pilot Pen Classic at Grand Champions Resort.

The win was Becker's seventh straight over Edberg, who had a 15-match winning streak broken. Becker, who won $59,500, now leads their head-to-head series 7-2. Edberg won $29,750.

In the third set, both players held serve until the 11th game, when Becker broke Edberg at love. Becker served 10 aces in the match, which lasted just over two hours.

Becker broke Edberg to start the second set after going to deuce five times before stroking a backhand past the charging Edberg. Both players held
serve through the rest of the set, in which Becker served five of his aces.

Becker also broke Edberg to start the match when the Swede double faulted for break point. After holding serve, Becker broke him again before both players held serve through the last six games.

Edberg was successful on more of his first serves than Becker, but Becker won the point on 80 percent of his first serves compared to 63 percent for Edberg.

"My return of service was better," Becker said. "Even though I had so many chances to break him, sometimes I was unlucky. I was always hitting the ball to his backhand, and I could read (which way he was leaning) by his motion.

"I was mentally better, and I was better on the big points, and that was the difference. I didn't feel the pressure in this tournament because I like it so much."

Edberg said he "never had a chance" to win because he didn't serve well and Becker was always ahead.

"He played better than me on all the shots," Edberg said. "He was very strong. He puts a lot of pressure on you because he goes for so many returns. I have a tough time playing him."
 
#4,594 ·
Dear God, folks, she's "looking forward to" the whole year! The South Florida press were the first to notice that Steffi was ready.

A trailer sound track for the 1987 Lipton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92CtLAOAAhc

WRITING'S ON THE WALL, AS GRAF-OLOGISTS KNOW - EVERT ON THE OTHER SIDE - IT'S ALL THERE FOR GRAF
Sun-Sentinel
Monday, February 23, 1987
BY STEVE HUMMER, Staff Columnist

BOCA RATON - In case you couldn't make out the blur, that was Steffi Graf speeding past. Without so much as a wave, or even a glance back, she has started the process of lapping legends.

As good as she is confident, as confident as she is good, Graf has begun to take on the look of a self-sustaining champion. It is a look to convince others to move over to the right and let her by.

In smoking Helena Sukova 6-2, 6-3 Sunday in the Nicotine Fit of Florida final, Graf seemed quite comfortable with her new and lofty position in women's tennis. There was not the least bit of hesitation in completing what was a hostile takeover.

She will be the No. 2 player in the world when the new rankings come out in a week, displacing a local blonde. That is, unless the computer gets a conscience between now and next Monday or someone slips it a microchip of sentiment.

''I look forward to how this year will go,'' said the Teen-ager Who Bumped Chris Evert Lloyd. Consider that tennis' version of a growl.

The Polo Club really was no place to confirm a change in the iron structure of women's tennis. The 17-year-old Graf has never won a Grand Slam event, and Sunday's result didn't change that. You must suspect the purpose of any tournament that passes out free cigarettes at the gate, supplying the message that athletics and a smoker's hack are partners.

But the image of a passing of power was inescapable Sunday. There was Graf pounding out a championship on the main stage, while across a canal, on an auxiliary court, Evert was hitting with Pam Shriver to prepare for a doubles semifinal. That, pointedly, is the difference between Nos. 2 and 3.

The curious skipped some of Graf-Sukova to study Evert and her off-Broadway practice, including one woman in a sweatshirt that exclaimed ''Chrissie Lives!'' Evert might be relieved to know that at 32, she is not considered absolutely dormant.

Almost the whole house that watched the championship stayed around to watch Evert perform as one of four in the doubles semis. It was stirring and spirited, and better than the singles, Evert-Shriver winning in a third-set tiebreaker. But it was still doubles, the Miss Congeniality contest of pro tennis.

Blame age; or the five-month layoff because of a bad knee; or Kate Gompert, who had the bad manners to defeat Evert so near to home. If Kate Gompert can defeat Chris Evert, then nothing is safe.

Graf is not going to wait around for any excuses. With the way she dusted Sukova, the sixth-ranked player in the world, Graf announced that no goal is unattainable.

''Martina (Navratilova) for sure is No. 1. I don't see any change in that,'' said Graf, cautious only in language. ''Chris can get up there again. She just needs more tournaments. We'll just have to see how it goes.''

The future belongs to Graf if she wants it. She can have it soon. As soon as the next two weeks, at the Lipton International Players Championships? A possible semifinal against Navratilova will be a judge of that.

She just looked so irresistibly young Sunday. Graf is still climbing the parabolic curve of talent. She has everything that is a gift of the calendar, everything that after a while is lost beyond reclamation.

Already Graf possesses the most convincing forehand in womandom. She stands on that shot, putting every bit of 116 pounds into the effort. The ball can come in a powderpuff and leave a bullet.

''It's very easy. I hit the ball at the right time. It's hard to say where the power comes from,'' Graf said. It is just there, standard equipment for a teen-ager.

Whenever Graf spat a forehand past Sukova Sunday, leaving both feet to hit the shot, hair flying, Evert aged a little more. It was unfair for the clock to do doubletime like that.

Graf did a lot of fancy tricks in the 59 minutes it took her to brush aside Sukova. The backhand was more a weapon than it has been. The serve more cutting. The movement and attitude more regal.

The way it all came together made you recall that Navratilova is 30 and someday this game will need replacement parts.
 
#4,595 ·
Whatever else could be said about Peter Graf at the time or later on, he did do some things very right.

Steffi Graf on verge of breaking up the old gang
St. Petersburg Times
Tuesday, February 24, 1987
DARRELL FRY

BOCA RATON - Since the start of this decade, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd have turned the women's tour into their own private party. Now, somebody is ready to crash it - and sooner than expected.

After her easy conquest of the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament over the weekend, Steffi Graf is expected to earn enough points to move ahead of the second-ranked Evert Lloyd when the Women's International Tennis Association honor roll is released March 2.

It would be the first time in about six years that someone other than Navratilova and Evert Lloyd has occupied the two highest rankings.

It's true that Evert Lloyd's five-month hiatus to heal a knee injury might figure in the third-ranked Graf's step up, but that's not to say the West German teen-ager doesn't deserve the promotion. She has earned it with victories over Navratilova and Evert Lloyd, a string of four consecutive singles titles, and an unforgettable near-miss at the U.S. Open. All came during a dazzling 1986 season in which she won eight of 15 tournaments and 91 percent of her matches.

Now Graf appears ready to turn the tour into a three-woman game.

''I never thought it would be this early,'' Peter Graf said of his daughter's anticipated rise to No. 2. ''Perhaps (by) the end of the year, but not so soon.''

What has gotten the 17-year-old Graf into the company of Navratilova and Evert Lloyd is her complete game. Yes, her powerful forehand has done most of the damage, but she has all of the shots and a smart, knowledgeable father to boot.

''I don't push her to win. If she loses, I don't say, 'You don't eat today,' '' Peter said. ''If two years from now she still is No. 2, it isn't important. What is important is if she still likes to play tennis.''

Graf should know that her struggle to reach No. 2 would be nothing compared to what it takes to stay there. A good test will come over the next two weeks in the $1.8-million Lipton International Players Championship at Key Biscayne. Everybody who is somebody in tennis is there.

However, even if Graf finds herself still at No. 3 in next month's rankings, it is apparent the changing of the guard will come much sooner than anticipated.

''It's difficult to say when. Steffi is not yet as experienced on a supreme (indoor) court and grass,'' said her father. ''On clay, I think she is with Chris. The serve, too, she must work on. She can play much better. She's only 17, you know.''

Fans can golf with Lendl, Connors or other stars - for gift of $300

Ever had brunch with Ivan Lendl or Jimmy Connors? How about playing golf with them? You can do both during the PaineWebber Classic in Orlando March 16-22. A benefit pro-am golf tournament will allow tennis fans to join such stars as Lendl and Connors on the Grand Cypress Resort course designed by Jack Nicklaus. The nine-hole tournament is Thursday, March 19, and there are still openings available. The cost is $300 per person and includes breakfast, brunch with the players, and tickets to the tennis tournament that day. All proceeds go to Give the Kids the World charity. To enter, call (305) 239-7115.
 
#4,596 ·
A shout out to the volunteers that make these tournaments so profitable. :oh: The anecdote about Steffi and Claudia just goes to show that it wasn't always steely glares and cold shoulders.

VOLUNTEER APPROACH MAKES SLIMS WORK
Sun-Sentinel
Tuesday, February 24, 1987
By JUDE CAMILLONE, Staff Writer

No one person could have made the 1987 Virginia Slims of Florida tournament a success.

It took about 250 persons (excluding outside contractors) to make the event work last week at The Polo Club Boca Raton, which was hosting the tournament for the first time.

The tournament lasted seven days, but the planning lasted 365.

''Planning takes a full year,'' said Polo Club project director Craig Perna.

The primary groups behind the event were Virginia Slims of Florida, promoter Liddun International, The Polo Club and a slew of volunteers.

Polo Club tennis director Jean Mills coordinated 156 volunteers (not including ball boys and girls) to work the weeklong event.

Kathy Doring of Boynton Beach, herself a volunteer, was the assistant coordinator. ''She was my right arm for the last three months,'' Mills said of Doring.

Three months, and then some.

''I sat down with (Mills) in September and she already had a stack of people who wanted to volunteer,'' Doring said.

Mills originally wanted 125 volunteers, but had to raise that number because of the response. She said 172 aspiring volunteers had to be turned away. Another 17 volunteers worked as heads of 10 committees.

The devotion of the volunteers bordered on the fanatical.

''They've even taken paper to the Port-O-Lets,'' Mills said.

''I get here at 8 a.m. and feel like I should be here all day,'' Doring said on a particularly busy day last week. ''I feel guilty if I take a break to watch part of a match. Jean has to throw me out and tell me to go watch some tennis.''

If they had chosen not to work so long and hard, the volunteers would have had more time to watch their favorite sport.

''We all love tennis,'' said Doring, whose son Mark was a ball boy, ''but it's not just the watching of the tennis that brought us here. It's the feeling you get knowing you're part of the tournament.''

''It's knowing you helped pull everything together,'' said Vicki Stanley of Boynton Beach, a co-chairperson of the floaters committee.

Floaters, Stanley said, do just that. They float and do whatever is needed. They were among the busiest volunters at the event.

A more specific task was given to Boca Raton's Joan Bond, who was in charge of about 100 ball persons, including her son and daughter.

The number also included varsity tennis players from Pope John Paul II and Boca Raton high schools. Bond said the average age was 14.

One of the more celebrated ball kids was Natalie Gold, 13, of Portsmith, England.

Gold is the No. 2 girls' under-14 player in England's Southern Region.

''My parents live in Boca West and I come here every Easter, summer and winter to play the tournaments,'' Gold said. ''I like the players. I'm friendly with Hana Mandlikova. She lives in Boca West as well.

''The next time you interview me, I hope I'll be the winner of this tournament and not just the ball kid.''

Professional aspirations aside, Gold said she enjoyed every moment working last week's matches.

''I wouldn't have the opportunity to do this at Wimbledon,'' Gold said. ''They used to choose just orphans to work Wimbledon. Now they choose children who live in Wimbledon, and I don't live there. So this is the only chance I'd have to do something like this. . . watch the players and watch some exciting matches.''

Arlene Gould of Deerfield and Roslyn Scholar of Delray were co-chairpersons of the ushers committee. They say there's more to being an usher at a major tournament then most people could imagine.

''The spectators can only leave when the players switch sides (during the 90- second changeover after odd games),'' Scholar said, ''and the ushers have to keep it running smoothly. They have to control traffic flow.''

''And,'' Gould said, ''if someone in the audience gets sick, they have to help them out of there with as little disruption as possible. And they have to be there to help if someone gets locked in the jiffy john on the changeover.''

Pat Snyder of Highland Beach was chairperson for the Players' Center volunteers.

''We try to keep the players as comfortable and happy as possible,'' Snyder said. ''We keep games in the players' center for them. They played Trivial Pursuit and did crossword puzzles during the rain delays. And some watched All My Children.

''And I noticed a great camaraderie among the girls. Like (Claudia) Kohde-Kilsch and (Steffi) Graf. Right before their match they paired together and were chatting. You'd think the rivalry would be so great they'd be apart right before a match to get psyched.''

Like the other volunteers, Snyder was at The Polo Club to be close to the players.

''Of course, you have to be a tennis fan,'' Snyder said. ''It's fun when a little person like myself can be with the players, rubbing elbows. It's play, not work. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't a pleasure.''

Bob and Jane Lotito of Boca Raton were in charge of the volunteer hostesses working the VIP section.

Bob says he plans his vacations around events like the Virginia Slims.

''I enjoy taking the week off to sit in the sun,'' he said. ''It's the perfect vacation. It's peaceful. It's not like you have to pack up the kids and go some place.''

Diane Leininger of Boca Raton was the office committee chairperson. One of her jobs was getting phone messages to the players.

''I got a call for Chris (Evert) just before she got on the court,'' Leninger said, ''and we didn't know whether to give it to her or not, because she doesn't like to be bothered before her match. I took it out and handed it to her. She was very pleasant. She said thanks, you can tear the message up, I know the number.

''And we've handled requests for players. We got clean towels to Pam Shriver on the practice court.''

Leninger's role was recognized by the other volunteers.

Said Doring, ''If Jean says I was her right hand, then Diane was her left hand.''

''I was here from the start,'' Leninger said. ''Since late October, early November.''

The chairpersons grew as one in that time.

''There's a family atmosphere among the volunteers,'' Doring said. ''When the tournament is over and you don't have to be here at 8 in the morning, you miss it.''

''We're ready to sit down and talk about next year's tournament,'' Stanley said.

Jack Bailey, an IBM data analyst, was in charge of the technical/aesthetic volunteer committee.

''He put together our sponsor booth,'' Mills said, ''he's been out here examining signage and lights. . . and he put together two videos.''

One of the videos, a two-hour documentary taken from five hours of footage, captured the tournament from start to finish, from the building of the bleachers and the erection of the tents to the final day of competition.

About the only thing the film didn't capture was the bulldozer.

''I call (the tournament court) a convertible court,'' Perna said. ''For 11 1/2 months, it's clay. For this tournament, we made it into a deco surface -- an asphalt base with a rubberized coating, the same composition as the U.S. Open courts. When the tournament is over, we go in with a bulldozer and pull the asphalt up.''

While Mills worked with the volunteers, Perna and tournament project director Sonia Jacobsen worked with The Polo Club's salaried staff and arranged for plenty of outside help.

''Under Sonia's direction, we hired a company to set up tents and chairs,'' Perna said. ''We hired professional concessions people, a professional catering crew. And the gentleman who did the bleachers does most of the bleacher work in this country. He's an expert.''
 
#4,597 ·
Good thing Steffi and Ivan didn't consult with Pam about rain delay impediments. :oh:

SEEDED PLAYERS CRUISE PAST INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS FOES
The Wichita Eagle
Wednesday, February 25, 1987
ASSOCIATED PRESS

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Defending champion Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander, three of the top five seeds in the men's bracket, crushed first-round opponents Tuesday at the $1.8 million International Players Championships.

Lendl, ranked No. 1 in the world, stormed past Chile's Ricardo Acuna 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 while Edberg and Wilander, seeded second and fifth, respectively, also posted straight-set victories.

THE SECOND day of this two-week, grand-slam style tennis tournament began with third-seeded Steffi Graf of West Germany and No. 7 Zina Garrison advancing in women's singles matches.

Graf, winner of last week's Virginia Slims of Florida, trounced Manon Bollegraf of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-1. Garrison stopped Kris Kinney 6-4, 6-1.

Lendl, reigning champion in both the U.S. and French opens, weathered a 50-minute rain delay and beat Acuna in one hour, 28 minutes of court time. He said the interruption helped his concentration rather than hindered it.

"I don't mind it with a player like Acuna who I hadn't played before," Lendl said. "I can use the time to think about how he's playing and what I need to do."

PLAYING FOR the first time since the Australian Open last month, Lendl broke Acuna's serve in the second and sixth games of the first set and never looked back.

Edberg, coming off a loss to Boris Becker in last Sunday's final at Indian Wells, Calif., caught a red-eye flight to Miami early Monday and said he tired during his 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow Swede Peter Carlsson.

"It was a long trip, but I played and won and worked for it. That's all that counts," Edberg said.

Wilander, like Edberg, was happy to get his first-round match out of the way. The fifth-seed from Sweden defeated Jonny Levine 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

"It's always a relief to get through the first round," said Wilander, who was beaten by Lendl in the final of this tournament a year ago.

GRAF DOWNED Bollegraf in 47 minutes in a match interrupted for 20 minutes by rain. She didn't lose a set in last week's Virginia Slims tournament and is expected to replace Chris Evert Lloyd as No. 2 in the world when the next set of computer rankings are released.

"It (Virginia Slims tournament) was a great way to start the year," the 17-year-old West German said, adding that she hasn't set any specific goals for 1987.

"Just to play the best tennis I can," she said. "I'm not thinking about how many tournaments I want to win. I just want to go out and win tournaments."

The day was not without upsets. Spain's Emilio Sanchez and Martin Jaite of Argentina, the men's 13th and 14th seeds, fell. Australia's Wendy Turnbull, No. 15 in the women's draw, was also beaten.

Wally Masur of Australia upset Sanchez 6-2, 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and South Africa's Danie Visser ousted Jaite 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Turnbull lost to Yvonne Vermaak of South Africa 6-4, 6-4. No. 9 Claudia Kohde-Kilsch stopped Jana Novotna 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Kohde-Kilsch dropped the first set as she was broken in the fourth and ninth games. The West German broke Novotna's serve twice in the second set to level the match.

In the decisive third set the ninth seed outplayed the 20-year-old Novotna, winning 6-2 to advance to the second round, where she will face Australian Elizabeth Smylie, a 6-3 6-3 winner over American Kathleen Horvath.

In other first-round matches, Milan Srejber of Czechoslovakia defeated Nigerian Nduka Odizor 6-4, 6-1, 6-2; Australian Elisabeth Smylie beat Kathleen Horvath 6-3, 6-3, and Stephanie Rehe downed Italy's Raffaella Reggi 6-2, 6-4. No. 11 Mikael Pernfors of Sweden had his match against Marcel Freeman suspended after four sets because of darkness.

Rain washed out the night matches involving No. 1 Martina Navratilova, No. 6 Helena Sukova and No. 4 Yannick Noah.
 
#4,598 ·
Oh, the mind games and the whistling past the graveyard! Love it when Martina said Chris could get back to No. 2, not No. 1, because, obviously, that spot is reserved for her. :lol:

EVERT LIGHTS A FIRE WITH FIRST MATCH
Sun-Sentinel
Thursday, February 26, 1987
By JIM SARNI, Staff Writer

KEY BISCAYNE -- Jimmy Connors bumped into Chris Evert Lloyd in the interview tent at the Lipton International Players Championships Wednesday.

One winner congratulating another.

''We're hot,'' said Connors, who trounced Ben Testerman 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in his first-round match.

Evert humbled Jennifer Mundel 6-0, 6-1 in her first match, and that was worth a big cheer after last week's surprise loss to Kate -- gulp! -- Gompert.

Evert won in 38 minutes. It was quick and efficient. It was essential Evert. Mundel was lucky to win a game.

''I could have had a little bit of a tougher match but I welcomed this, especially after losing last week,'' said Evert, the defending champion, who faces Akiko Kijimuta today.

''This is such a big tournament and I'm taking it one match at a time.''

Evert advanced with No. 1 seed Martina Navratilova, who struggled to beat 15- year-old Arantxa Sanchez of Spain 7-5, 6-4, No. 4 Hana Mandlikova, No. 5 Pam Shriver and No. 6 Helena Sukova.

Connors (No. 6), Yannick Noah (No. 4) and Joakim Nystrom (No. 8) all won. Mundel, 25, a lanky left-hander from South Africa, ranked No. 104, hardly put up a fight. She won six points in the first set, and got to deuce once in the match, in the second set 5-0 game when she got a net cord at 30-40.

''She didn't play very well,'' said Evert, who had never played Mundel before. ''But I was happy that I concentrated on every point. For 40 minutes, I concentrated and that's a start.

''I realized after I lost last week, how mental the game has been for me. I haven't had to concentrate for so long and it didn't come instinctively last week. I need to get that back if I want to do well this year.''

Evert will slip to No. 3 in the new rankings (due Monday) behind Steffi Graf but that doesn't bother her.

''When I stopped playing at the U.S. Open, I was miles ahead of Steffi,'' said Evert, who missed the last five months with a knee injury.

''When you're hurt and you don't play, your ranking is going to suffer. That's what happened. I'm not bothered by it at all.

''I have to build, play some matches and get back into the competitive spirit. I don't know if I need a few matches or a few tournaments. I'm still working at thinking out there.''

Navratilova believes her longtime protagonist can regain her place in the greatest rivalry in sports.

''If anyone can come back, Chris can,'' Navratilova said. ''She's so tough, so single-minded. There's no doubt in my mind that Chris can be No. 2 again if she can keep her body together.

''We played some exhibitions, and physically, I think she's better than ever. It could depend on how badly she wants it and only she knows.''

Navratilova doesn't feel threatened by Graf, the West German teen-ager who won the Virginia Slims of Florida and lurks dangerously in her half of the draw at Lipton.

''I'll feel threatened when she starts beating me regularly and wins Grand Slam tournaments,'' Navratilova said.

''That hasn't happened yet. Right now, Graf is a new challenge. She's making everybody play better.''

Navratilova's challenge Wednesday was the talented kid sister of Emilio and Javier Sanchez, the Orange Bowl champion.

''Players get psyched up to play me, but this kid is very good,'' said Navratilova, who beat Sanchez 6-3, 6-0 at the Federation Cup last summer.

''She hits with a lot of topspin and I had some trouble with the wind. The first match is always tough. And it's hard to play the same match twice. I was ready to play yesterday and it rained.''

Navratilova hasn't played since losing the Australian Open final to Mandlikova last month.

''I'm a little rusty but this is the way I planned it,'' Navratilova said. ''I feel good mentally but I was a little nervous today. After the Australian Open, I feel like I'm starting from scratch. The streak (58 matches) is over. I generally come out swinging after a loss. I don't want to lose two tournaments in a row.''
 
#4,599 ·
Steffi beat Elise Burgin 6-3 6-4 in the second round, but not even the duration was given. Here in the third round poor Sara Gomer gets her comeuppance again.

BEST-OF-FIVE KEEPS SLOW-STARTING LENDL ALIVE
The Miami Herald
Saturday, February 28, 1987
JIM MARTZ, Herald Sports Writer

Three and a half hours into the match played in 80-degree temperatures, he was still running full speed, chasing every shot from baseline to the net as if play had just begun.

Thanks to his being a fitness fanatic, and thanks to the tournament switching to best-of-five sets instead of best-of- three in preliminary rounds, Ivan Lendl remains alive in the $1.8 million Lipton International Players Championships at the International Tennis Center on Key Biscayne.

Paul Annacone, conqueror of John McEnroe in the first round of the 1986 U.S. Open, chipped and charged, boomed serves and stayed step for step with Lendl in winning two of the first three sets Friday. But Lendl's relentless groundstrokes and conditioning paid off as he prevailed, 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

"Best-of-five sets saved my butt," Lendl said. "I won it only because I was physically able to play the same after nearly four hours as I was at the start. It must be frustrating for an opponent."

Like playing a ball machine on wheels. Annacone, 23, from Bridgehampton, N.Y., said he "felt fine" and didn't feel intimidated, but he added, "He knows no matter how long the match goes he can hang in there point for point.

"I missed a few crucial balls the last two sets. Unfortunately, at the end he played a little better. At 3-1 in the fifth set, I had him, 15-40, and he hit two big serves. That's why he's No. 1."

The other No. 1 in tennis, Martina Navratilova, needed only 43 minutes to sideline 16-year-old Halle Cioffi of Knoxville, Tenn., 6-1, 6-0. No. 3 Steffi Graf won by the same score over Sarah Gomer of England in 54 minutes.

Tenth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini downed frequent Key Biscayne practice partner Laura Gildemeister, 6-1, 6-2, in a match their coach Patricio Apey called "The Key Biscayne Classic." And Mary Joe Fernandez of Miami, buoyed by her Thursday victory over fifth-seeded Pam Shriver, trounced Susan Sloane, 6-1, 6-1.

Eighth-seeded Kathy Rinaldi of Stuart, frustrated by windy conditions, was upset by France's Nathalie Tauziat, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. And No. 14 Caterina Lindqvist of Sweden lost to Lisa Bonder, 6-4, 6-1.

Jay Berger of Plantation posted his first victory over a top-30 player, upending 25th-seed Tim Wilkison, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-1, 6-4, in a match that had been suspended after two sets Thursday because of darkness. "One week I don't qualify at Indian Wells, Calif., and the next week here I am in the third round," said Berger, who turned pro last fall and is ranked 84th.

Sixth-seeded Jimmy Connors downed 105th-ranked Peter Lundgren of Sweden, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Eleventh-seeded Mikael Pernfors lost to fellow Swede Johan Carlsson, 6-3, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4. And No. 20 seed Robert Seguso, a Davis Cup doubles player who attended Sunrise Piper High and calls Boca Raton home, outlasted Tomas Smid of Czechoslovakia, 7-6, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Navratilova's match was her third in three days and her first cakewalk.

"Tuesday I practiced only 45 minutes because of rain," she said. "Wednesday I spent 45 minutes before my match running around to find my dog. Yesterday my match was moved up early
because of Boris Becker's withdrawal. I couldn't get my motor going. Today I was able to warm up normal, and I played much better."

Becker, incidentally, was released from Mercy Hospital Friday morning. Bill Norris, trainer for the Association of Tennis Professionals, said the doctor attending Becker pronounced him healthy enough to travel. Becker should be able to resume practice Monday.

Becker withdrew from the tournament just before his first- round match Thursday with Derrick Rostagno because of a stomach virus.

Lendl pulled off The Shot of the tournament and one reminiscent of Yannick Noah's between-the-legs shot at the U.S. Open in 1983. At 1-3 in the first set, Lendl overran a ball at the right corner of the baseline but swung behind his back and smashed a winner down the line.

"I don't practice that shot," Lendl deadpanned.

That only added to what Annacone called "zoo" conditions for the midafternoon stadium court match. "For a while it was such a madhouse. People were talking, there was a carnival behind the court, some guy was trying to sell shoes and helicopters were flying around."

Men's final sold out

Though early round attendance has disappointed officials, they were delighted that the men's final March 8 is sold out.

That marks the first advance sellout in the history of the 3-year-old event, according to tournament marketing director Bob Ruf. Capacity is slightly more than 11,200.

"It's a great feeling," Ruf said. "We had 15 left for last year's final, which Butch Buchholz (the tournament chairman) bought personally to assure a sellout. In 1985, the Martina Navratilova-Chris Evert Lloyd match was just under a sellout."

Ruf said about 1,400 tickets remain for the women's final next Saturday, and 75 percent of the tickets for the semifinals Thursday and Friday are sold. He also anticipates crowds of 7,000 to 8,000 per session today and Sunday "and that's surprising because we're jammed in with the Grand Prix and the culmination of Doral."

Attendance for the first five days at the new site at the International Tennis Center on Key Biscayne has been averaging a few hundred per session fewer than last year. Attendance Friday morning was 6,392.

"When the final numbers are in for the whole tournament, I think we'll be ahead of last year's total of 193,046," Ruf said. "Maybe we're down this week because there are fewer retirees than in Boca Raton." Lendl thinks the only problem with the tournament is that, "There are no people in the stands. I think we are too far south. In Miami, people are too old to come out."

Bollettieri clinic today

Coach Nick Bollettieri and several players from the tournament will conduct a clinic this morning from 10 to 11 at the Sonesta Beach Hotel on Key Biscayne.
 
#4,600 ·
Another ominous scoreline and match time and not much else. Please note Navratilova's "advice" to Sabatini, because Steffi will have some very different advice for everybody. Although I really don't recall young Gaby playing a style that could be described as: "She hits the ball so hard and goes for broke so much..."

NAVRATILOVA ROUTS SABATINI
The Miami Herald
Monday, March 2, 1987
GARY SHELTON, Herald Sports Writer

It was billed as a match between new wave and old wave. As it turned out, new wave vs. tidal wave was more like it.

Martina Navratilova took young Gabriela Sabatini on a sea cruise Sunday, overwhelming her, 6-1, 6-3, to move to the quarterfinals of the Lipton International Players Championships at the International Tennis Center on Key Biscayne.

Sabatini, 16, wasn't the only teen-age girl to have her hopes crushed. Miami's Mary Joe Fernandez, 15, lost to Lisa Bonder, 6-4, 6-1.

For Sabatini, who trains on Key Biscayne, it was a show- and-tell tennis lesson at the hands of the world's No. 1 player.

The show part took an hour and 12 minutes, with Navratilova winning the first three games and eight of the first nine points. The tell part came later, when Navratilova suggested that Sabatini alter her all-or-nothing game.

"She needs to tone it down," Navratilova said. "I'm not her coach, but . . . It's nice you can do it (hit winners), but to be a little more consistent, she needs to have a more medium-paced game. She needs to hit shots in a rally to set up the big one. That's what I would be working for."

Instead, what Navratilova seems to be working toward is adding the Lipton to her list of 125 tournament titles. She hasn't lost a set yet, and momentum seems to be building.

No. 1 men's seed Ivan Lendl can't say the same, however. For the second straight match, he had to come from behind. This time, he overcame a slow start to beat Thomas Muster, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0, 6-2, and move into the round of 16.

Other men's seeds who won included No. 6 Jimmy Connors, who defeated Darren Cahill, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1; 10th-seeded Andres Gomez, who beat Tarik Benhabiles, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); and 16th- seeded Brad Gilbert, who beat Marc Flur, 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Men from South Florida fared better than women.

No. 20 seed Robert Seguso, a graduate of Sunrise Piper High who calls Boca Raton home, defeated Danie Visser, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4. Plantation's Jay Berger defeated Paolo Cane, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.

In other women's play, third-seeded Steffi Graf beat Katharin Keil, 6-0, 6-1, in only 38 minutes.

But the match of the day belonged to Navratilova, who has been meaner to teen-agers than acne in this tournament. She has beaten a 15-year-old (Arantxa Sanchez), a 17-year-old (Halle Cioffe) and now 16-year-old Sabatini.

"I was a little nervous at first," said Sabatini, easily the crowd favorite.

Said Navratilova: "It's tough to play at home in front of all your friends and family. I remember my first time playing in Dallas. I'm sure she had high expectations."

Sabatini said that, despite the loss, the match was good for her.

"I think I need more experience," she said softly. "I think I'm young. I have to work more on my serve and concentrate on the big points. I have to be faster."

And, Navratilova said, be more consistent.

"She's got a lot of talent," Navratilova said. "But to break the top five, she needs to be more consistent."

Fernandez's consistency abandoned her early. She took a 4-1 first-set lead but won only one more game.

"I started playing steadily and just lost concentration," Fernandez said. "I started playing erratically. She (Bonder) is real steady. She's not going to miss unless you pressure her to, and I didn't. But I had a really good tournament. I had some good wins."

Fernandez may have been happy despite the loss, but Lendl was unhappy despite his victory.

"One day, it's going to be there," said Lendl, the No. 1 player in the world. "One day, I'll wake up and I'll be playing like I used to. It's getting better every day, but I'm improving way too slow.

"The (opponents) are playing well, but normally I'm able to keep up with them. Now I'm not, and I'm having to come from behind to win. That's no way to play."

Seguso, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee four weeks ago, overcame a troublesome left hip and a 2-1 deficit for his victory.

"I'm definitely playing differently," he said. "I'm going for winners earlier. I'm getting better every match, but I feel I should be winning a lot easier."

Berger, ranked 84th, cruised as if it were just another afternoon in the park . . . and he acted the same.

"I'm doing things the same way I have since I was 12," he said, shrugging. "I don't feel nervous at all."

To Berger, this is no big deal. He just drives home to Plantation every night and drives back every day.

"I'm glad I'm playing well," he said. "I've always played well in Florida."

Average attendance at the tournament fell off slightly to a total of 13,345 (8,425 for the day matches, 4,920 at night).

The focal point of the tournament turns to tonight's session. Lendl plays 12th-seeded Brad Gilbert and Chris Evert Lloyd plays Stephanie Rehe in 7 p.m. matches.

Other highlights in today include No. 2 Stefan Edberg vs. No. 18 Kevin Curren, No. 4 Yannick Noah vs. No. 19 Johan Kriek. Women's highlights include No. 4 Hana Mandlikova vs. No. 12 Bettina Bunge.
 
#4,601 ·
Steffi officially reaches No. 2 and the psych warfare will begin in earnest!

HOPES CRUMBLE FOR TWO HOMETOWN HEROES
Sun-Sentinel
Monday, March 2, 1987
By JIM SARNI, Staff Writer

KEY BISCAYNE -- Gabriela Sabatini and Mary Joe Fernandez had the fans, but Martina Navratilova and Lisa Bonder made all the noise.

Navratilova stopped Sabatini, the Argentine who lives in Key Biscayne, 6-1, 6-3 Sunday afternoon and Bonder knocked off Fernandez, the Miami teen-ager, 6-4, 6-1 Sunday night in the Lipton International Players Championships.

The hometown losses leave Chris Evert Lloyd, who plays Stephanie Rehe in the round of 16, tonight as the only South Florida hope left in women's singles.

''I know what it's like to try to win in your hometown,'' said Navratilova, who defeated Sabatini for the fifth time in five tries.

''It's tough to play in front of your family and friends. When I moved to Dallas, it took quite awhile before I won there. You try too hard. I'm sure Sabatini had high hopes of playing well. She didn't play as well as she can.''

Fernandez fell apart, losing 11 successive games at one point, after she had won her first three matches, all in straight sets.

''Bonder is real solid and steady and she won't miss unless I pressure her and I didn't do that,'' Fernandez said. ''She forced me to go for my shots and I missed.''

-- Steffi Graf officially takes over the No. 2 spot from Chris Evert Lloyd in the women's computer rankings released today.

Graf has a points average of 210.1395 and Evert slipped to 171.6110. No 1 Martina Navratilova is at 290.6448. Hana Mandlikova is No. 4 at 148.9010, in striking distance of Evert, whose five-month layoff will continue to cause her to drop... The first of two Evert LIPC diary installments for USA Today appears today. The final one will run next Monday... Navratilova's quarterfinal opponent is France's Nathalie Tauziat, the player she beat for her 1,000th victory in Filderstadt, West Germany, last November... Eight of the final 16 men are American. The rest are from Sweden (3), Czechoslovakia (2), France, Yugoslavia and Ecuador... Total attendance for Week 1 (14 sessions) is 83,479, 12,538 below last year's total of 96,017. Sunday's day session drew 8,425 and the night session drew 4,920.

-- Yannick Noah has won 11 matches at the LIPC during the past three years, five after losing the first set... Ivan Lendl and Bill Scanlon won the first all-tiebreaker doubles match in LIPC history Saturday, when they beat Michael Schapers and Milan Srejber 7-6, 6-7, 7-6... Aaron Krickstein looked like he should have been riding in the Tour de France in the fancy, bold, red and gray striped shirt he wore against Tim Mayotte. . . Next Sunday's men's final is sold out... Miloslav Mecir, maybe th e most boring guy to ever reach the U.S. Open final, is sick and tired of all the questions about fishing (his one hobby)... Martina Navratilova lost her dog again last week, but she found the rascal after a few hours...
 
#4,602 ·
Oh, man, it's not exactly a good idea to go out of your way to antagonize someone who has been leaving her opponent's giblets strewn all over the court. Yes, the younger version of Steffi could have her buttons pushed, but they should have noticed the differences in Steffi's game, demeanor, and body and realized that maybe their usual tricks would not be effective against this kid-but-somehow-not-a-kid. There will be "new blood" and "a kick in the pants," just not the way Martina and Chris envision it. :lol:

NAVRATILOVA HAS EASY RIDE TO SEMIFINALS
The Miami Herald
Wednesday, March 4, 1987
GARY SHELTON, Herald Sports Writer

Martina Navratilova travels above the debate these days.

This is perhaps the biggest testament to how firmly her fingers are wrapped around the world's No. 1 women's ranking: The biggest argument going on now no longer concerns who should beat her, but should be ranked behind her.

That was easy enough to understand Tuesday, after Navratilova dispatched Nathalie Tauziat, 6-1, 6-1, to advance to the women's semifinals.

Navratilova has ruled the roost so long now. Except for a five-month period in 1985, she has been No. 1 since June of 1982.

Leaving the world to wonder this: Who's No. 2?

* Is it Steffi Graf, probably Navratilova's opponent in Thursday's semifinal?

The computer says so. But Graf, who played a night match Tuesday, has her critics, most notably Hana Mandlikova, who says she plays the computer for the highest possible ranking.

"I wouldn't say so," Graf said, obviously irritated at the subject. "I don't play any kind of computer game. Why should I?"

The whys are obvious. Prestige and better seeding, seeding that would always put one in the opposite half of the draw than Navratilova.

Said Navratilova: "I don't know if she would play the same schedule if the computer wasn't done the way it is. She plays the most feasible schedule to get the highest possible ranking." And Chris Evert Lloyd added, "A lot of women play the computer."

But Graf said she has taken time off, including skipping the Australian Open completely, only because of weariness. "If you're 20 or 25, maybe you don't need as much time off," she said. "I'm only 17, so I can't play all the time."

* Is it Chris Evert Lloyd? Evert lost the the second seeding to Graf in the most recent rankings, but she seemed strong Tuesday in beating Stephanie Rehe, 6-3, 6-2, to move into the quarterfinals against Claudia Kohde-Kilsch.

"When I quit playing, I was miles ahead of Steffi," Evert said. "A large part of why she's No. 2 is that I missed five months. The computer isn't kind if you take time off."

Evert looks to be working her way back to form. But is she No. 2 right now?

"I don't know," she said. "Probably not."

* Is it Hana Mandlikova? If it isn't Graf or Evert, who else? Mandlikova beat Bettina Bunge, 6-2, 6-4, to move into the quarterfinals against Helena Sukova, who beat Lori McNeil, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5.

"I'm happy I'm the one besides Chris and Martina winning Grand Slam tournaments," said Mandlikova. "I can look at myself in the mirror and know what I did. I don't play the computer.

"I don't think you can be a true overall champion (playing the computer). But she (Graf) is a good player. Maybe she does it because she doesn't want to burn herself."

But Mandlikova also said she thinks the top women are rated the way they should be.

Navratilova called her performance Tuesday her best of the tournament, and once again she was superb at the net. "I feel like a little tiger there," she said.

Navratilova has not lost more than four games in a match since her opening round against Arantxa Sanchez. But there is no danger of complacency. She seems eager to play against Graf.

"I'll be psyched up," she said. "I'll be ready from the first point. Graf isn't coming up. She's already there. There's only one more spot she can go.

"She actually makes me want to play hard. You need some new blood, and I think she's put a bee in the bonnet of both Chris and myself."

Evert agrees that Graf might be good for her game, even if she does have Evert's usual ranking.

"Maybe it'll be a kick in the pants for me," she said.

Evert needed a kick-start Tuesday, too. She fell behind, 3-0, at the start of the match, including two breaks, when Rehe surprised her with a serve-and-volley attack.

"This was a big match for me," Evert said. "I'd had three easy matches. I concentrated well, and it's probably the best I've played since I've been back."

Said Rehe: "She played extremely well. I think she's serving better than before."

Mandlikova, too, overcame a bad spell. She trailed, 4-0, in the second set and was having problems with her knee (which has tendinitis) when she served. But then she roared back to win in straight sets.

"It's not that she was beating me -- I was making mistakes," Mandlikova said.

In men's play Tuesday, No. 4 seed Yannick Noah beat No. 19 Johan Kriek, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), and No. 6 Jimmy Connors defeated Johan Carlsson, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0. No. 20 seed Robert Seguso, who grew up in Fort Lauderdale and resides in Boca Raton, was upset by Derrick Rostagno, 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4.
 
#4,603 ·
Gee, you think maybe Steffi is a little impatient to play Navratilova again? :lol: Martina was certainly acting like she wasn't going to take Steffi lightly.

LENDL ROMPS, CHIDES GILBERT
The Miami Herald
Wednesday, March 4, 1987
GARY SHELTON, Herald Sports Writer

Good thing that Ivan Lendl likes Brad Gilbert. Just imagine the way Lendl would treat him if he didn't.

Lendl, the tournament's No. 1 seed, showed up on the attack Tuesday. First, he trounced No. 16 Gilbert, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Lipton International Players Championships on Key Biscayne.

Then, Lendl really got tough on Gilbert and his nonstop complaining throughout the match.

"Brad's kind of a funny guy," Lendl said. "I really like Brad, but I have trouble with him on the day of a match.

"He barely says hello. . . . He gets so nervous he can't play. Not only can't he play, he can't even see straight. His mouth is constantly running. He talks so much that he takes
himself out of the match.

"He didn't do anything out there. He just wasted a match."

Full volley. Face high. Dead center.

Most of Lendl's shots were on target Tuesday. He played his best match of the Lipton, after getting off to slow starts his previous two, and looks like Goliath going into the quarterfinals.

His David will be a 20-year-old from Plantation named Jay Berger, who upset 10th-seeded Andres Gomez, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. They play at 7 p.m. today.

"I'm not going to think about Lendl being the No. 1 player in the world," said Berger, who won his first match over a top- 10 foe. "I'm just going to think about him having two arms and two legs and being able to win or lose. He's human, he just wins more than the rest of us."

Tuesday's attendance of 13,559 (combined day and night sessions) was the second-highest of the tournament, behind only last Saturday's 14,995 total.

Other highlights Tuesday:

* Martina Navratilova, the women's No. 1 seed, battered Nathalie Tauziat, 6-1, 6-1, to move into the women's semifinals, where she will face No. 3 Steffi Graf.

"I'm going to be psyched up," Navratilova said. "I'll be ready from the first point on. She (Graf) actually makes me want to play hard. We needed some new blood. She's put a bee in the bonnet of both Chris (Evert Lloyd) and myself."

* Evert, seeded second, had her first tough match of the tournament, losing the first three games before coming back for a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Stephanie Rehe. That moves her to the quarterfinals against Claudia Kohde-Kilsch.

Evert has lost the fewest games, nine, of any competitor, but seemed grateful that her match was closer Tuesday.

"This is a big match for me," she said. "I had had three easy matches before. This is the best I've played since coming back (from a knee injury that kept her out five months)."

* In the shortest match of the tournament, Graf needed only 36 minutes to beat Lisa Bonder, 6-0, 6-1, Tuesday night in a match so one-sided that Graf said she felt sorry for her opponent, and for the fans who paid to watch.

* In the longest match of the tournament, fifth-seeded Mats Wilander defeated No. 12 Tim Mayotte, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, in three hours and 51 minutes to move into the quarterfinals against No. 4 Yannick Noah.

* Noah, facing an almost certain fifth set, roared back to eliminate Johan Kriek, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0). Noah trailed by 5-2 in the fourth set before rallying to tie it and routing Kriek in the tiebreaker.

* Jimmy Connors, the men's No. 6 seed, bashed Johan Carlsson, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0. Connors has won nine of 10 sets so far.

* Hana Mandlikova, seeded fourth among women, beat Bettina Bunge, 6-2, 6-4, despite trailing by 4-0 in the second set. She'll play sixth-seeded Helena Sukova, a 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 winner over Lori McNeil, in the quarterfinals.

* Derrick Rostagno, who appeared destined to be Boris Becker's first-round victim last week, ousted 20th-seeded Robert Seguso, 6-4, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1, 6-4. It was Rostagno's third straight victory since Becker withdrew because of a stomach virus.

Seguso, a graduate of Sunrise's Piper High and a resident of Boca Raton, had won three matches despite not being in top condition.

"I think the wear and tear of the other matches just caught up to me," Seguso said. "I've been out so long. I didn't expect to get to where I was today. Four days before the tournament, I
went out to practice and had to quit because I was tired."

No such problems with Lendl, one of the best-conditioned athletes on the tour. Now that he's starting to play well again, Berger has his work cut out for him.

"I feel I can get to any ball and hit any ball as hard as I want," Lendl said. "That's a nice feeling."

Said Gilbert: "We've played seven or eight times, and this was probably the best he's played."

Gilbert took exception to Lendl's comments, however.

"If that's the way he feels, let him feel that way," Gilbert said. "I'm the same way on match day that I usually am.

"It wouldn't have changed the match, but the calls didn't favor me today. There were four overrules, all against me."

Let's see. Who else is unhappy? Well, try Kriek, who lost the big fourth-set lead against Noah. Kriek was upset by an overrule in the tiebreaker.

"It seems like some of these umpires have no perception of the flow of a match," Kriek said. "He overruled two balls against me, and I'm absolutely convinced he did it because Yannick was glaring at him and telling him, 'Oh no, no, no.'

"If I did that with every ball that was close, I'd probably get a few calls too. That irritates a lot of people."

Navratilova again charged the net in her victory, which is something Graf can expect in their meeting.

"I feel like a little tiger up there," Navratilova said. "I know she (Graf) is going to have to hit some good shots to put it by me."

Tuesday's results

MEN'S SINGLES

Fourth round -- Ivan Lendl (1) d. Brad Gilbert (16), 6-2, 6-2, 6-4; Yannick Noah (4) d. Johan Kriek, 4-6, 6-2, 7-3, 7-6 (7-0); Mats Wilander (5) d. Tim Mayotte (12), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4; Jimmy Connors (6) d. Johan Carlsson, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0; Jay Berger d. Andres Gomez (10), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Derrick Rostagno d. Robert Seguso, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-4; Miloslav Mecir (9) d. Slobodan Zivojinovic, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

WOMEN'S SINGLES

Quarterfinals -- Martina Navratilova (1) d. Nathalie Tauziat, 6-1, 6-1; Steffi Graf (3) d. Lisa Bonder, 6-0, 6-1.

Fourth round -- Helena Sukova (6) d. Lori McNeil (13), 5-7, 7-5, 7-5; Chris Evert Lloyd (2) d. Stephanie Rehe, 6-3, 6-2; Hana Mandlikova (4) d. Bettina Bunge (12), 6-2, 6-4.

MEN'S DOUBLES

Third round -- Stefan Edberg-Anders Jarryd d. Michael Robertson-Tom Warneke, 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (6-8), 6-3; Guy Forget- Yannick Noah d. Peter Doohan-Laurie Warder, 6-4, 6-3; Paul Annacone-Christo van Rensburg d. Glenn Layendecker-Glenn Michibata, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

WOMEN'S DOUBLES

Third round -- Zina Garrison-Lori McNeil d. Barbara Potter- Elizabeth Smylie, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Martina Navratilova-Pam Shriver, d. Gigi Fernandez-Anne Smith, 6-4, 6-3; Helena Sukova- Claudia Kohde-Kilsch d. Isabelle Demongeot-Nathatlie Tauziat, 6-4, 6-2.

MIXED DOUBLES

Second round -- Jim Grabb-Robin White d. Ronald Agenor- Pascale Paradis, 6-0, 6-4; Sherwood Stewart-Zina Garrison d. Bud Cox-Gretchen Magers, 7-5, 6-4; Tim Gullikson-Barbara Potter d. Mike Leach-Ros Fairbank, 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4; Miloslav Mecir- Jana Novotna d. Blaine Willenborg-Elise Burgin, 6-4, 6-4; Kim Warwick-Elizabeth Smylie d. Michael Fancutt-Sabrina Goles, 6-4, 6-3; Yannick Noah-Lori McNeil d. Michael Robertson-Elna Reinach, 6-1, 6-2.

Today's matches

10:30 A.M. SESSION

Stadium Court -- Derrick Rostagno vs. Jimmy Connors (6); Claudia Kohde-Kilsch (9) vs. Chris Evert Lloyd (2); Miloslav Mecir (9) vs. Stefan Edberg (2); Mats Wilander (5) vs. Yannick Noah (4).

Grandstand Court (11:30 a.m.) -- Helena Sukova (6) vs. Hana Mandlikova (4); Graf/Sabatini vs. Garrison/McNeil; Curren/ Gilbert vs. Gomez/Zivojinovic; Paz/Pfaff vs. Kohde-Kilsch/ Sukova.

Court 1 (noon) -- Fancutt/Goles vs. Grabb/White; Burgin/ Fairbank vs. Mandlikova/Turnbull; Mecir/Novotna vs. Stewart/ Garrison.

Court TBA -- Noah/McNeil vs. C. van Rensburg/Reinach.

7 P.M. SESSION

Stadium Court -- Ivan Lendl (1) vs. Jay Berger; Denton/ Reggi vs. Gullikson/Potter.

Grandstand Court -- Edberg/Jarryd vs. Flach/Seguso.
 
#4,604 ·
The following preview needs this epic soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg-O3Z-_Aio

Steffi's understatement is showing again.

WOMEN'S SEMI HINTS AT FUTURE
Sun-Sentinel
Thursday, March 5, 1987
By JIM SARNI, Staff Writer

KEY BISCAYNE -- It is the most eagerly awaited women's tennis match in years.

Forget Saturday's final. When Steffi Graf takes on Martina Navratilova in the semifinals of the Lipton International Players Championships at 1 p.m. today, everyone will be watching to see if a new era in women's tennis is about to dawn.

Graf, a 17-year-old West German with the deadly forehand, nearly beat Navratilova at the U.S. Open last September. Since then, Graf has risen to No. 2 on the computer, and is knocking hard on the door.

''Steffi's not coming up, she's there,'' Navratilova said. ''She's No. 2 on the computer and there's only one more place she can go to.''

Navratilova, who has reigned for the past five years, welcomes the challenge.

''I'll be ready from the first point,'' said Navratilova, who saved three match points before beating Graf 6-1, 6-7, 7-6 in the semifinals at the U.S. Open.

''I'm excited about playing her. She's made me want to play harder and that's what it's all about -- competition. I don't want to be winning tournaments easily. As great as my rivalry with Chris (Evert Lloyd) is, the game needs new blood.''

Graf, who won the Virginia Slims of Florida convincingly two weeks ago to open the season, has been devastating at the LIPC. She has lost only three games in her last three matches.

''I feel great and I'm looking forward to this match,'' said Graf, who beat Navratilova at the German Open on clay last May.

''Since the U.S. Open, I have improved a little and I think it will be a great match.''

Graf said she doesn't like to think back to that summer's day in Flushing Meadow when she had the world's best player on the brink of elimination.

''I try not to remember that match,'' she said. ''I know I was close -- very, very close -- to winning.''

Eight players were asked Wednesday to pick a winner between Navratilova and Graf. Three picked Navratilova, two picked Graf and three were undecided.

-- None of the women semifinalists has lost a set. Graf has lost the fewest games, 13. Evert has lost 15, Navratilova 20 and Hana Mandlikova 29. . . Mandlikova aggravated a persistent knee problem in her match against Bettina Bunge but said she felt fine Wednesday after she took three painkillers Tuesday night. . . The last time Navratilova lost a match in the semifinals came when Kathy Jordan upset her at the Virginia Slims of California in February, 1986.

-- Miloslav Mecir, the Swedish Basher, struck again Wednesday, knocking off second-seeded Stefan Edberg 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Mecir, a Czech who gained the U.S. Open final with back-to-back victories over Mats Wilander and Joakim Nystrom, is 25-14 against Swedes in the Top 100.

Wednesday's victory made Mecir especially happy because his parents were in attendance.

''This is the first time my parents have come with me to the United States and I want to make them happy,'' Mecir said.

-- Sunday's men's final is sold out. Tickets remaining for the other sessions: today (day) -- 3,500; today (night) -- 3,000; Friday (day) -- 3,000; Friday (night) -- 2,500; Saturday's women's final -- 1,500.
 
#4,605 ·
"All you do is kill, kill, kill. The crowd don't want a butcher. They want a hero. We want them to keep coming back. So don't just hack 'em to pieces. Remember, you are an entertainer. So entertain!"
--- Proximo to Maximus, deleted scene, Gladiator, DreamWorks SKG/Universal Pictures/Scott Free Productions, 2000

Even at this early stage of her career, Steffi felt the conflicting duties of her profession. She knew that paying $X to see a 36 minute match --the lone singles match of the night session-- is not exactly going to leave the customers feeling happy.

Meanwhile, Lisa Bonder obviously had the feeling that the silly "Graf tries to fool the computer -- Who is No. 2?" debate will quickly be rendered moot.

Players believe No. 2 Graf is playing computer games
The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution
Thursday, March 5, 1987
Karen Rosen, Staff Writer

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Steffi Graf 's rise to No. 2 in the world rankings has left some women on the pro tennis tour with a chip on their shoulders: a computer chip.

Players have charged that Graf has taken advantage of the computer ranking system to replace Chris Evert Lloyd. Those accusations of computer crime bring Graf close to tears.

Steffi Graf, a hacker?

"She plays what's most feasible for her to play to get the best ranking possible," said Martina Navratilova, the No. 1 player in the world, who will meet Graf in the semifinals of the Lipton International Players Championships Thursday.

Hana Mandlikova, now No. 4, is more scathing in her criticism.

"I'm the one besides Chris and Martina winning Grand Slam tournaments (1985 U.S. Open, 1987 Australian Open)," she said. "I can look at myself in the mirror and know what I did. I didn't play the computer; I play all the time.

"I don't think you can be the true overall champion by playing the computer. Steffi didn't come to the Australian or play indoors. But she's a very good player. Maybe she does it because she doesn't want to burn herself (out)."

Graf said she skipped the Australian Open because she was tired and had lost her concentration.

"I'm 17; I have plenty of time (to play Grand Slam tournaments)," said Graf, who practiced with Boris Becker before both hit the big time.

Graf became No. 3 last March without winning a tournament. She won her first tournament in April, defeating Evert Lloyd at Hilton Head, S.C., and won seven other tournaments in 1986. Still, she remained No. 3.

Then Graf won the Virginia Slims of Florida two weeks ago and moved ahead of Evert Lloyd last Monday. Evert Lloyd had not played in six months.

"I'm not playing any kind of computer game," Graf said defensively. "Why should I? Every tournament I play I do well.

"It's different if you're 20 or 25 years old. You don't need as much time off. I'm too young to play all the time."

Evert Lloyd was nursing a knee injury and didn't play from September to February.

"When I left the circuit after the U.S. Open I was miles ahead of her on the computer," said Evert Lloyd, 32, who had been either No. 1 or No. 2 since 1980. "I know Steffi had a good year, but a large part of why she's No. 2 is I took six months off. The computer is not kind to players who take time off.

"I'm not really shaken up about it. Maybe it'll give me a little kick in the pants. The bottom line is doing well in the major tournaments, and you can't escape that."

You also can't escape Graf's forehand, the biggest factor in her rise.

"She's not coming up. She has arrived," Navratilova said. "There's only one more spot she can go, and if she gets that one, people will still be saying she's coming up. She's playing great and she has a lot of confidence. When you're that young, you have a lot of enthusiasm. She's been a bee in the bonnet of both Chris and me, someone who's coming up and going to beat us a few times. That's what makes the world go round."

Graf defeated Lisa Bonder 6-0, 6-1 in 36 minutes in the quarterfinals at Lipton.

Does she feel sorry for her opponents?

"I do," she said with a broad smile that rarely appears when she has a tennis racket in her hand. "I would say I also feel sorry a bit for the fans because the match is so short. But what should I do?

"I think there's not anything I can do better, only serving aces. Martina was pushing Chris up, and I don't know if I'm pushing both of them up now."

Graf's career has been managed by her father, Peter, a former car dealer who now runs a tennis school in West Germany. Since November, Graf has also been coached by Pavel Slozil, a former Czech tour player.

They practice three or four hours a day, sometimes playing sets. "Men players ask me, 'How do you do against her?' " Slozil said. "No comment. We never play hard matches."

Can Slozil's pupil be No. 1 this year?

"It depends on Martina," he said. "Martina is still very strong. She's very good on faster surfaces. Steffi would be better on clay."

Bonder has fewer doubts.

"I've played Martina, I've played Chris, and nobody hits the ball as hard as she (Graf) does," Bonder said. "At this point, if she can play consistently like that, she'll definitely be No. 1 without a doubt in my mind."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top