ALLEN, RAIN DON'T STOP HOLTON
The Miami Herald
Thursday, February 3, 1983
SANDY KEENAN

The sky waited for amateur Amy Holton, 17, to score the upset of her career Wednesday morning before it rained havoc on the $150,000 Murjani Cup at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens.

The pint-sized Holton, ranked 138th in the world by the Women's Tennis Association, defeated No. 22 Leslie Allen, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, in a two-hour match before play was suspended for the rest of the day at 2 p.m. Allen was the tournament's 12th seed.

"Leslie is my biggest win," said Holton, who employs a consistent baseline game similiar to that of Chris Evert Lloyd, the tournament's top-seeded player. "The wind made it really hard for Leslie to volley. I threw up a few lobs at critical times."

Holton graduated from high school two weeks ago and immediately hit the road to try the professional tour as an amateur. So far, all is well.

"Amy Holton has already won enough matches here to constitute an entire tournament," said John Korff, the Murjani Cup promoter.

She fought her way through two rounds of qualifying, then beat Pat Medrado, 6-2, 6-1, in the first round and Allen, a lofty serve-and-volley player, in the second.

Along with Evert, the top-seeded players trying for the $27,500 first prize are Andrea Jaeger, Hana Mandlikova and Wendy Turnbull. The 56-player tournament will run through Sunday.

Second-seeded Jaeger and fourth-seeded Mandlikova could play three matches each today because of the rain.

"I don't mind too much having the schedule messed up," Jaeger said. If I have to play a lot more, that's OK. I'm anxious to start playing because I had a good week last week."

Holton admitted being nervous before the match but said she knew her style, steady from the baseline, is the kind that gives Allen the most trouble.

"I hope this win will move me up in the rankings," Holton said. "I don't have any understanding of how the computer works."

In the two other singles matches that were finished before the rain came, unseeded Yvonne Vermaak of South Africa beat 11th-seeded Kathy Jordan, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, and Betsy Nagelsen beat veteran Rosie Casals, 6-3, 6-4.

After her match, Holton returned to her hotel room to call older sister Kathy, a freshman at the University of Florida who also happens to be the Gators' No. 1 player.

All four Holton children play competitive tennis. Brother Ricky ranks third in Florida in the 16-and-under division, and sister Holly ranks 24th in Florida in the 12-and-under division. Amy is ranked first in the state in girls' 18-and- under and 12th nationally.

Kathy and Amy often play doubles together and faced each other last summer in the singles final of the Florida State Tournament.

"It was hard on both of us," said Amy, who won, 6-2, 7-5.

Amy credits Kathy with some of her success. "There were always times I didn't feel like practicing when Kathy would drag me out on the court. She's really disciplined," Amy said, rolling her eyes.

Holton said she plans to play amateur and professional tournaments until next fall, when she will enter college for "at least one year." She'll compete in professional events this winter and then play the national junior circuit this summer.

An underdog in the pro ranks, she's a favorite among the juniors.

When she's home in Sarasota, Holton practices at Nick Bollettieri's tennis camp. The 5-5, 110-pound, green-eyed blonde has won two national junior doubles titles and one national junior singles title.

Wednesday's results

SINGLES

Second round -- Yvonne Vermaak d. Kathy Jordan, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; Betsy Nagelsen d. Rosie Casals, 6-3, 6-4; Amy Holton d. Leslie Allen, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; all other matches postponed because of rain.

DOUBLES

Anne Hobbs-Sue Leo d. Laura Arraya-Hana Strachonova, 6-2, 6-3; Barbara Potter-Sharon Walsh d. Ann Henricksson-Barbara Hallquist, 7-5, 6-1; Pat Medrado-Claudia Monteiro d. Felicia Raschiatore-Kim Steinmetz, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Today's schedule

Stadium court, 8:30 a.m. -- Joanne Russell vs. Susan Mascarin, followed by Andrea Jaeger vs. Paula Smith; Kathy Rinaldi vs. Shelly Solomon or Andrea Temesvari, followed by Russell or Mascarin vs. Smith or Jaeger; Wendy Turnbull-Rosie Casals vs. Chris O'Neil-Pam Whytcross; Betsy Nagelsen-Kathy Rinaldi vs. Kathy Jordan-Pam Smith.

Stadium court, 7 p.m. -- Chris Evert Lloyd vs. Yvonne Vermaak. Hana Mandlikova-Virginia Ruzici vs. Betty Stove-Rosalyn Fairbank.

Court 8, 8:30 a.m. -- Lisa Bonder vs. Andrea Leand; Jenny Klitch vs. Hana Mandlikova; Wendy Turnbull vs. Bonder or Leand; Betsy Nagelsen vs. Klitch or Mandlikova; Zina Garrison vs. Amy Holton; Kathy Horvath-Yvonne Vermaak vs. Joanne Russell-Anne White; Andrea Jaeger-Mary Lou Piatek vs. Anne Hobbs-Sue Leo.

Court 10, 10 a.m. -- Shelly Solomon vs. Andrea Temesvari; Iva Budarova vs. Anne White; Rosalyn Fairbank vs. Sabina Simmonds; Wendy White-Leigh Thompson vs. Lisa Bonder-Beth Herr; Lea Antonoplis-Barbara Jordan vs. Andrea Leand-Sabina Simmonds.

Court 11, noon -- Leslie Allen-Lelee Forood vs. Helena Sukova-Catherine Tanvier; Petra Delhees-Marcella Mesker vs. Laura Dupont-Nancy Yeargin; Duk Hee Lee-Lucia Romanov vs. Pat Medrado-Claudia Monteiro; Barbara Potter-Sharon Walsh vs. Allen-Forood or Sukova-Tanvier.

 

TEMESVARI MASTERS HOSTILE FANS, RINALDI
The Miami Herald
Friday, February 4, 1983
SANDY KEENAN

Andrea Temesvari, a 16-year-old tennis player from Hungary, weathered harassment from fans Thursday as she upset local favorite and No. 7 seed Kathy Rinaldi, 6-3, 7-6 (11-9), in the third round of the $150,000 Murjani Cup at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens.

Temesvari deftly handled blustering winds and continuously nailed Rinaldi to the back walls of the court with high topspins, yet she almost lost the match to Rinaldi's ranters.

The commotion began in the second set with Temesvari holding a 4-1 lead. About 50 Rinaldi followers in a crowd of 250 clapped at Temesvari's double faults and applauded her mistakes -- blasphemy according to tennis etiquette.

"It was terrible. I was very upset," said Temesvari, ranked 27th in the world. "I told the umpire to tell them it's not nice what they're doing."

Rattled a bit, Temesvari lost her concentration while the score went to 4-4, then Rinaldi took the lead. She served to Temesvari at 6-5 but lost the game without winning a single point, forcing the tiebreaker.

Temesvari took the lead but then gave up two match points at 6-4. Then Rinaldi had her turn, gaining three chances to win the set on one point. Finally, at 10-9, Temesvari put away a volley at the net to secure the match.

"It's a very good victory for me," said Temesvari, ranked 146th on the Women's Tennis Association computer a year ago. "I saw her play in Marco Island last week and said to myself, 'Don't be scared; just because she's 15th in the world doesn't mean she's that good."

Rinaldi, who is from nearby Martin Downs, complimented Temesvari on her play -- then added that the hometown fans had an effect on her, too.

"Playing in front of family and friends adds pressure to playing," she said. "I get nervous and want to play better." Instead, she said, she was "in a big rush and making too many unforced errors" before her second-set comeback.

In today's quarterfinals, Temesvari will meet top-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd, who defeated Yvonne Vermaak, 3-6, 6-0, 6-0. Temesvari lost to Evert, 6-0, 6-3, in the final of the 1982 Swiss Open, but she wasn't afraid to play her again.

"Everybody wants to beat the best," she said. "I'm not saying I can -- I just hope I play well. I like to play against the best."

"I think Temesvari can hurt me more than Rinaldi could have," said Evert. "She's big and strong and can play aggressively or patiently. She's a tough little player."

No. 2 seed Andrea Jaeger, who defeated JoAnne Russell, 6-4, 6-2, after routing Paula Smith, 6-1, 6-1, in a rain-delayed second-round match,, may not be jealous of Temesvari's tennis, but she's envious of her looks. Temesvari, a blue-eyed blonde, is a flashy-looking 5-9 and 125 pounds.

"She's a year younger than I am, and I swear she looks 21," said Jaeger, 17. "She should be doing centerfolds, not playing tennis. If I had her looks, I would go for it."

Temesvari travels with her father and coach Otto, speaks three languages (English, French and Hungarian) and plays basketball when she's not playing tennis.

She turned pro at the age of 14 and has been the No. 1 player in Hungary since. As she climbed on the computer lists from 146th to her present ranking of 27th, she earned $46,385.

But "I try not to think of the computer because I don't understand it," said Temesvari, who is finishing high school through correspondence courses. "One week, I didn't even play and moved up in the rankings. I just hope the computer is nice to me."

Even if the fans aren't.

Thursday's results

SINGLES

Second round -- Betsy Nagelsen d. Rosie Casals, 6-3, 6-4; Hana Mandlikova d. Jenny Klitch, 6-2, 6-3; JoAnne Russell d. Susan Mascarin, 6-3, 6-3; Andrea Jaeger d. Paula Smith, 6-1, 6-1; Andrea Temesvari d. Shelly Solomon, 6-0, 6-1; Andrea Leand d. Lisa Bonder, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Third round -- Iva Budarova d. Anne White. 7-6 (8-6) 6-3; Wendy Turnbull d. Leand, 6-1, 6-1; Temesvari d. Kathy Rinaldi 6-3, 7-6.

DOUBLES

First round -- Rosie Casals/Wendy Turnbull d. Chris O'Neil/Pam Whytcross, 6-3, 6-2; Petra Delhees/Marcella Mesker d. Laura Dupont/Nancy Yeargin, 6-3, 6-1; Helena Sukova/Catherine Tanvier d. Leslie Allen/Lelee Forood, 7-5, 6-3; Beth Herr/Lisa Bonder d. Wendy White/Leigh Thompson, 6-7 (4-7) 6-2, 6-2; JoAnne Russell/Anne White d. Kathy Horvath/Yvonne Vermaak, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

Second round -- Kathy Jordan/Paula Smith d. Betsy Nagelsen/ Kathy Rinaldi, 6-3, 6-1; Lea Antonoplis/Barbara Jordan d. Andrea Leand/Sabina Simmonds, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2; Duk Hee Lee/Lucia Romanov d. Pat Medrado/Claudia Monteiro, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2;

Hana Mandlikova/Virginia Ruzici d. Betty Stove/ Ros Fairbank, 6-1, 6-2.

Today's matches

Stadium Court, beginning at noon -- Iva Budarova vs. Wendy Turnbull; Zina Garrison vs. Andrea Jaeger; Hana Mandlikova vs. Ros Fairbank; Anne Hobbs/Susan Leo vs. Barbara Potter/Sharon Walsh.

Stadium Court, beginning at 7 p.m. -- Andrea Temesvari vs. Chris Evert Lloyd; Rosie Casals/Wendy Turnbull or Petra Delhees/Marcella Mesker vs. Hana Mandlikova/Virginia Ruzici.

Court 8, beginning at noon -- Duk Hee Lee/Lucia Romanov vs. Kathy Jordan/Paula Smith; Lisa Bonder/Beth Herr vs. JoAnne Russell/Anne White; Rosie Casals/ Wendy Turnbull vs. Petra Delhees/Marcella Mesker; Lisa Bonder/Beth Herr or JoAnne Russell/Anne White vs. Lea Antonoplis/Barbara Jordan.

 

TEMESVARI MASTERS HOSTILE FANS, RINALDI

"just because she's 15th in the world doesn't mean she's that good" ... "She should be doing centerfolds, not playing tennis."

Some of the quotes in this thread are (unintentionally) hysterical. I also enjoyed the report on the Maleeva match, when her opponent almost hit Julia Maleeva in the face.

 

EVERT ROUTS TEMESVARI, GAINS SEMIS
The Miami Herald
Saturday, February 5, 1983
JIM MARTZ

Chris Evert Lloyd and South Florida clay courts go together like Nureyev and a stage, or Dorothy Hamill and ice.

Evert is an artist on the surface, and Friday night she painted another opponent into a corner. This time it was Andrea Temesvari, who was only five years old the last time Evert lost a tennis match on clay in South Florida.

Temesvari, a 16-year-old Hungarian with considerable poise and promise, battled Evert to 3-3 in the first set before succumbing, 6-3, 6-0, as 1,852 chilled fans watched the quarterfinals of the $150,000 Murjani Cup at PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens.

It was Evert's 59th consecutive victory on clay in her native area. The last time she lost was to Denise Carter in 1971 at Lighthouse Point. In 14 tournaments since then, her only setback came indoors at the Hollywood Sportatorium in 1979 when she bowed to Greer Stevens.

But Evert, who will play Wendy Turnbull at 2 p.m. today, wasn't thinking about streaks Friday night. She was simply trying to warm up to the 1983 season in her bid to regain the No. 1 ranking from Martina Navratilova.

"I felt I played a good match," said Evert, who whipped Temesvari, 6-0, 6-3, in the final of last year's Swiss Open in their only other meeting. "She had a break point to take a 4-3 lead, but when I won that game, I got a lot of confidence.

"This was the best I played in this tournament. I was very consistent. She's very difficult to play because of her heavy topspin shots. It took a few games to get used to her, then I tried to hit a lot of short balls to her."

In the other semifinal, to be played tonight at 7, second- seeded Andrea Jaeger will meet fourth-seeded Hana Mandlikova. Friday afternoon's quarterfinals were all mismatches as Turnbull, seeded third, whipped Iva Budarova, 6-0, 6-1; Jaeger got revenge for a recent loss in Houston to Zina Garrison, 6-1, 6-1; and Mandlikova dumped Ros Fairbank, 6-0, 6-1.

Temesvari was no match for Evert in the second set, losing the first 10 points and winning only four points in the first five games.

"I feel I was playing very good until three-all," said Temesvari, ranked 27th in the world and an upset winner over seventh-seeded Kathy Rinaldi in the third round. "Maybe I got a little tired and lost my concentration. And she got better.

"I think she was nervous at first and got very comfortable in the second set."

Somebody pointed out to Temesvari that her one-hour and eight-minute match was the longest of the day by more than 20 minutes.

"Oh, my gosh, that wasn't very hard to do," she said, laughing. "I tried to do more. But Chrissie is changing her game more -- she's hitting some slices and some topspin."

But why wouldn't someone so tall as Temesvari (she is 5-9) come to the net more often? She avoided it as if it were a barbed-wire fence.

"I didn't come to the net because it was so dark," she explained. "I didn't see the balls. I need contacts. I missed three or four volleys so easy, so I tried to stay back."

Staying back on clay against Evert would be like the Dolphins trying to stop Washington running back John Riggins with an eight-man defense. When Turnbull takes on Evert today, it's certain she won't lay back.

"Wendy has more weapons than the first three players I playad this week," said Evert, who beat Kathy Horvath and Yvonne Vermaak in the first two rounds. "She prefers faster courts. You won't see a lot of long rallies and high balls. Maybe there will be more winners and fewer errors."

Friday's results

QUARTERFINALS

Singles -- Wendy Turnbull d. Iva Budarova, 6-0, 6-1; Andrea Jaeger d. Zina Garrison, 6-1, 6-1; Hana Mandlikova d. Ros Fairbank, 6-0, 6-1; Chris Evert Lloyd d. Andrea Temesvari, 6-3, 6-0.

Doubles -- Kathy Jordan-Paula Smith d. Duk Hee Lee-Lucia Romanov, 6-3, 7-5; JoAnne Russell-Anne White d. Lisa Bonder-Beth Herr, 6-4, 6-1; Rosie Casals-Wendy Turnbull d. Petra Delhees- Marcella Mesker, 6-4, 6-3; Barbara Potter-Sharon Walsh d. Anne Hobbs-Susan Leo, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6; Mandlikova-Virginia Ruzici d. Casals-Turnbull, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.

Today's matches

2 p.m. -- Turnbull vs. Evert; followed by Potter-Walsh vs. Antonoplis-Jordan or White-Russell.

7 p.m. -- Jaeger vs. Mandlikova; followed by Mandlikova- Ruzici vs. K. Jordan-P. Smith.

 

EVERT RIPS TURNBULL
The Miami Herald
Sunday, February 6, 1983
JIM MARTZ

Wendy Turnbull knew she was doomed before she ever walked onto the tennis court Saturday.

She was exhausted physically because she had played three matches Friday -- two doubles and one singles, including a three-set doubles match ending late at night. And she felt beaten mentally, because she would be facing Chris Evert Lloyd on clay, the surface Evert loses on about as often as John McEnroe says "have a nice day" to an umpire.

Turnbull didn't have a nice day. Evert blasted the Australian they call "The Rabbit' right into a hole, 6-1, 6-1, before an estimated 2,500 fans in the semifinals of the $150,000 Murjani Cup at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens.

That advanced top-seeded Evert to today's 2 p.m. final against second-seeded Andrea Jaeger, who defeated No. 4 Hana Mandlikova, 6-2, 6-4. The final, which is sold out, will be telecast nationally by the USA cable network via tape delay at 7 p.m.

This will be the fifth consecutive South Florida tournament in which Evert and Jaeger have met in the final. Last year, Evert won three in a row at Deer Creek and one at Palm Beach Gardens in the Citizen Cup and dropped only one set to Jaeger in the process.

"I've played a lot lately, and this is her first tournament [of the year], so we'll have to see what happens," said Jaeger, who defeated Evert twice on clay last year. "We've played a lot of three-set matches. I can stay out there all day, but to do so, I'll have to play well."

Turnbull wished she could have changed everything in her game.

"I left my forehand back at my condominium and my backhand on the bridge coming over the water," said Turnbull, a 30-year- old who was seeded third. "No, actually Chris is just so tough on clay.

"I was just so mentally and physically exhausted. And to beat Chris, you have to be playing well and be mentally and physically prepared."

Evert extended her 12-year-old winning streak on clay in South Florida to 60 matches. And since turning pro in 1973, she hasn't lost anywhere in the state on clay, compiling a 69-match streak.

If those facts weren't intimidating enough to Turnbull, her lifetime record against Evert was. She was 1-16 going into the match, including 0-4 on clay. She hasn't even won a set on the surface. Her lone triumph over Evert came indoors in Atlanta in 1979.

Evert pinned Turnbull to the baseline with hard and deep groundstrokes. And when The Rabbit managed to hop to the net, Evert usually passed her.

"Wendy can put together a few good points on clay but not keep it up," said Evert. "She has a good chip shot on grass, but on clay, that's not a weapon.

"Against me or any other good clay player, she gets psyched out. She knows we're going to stay out longer and hit deep and take away her best shot. And she's not patient. She likes to get it over with."

Although the points lasted longer than Turnbull likes, the match didn't -- Evert won in 51 minutes. She has yet to be tested in this tournament, although she expects to be today.

Last spring, Jaeger defeated Evert on clay at Hilton Head, S.C., in three sets and in the French Open semifinals in straight sets. But Evert won the next four meetings, including their most recent in the Australian Open semifinals by 6-1, 6-0.

Jaeger's victory over Mandlikova was nearly a replay of their encounter in last Sunday's Avon Cup final at Marco Island, Fla. Jaeger won that one, 6-1, 6-3, but it was somewhat harder Saturday night, because Mandlikova made fewer errors and displayed flashes of the brilliance she had shown in reaching the No. 4 ranking in the world in 1981.

"I need a couple more matches against the top players," said Mandlikova, who was sidelined four months last year because of nagging injuries. "I've beaten them before, so I know I can again."

In a moment of frustration, Jaeger displayed a new finger gesture, but she says it's not meant to be obscene. She raises the little finger on her right hand and points it at someone or something.

"A lot of times, I get aggravated at myself, and instead of yelling at the top of my lungs, I do that," she said. "It doesn't mean anything. It relieves tension when I'm mad at myself or someone in the stands. I'm not trying to start anything."

In the doubles semifinals, Barbara Potter and Sharon Walsh sidelined Lea Antonoplis and Barbara Jordan, 7-5, 7-5. They'll play after today's singles final against Kathy Jordan and Paula Smith, who defeated Mandlikova and Virginia Ruzici, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4.

 

EVERT MASTERS JAEGER
The Miami Herald
Monday, February 7, 1983
JIM MARTZ

Chapter 15 of Chris Evert Lloyd and the Dwarfs reached its conclusion Sunday, and there was another happy ending for the heroine.

Evert continued her mastery of the world on Florida clay courts as she won her 15th tournament without a loss on the surface since turning pro in 1973. The victim this time was Andrea Jaeger, 6-3, 6-3, before a sellout crowd of 3,726 in the final of the $150,000 Murjani Cup women's tennis tournament at the windswept PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens.

"She's awfully good on this stuff," said Jaeger. "When she's playing well and I'm not, I might as well not come out."

Jaeger knows the feeling all too well. She lost the final of the last four tournaments in South Florida to Evert. A cynic might say this is getting monotonous and boring, but others might reply, "How can perfection be boring?"

And Evert on clay in Florida is a perfect 70-0 since becoming a pro. Her last loss on the surface in her native state came in 1972 to Nancy Richey at St. Petersburg. The last person to beat her on clay in South Florida was Denise Carter in 1971.

Can anyone ever beat her again on clay in the state before she retires?

"Yes, but don't ask me who," said Jaeger, who managed to defeat Evert on the surface last year in the French Open and at Hilton Head, S.C. "I've had some close ones, and she almost lost in the Citizen Cup here last year to Evonne Goolagong. But if she's playing well, it's tough for her to lose."

The 70-0 mark wasn't the only staggering statistic Evert improved to Sunday. Consider these:

* Her career record on clay is 253-7.

* The tournament championship was her 121st on all surfaces.

* The $28,000 check for first place boosted her career winnings to $4,393,810.

But money and records weren't on Evert's mind Sunday. She wanted to get off to a strong start in her first tournament of 1983, and she felt that she succeeded.

"I'm happy because I don't feel I lost that much from last year," Evert said. "I wanted to continue the good end of the season I had.

"But the conditions were tough. The wind was unpredictable and swirling. You had to hang in there every point. It inhibits you playing your game.

"I think I handled it better than Andrea and cut down on the errors. In the wind, you have to aim for the middle and not go for the lines."

Jaeger went for the lines a lot. She also saw a few of her lobs almost sail into the lake beyond the north stands.

In the first set, Evert broke Jaeger's serve for a 4-2 lead. Jaeger broke back but then lost her own serve with four forehand errors. Evert broke twice for a 5-1 advantage in the second set before Jaeger broke back. But the 17-year-old who is ranked No. 3 in the world couldn't gain momentum and dropped
serve in the next game to lose the match.

Evert now will aim at regaining the No. 1 ranking from Martina Navratilova and winning the French Open and Wimbledon titles to complete the so-called Grand Slam of tennis. The International Tennis Federation has declared that the Grand Slam (French, Wimbledon, U.S. and Australian tournaments) doesn't have to be won within a calendar year. They can simply be won four in a row, and Evert captured the last two, the U.S. and Australian at the end of 1982.

"Obviously, I'm in favor of the new rule since I have a chance," said Evert. "It's a lot tougher to win it now. In the olden days, if you won Wimbledon, you got a bye the next year until the final."

But Evert disagrees with a new ruling by the Women's Tennis Association that the winner of the season-long points standings will be declared the undisputable No. 1 player in the world.

"I'm in the minority in disagreeing," said Evert. "But I feel you can win the Grand Slam and still be ranked fourth in the world if you play only 10 tournaments. They tried to set it up so the Grand Slam events get a lot more points. If they really load the majors, it could work out. This is just a ploy to get the top players into more tournaments."

Evert's next tournament will be the first week in March in Los Angeles. She also will play in the four-player Citizen Cup at PGA National April 1-3. Navratilova, who didn't win a game against Evert the last time they met on Florida clay, has been invited but hasn't made a commitment yet.

* *

Barbara Potter and Sharon Walsh won the doubles final over Kathy Jordan and Paula Smith, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

 

But Evert disagrees with a new ruling by the Women's Tennis Association that the winner of the season-long points standings will be declared the undisputable No. 1 player in the world.

"I'm in the minority in disagreeing," said Evert. "But I feel you can win the Grand Slam and still be ranked fourth in the world if you play only 10 tournaments. They tried to set it up so the Grand Slam events get a lot more points. If they really load the majors, it could work out. This is just a ploy to get the top players into more tournaments."

Evert should have thanked her lucky stars that she never had to play under the additive and Best N ranking systems. All those two-month breaks during the indoor circuit would have sent her ranking spiraling down.

 

EVERT LLOYD BEGINS SEASON WITH A WIN
Philadelphia Daily News
Monday, February 7, 1983
United Press International

Chris Evert Lloyd won her debut tournament of 1983 yesterday, defeating Andrea Jaeger, 6-3, 6-3, in the finals of a $150,000 tournament.

The event was known as the Murjani Cup Women's Tennis Tournament.

Evert Lloyd, the No. 1 seed in the event, won $27,500. Jaeger, the world's third-ranked women's player - one behind Evert Lloyd - and ranked No. 2 in the tournament, took $14,000.

"I'm happy the way I played because I don't think I lost much from the way I was playing at the end of last year," Evert Lloyd said.

The match was played in a strong wind that negated one of Jaeger's favorite weapons. She attempted six drop shots in the first set, but the wind carried all but two of them out of bounds.

"Chris adapted to the wind better than I did," Jaeger said.

Evert Lloyd might have made quicker work of the match if she had been able to convert one of four break points she held in the 16-point fourth game. Jaeger held on. Evert Lloyd then broke service in the sixth game and was one point from 5-2, leading 40-15 in the seventh.

Jaeger took advantage of two errors by Evert Lloyd and broke service with two more errors from Evert Lloyd. But the champion broke back in the eighth and held in the ninth when two wind-destroyed drop-shot efforts by Jaeger ended each game.

Evert Lloyd then won five straight games to reach 5-1 in the second set. Jaeger delayed the inevitable by winning two games, but then her service was broken in the final game.

Evert Lloyd, who has now beaten Jaeger in the final of five straight Florida tournaments, said she plans to rest until March.

"I'm determined this year," she said. "I wasn't as committed early last year as I am this time. I was more committed to tennis the last six months."

Evert Lloyd stopped queries about possible retirement if she wins the French and Wimbledon titles this year which, added to the U.S. Open and Australian championships she won in 1982, would give her four-in-a-row and a Grand Slam over two years.

"Ask me after I win the French Open," she said.

The doubles title went to Barbara Potter and Sharon Walsh when they defeated Kathy Jordan and Paula Smith, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

 

Some of the quotes in this thread are (unintentionally) hysterical. I also enjoyed the report on the Maleeva match, when her opponent almost hit Julia Maleeva in the face

I agree Sumarokov-Elston!

My chuckle for today (and I suppose this WAS meant to be funny) is:

Chapter 15 of Chris Evert Lloyd and the Dwarfs reached its conclusion Sunday, and there was another happy ending for the heroine

As for Andrea Temesvari-the lipstick lolita of topsin tennis-gave her both her centerfold and centre court

 

Posted by Samn Evert should have thanked her lucky stars that she never had to play under the additive and Best N ranking systems. All those two-month breaks during the indoor circuit would have sent her ranking spiraling down.

I've always agreed up to a certain point with Evert about the majors. The #1 ranking has become a joke after 1997 for many years and is no way to promote the sport IMO.

But getting back to Evert and her two month breaks: Because of her drawing power Chrissie's decision to cut back on indoor events dramatically changed women's tennis.

The first year she cut back was in 1978-and that very year Virginia Slims was dropped as tour sponsor. Avon took up sponsership in 1979, and for 1 golden year had Evert, Navratilova and Austin in the mix, with big names like King, Goolagong and Wade in supporting roles.

Then Chris went AWOL again. The Avon tour was ok in 1980, but in 1981 both Evert AND Austin were absent, and by 1982 Chris was permanently ceding the indoor season to Martina. Poor Martina could hardly carry the tour alone, so when Avon pulled the plug after the 1982 season.

That brings us to 1983. Virginia Slims signed on to lead a united world tour-a first for the women. They COULD have chosen to keep it indoors. Of course an indoor tour would have meant no Chris, so I think it is no coincidence that from 1983 the women played in outdoor Floridian conditions liked.

Viewed in this way we can say Evert killed the indoor tour and helped to shape the tour calendar in a way we can still recognize today. From 1983 the tour was a mix of indoors and outdoors. This allowed Bill Bucholtz to put together the first nonslam megaevent-the "Lipton". The huge success of this event-largely supported by the women-fed into the start of having mens' and women's events reunited. The other thing it did was make hard/cement courts even more prominent.

I see both positives and negatives to all this, but one thing is clear to me-Evert's influence on the way the 1983 looked was huge, just as it was the deciding facotr in keeping the women from breaking away from the US Open in 1980.

 

But getting back to Evert and her two month breaks: Because of her drawing power Chrissie's decision to cut back on indoor events dramatically changed women's tennis.

The first year she cut back was in 1978-and that very year Virginia Slims was dropped as tour sponsor. Avon took up sponsership in 1979, and for 1 golden year had Evert, Navratilova and Austin in the mix, with big names like King, Goolagong and Wade in supporting roles.

Then Chris went AWOL again. The Avon tour was ok in 1980, but in 1981 both Evert AND Austin were absent, and by 1982 Chris was permanently ceding the indoor season to Martina. Poor Martina could hardly carry the tour alone, so when Avon pulled the plug after the 1982 season.

Evert certainly was a superstar and her absence might well have killed the indoor circuit, but I thought the departure of Avon was related not to Evert's sabbatical but to BJK's Marilyn Barnett "galimony" scandal followed by Navratilova's coming out of the closet in the summer of 1981. Navratilova said in her book (iirc) that she was warned about Avon pulling the plug on women's tennis if she talked about her relationship with Rita Mae Brown.

Although I suppose it could have been a combination of both factors. Avon might have chosen to ignore the double whammy of BJK's and Navratilova's revelations as long as it could trot out Chris America as the face of women's tennis, but with Evert being MIA, they might have decided to withdraw their sponsorship altogether.

 

Once upon a time, the International Tennis Hall of Fame and Museum had one of Tracy's gingham dresses on display next to Serena's cat suit. I could not figure out which one was more kinky.


AT AGE 20, AUSTIN PREPARES HERSELF FOR 2nd COMEBACK
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, January 30, 1983
Knight-Ridder News Service

Tracy Austin sat at a luncheon table at the San Francisco Tennis Club, looking as skittish and coy as she was when she turned professional five years ago.

She ate the lemon chicken but declined the French bread. She is in training for her second comeback.

She may look as demure as ever, but she is not the same young woman, physically or mentally.

The braces disappeared long ago, along with the gingham tennis dresses. The public shyness gradually has been replaced by a modest assertiveness.

Her blond hair, which once bounced about her head in pigtails at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, now is styled simply but full, falling over her shoulders as if from an early Lauren Bacall publicity photo.

No longer an unstylish teen-ager, Austin is 20 years old. Her clothes are chaste but fashionable; Marie Osmond, not Cher.

But the biggest change is in Austin's state of mind, which has been made tougher, more hardened to the unpredictable knocks of life by two potentially debilitating back injuries that shut her out of 10 months of the tennis tour the last two years.

ON THE ROAD TO THE TOP

Despite the setbacks, she has returned, once again in quest of the No. 1 ranking in women's tennis, an honor that has escaped her since she turned professional at the age of 15.

Few who know her doubt that she will make it. What she has going for her is something you can't measure on a meter or calculate with a computer. She is neither as big nor as strong as Martina Navratilova, the best player in women's tennis today.

Yet she possesses a near-flawless baseline game and an unswerving mental makeup that carried her through the early years and now seems to be guiding her through the crises.

"My injuries are past history," she said. "I really would prefer not to talk about them. If I do my exercises and stretching, I should never have to worry about them again."

Austin's life with pain began on Jan. 12, 1981, a day after she won the Colgate Series championships, a season-ending tournament involving the eight best players on the tour.

Her injury was diagnosed as a pinched sciatic nerve, which caused her lower back to spasm under stress.

She looks back at it now as if it were a message from some divine source. ''My life up until then was just too perfect," Austin said.

EYE-OPENER

"I had won the national girls 18 title at the age of 14. I won the U. S. Open at 16. I was ranked No. 2 in the world when I was 18. Everything was going my way.

"Maybe it (the back injury) was meant to happen as a way of opening my eyes. I know this: It made me realize how much I loved tennis."

A succession of expensive and well-known doctors produced no long-lasting cure to her back problems.

Finally, a friend urged her to see Dr. Leroy Perry, a Pasadena, Calif., chiropractor who has worked with numerous athletes.

"When Tracy came to me, she was pretty well down, frustrated and unsure about chiropractic, like a lot of people," Perry said.

"But even when she was down, she was much more positive than the average athlete."

When Austin was felled by back problems in 1981, she might have written it off as an aberration. In fact, she came back eight months later to win the U. S. Open.

But when her back went out again in January 1982, she realized she had a chronic problem.

'ONE-SIDED ATHLETE'

"I saw four doctors, and none of them could solve it," Austin said. "But Dr. Perry was brilliant. Five days after I finished therapy with him, I was hitting tennis balls again. Not too well, but I was hitting.

"I didn't care if I hit those balls into the next county. I was just happy to be on the court again."

Perry diagnosed Austin as a typical "one-sided athlete" whose body was unbalanced by years of putting too much emphasis on the right side.

She got back on the circuit in May but lost in the quarterfinals of the French Open to Hana Mandlikova. She was to go no further either at Wimbledon in June or at the U. S. Open in September. But in late September, she reached the semifinals of the U. S. Indoor.

Austin had won a $125,000 tournament in July in San Diego with a straight set win over teen-ager Kathy Rinaldi. It wasn't historic, but it was her only tournament win of 1982.

She was far from top form.

Now it's time to start afresh. "She's in a great state of mind," said Peggy Gossett, public relations director for the Women's Tennis Association. "I think she decided at the end of 1982 to put it all behind her and learn from it."

She has begun the first of three weeks of intensive training with her two pros, Marty Riessen, the former men's star who travels with her, and Robert Lansdorp, the Los Angeles pro.

If she never plays another match, Austin will have left her mark on women's tennis. Two years after turning pro, in 1979, she made her big breakthrough by defeating Navratilova at the Avon championships in Washington,
D.C..

A few months later, in winning the Italian Open, her first major title, she broke Chris Evert Lloyd's 125-match winning streak on clay.

That year she became the youngest player ever to win the U. S. Open and was voted the Associated Press female athlete of the year for 1979, an honor she won again in 1981.

In August 1980, she became the youngest athlete to earn $1 million in her career.

If the next three weeks of fine-tuning her body go as well as she predicts, Austin will emerge to play the Virginia Slims of Chicago the week of Feb. 14.

 

NAVRATILOVA ANXIOUS TO START PLAY
Philadelphia Daily News
Wednesday, February 9, 1983
United Press International

For almost an entire month, Martina Navratilova enjoyed the luxury of not having to do the one thing she does better than any woman in the world.

She kept herself in shape by playing basketball with former Olympian Nancy Lieberman and by running, and didn't miss at all the drudgery of serious practice.

Navratilova was enjoying her liberty so much, in fact, she was a little wary about how she would feel when the time came to return to serious business.

Not to worry, though. Unlike Bjorn Borg, who at the same age of 26 decided he no longer was interested in continuing his tennis career, Navratilova is more than eager and, if anything, overanxious to renew her quest for further glory.

"It's so easy not to have to be playing," Navratilova said yesterday during a visit to New York to promote a $350,000 championship to be played in Madison Square Garden next month. "It wasn't bad traveling around without rackets. I knew I wanted to play, but I wasn't so sure I wanted to go back to work.

"But I've been practicing for three days now and it felt great. I enjoyed the time away, but I also got the itch and I'm eager to play again."

The hardest chore for Navratilova simply will be to live up to her own standards. In what was the most incredible year ever enjoyed by a woman tennis player, Navratilova won 90 of 93 matches last year for official earnings of just under $1.5 million.

She suffered only one real major disappointment, losing to doubles partner Pam Shriver in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, the one big title that continues to elude her.

"It's going to be hard to match that kind of record, and I might not be able to do it," Navratilova said, nevertheless leaving a very strong impression that she believes she can do it. "If I can stay mentally sharp, physically I can do it."

Navratilova has won her first two tournaments of the year, at Houston and Washington, and returns to action next week at Chicago. The Chicago stop on the indoor circuit will be a significant one for Navratilova as it marks the introduction of the Martina Youth Foundation.

The promoters of the Chicago event will donate a couple of hundred tickets to needy youngsters for the semifinals, and Navratilova will give the kids a clinic on tennis.

TORONTO - Tennis star Bjorn Borg, still ailing from a stubborn infection in his hands, yesterday was forced to withdraw from the $250,000 Tennis Challenge, making him the second casualty in the special eight-man event.

The news of Borg's absence followed Monday's withdrawal of defending champion Ivan Lendl, who was replaced by American Gene Mayer after bowing out with an inflamed tricep in his right arm.

Borg originally was slated to face Vitas Gerulaitis in opening play in the five-day tournament, but will now be replaced by ninth-ranked Yannick Noah of France.

 

A GIRL FROM THE GABLES GROWS UP WITH WINNING WAYS
The Miami Herald
Monday, February 14, 1983
BRIAN BLANCHARD

Give Caroline Kennedy credit for a nice smile and charisma from the cradle.

Nor is there any denying the blue-chip appeal of someone who has no need for a last name, like Princess Stephanie of Monaco.

But for the man whose fancy this Valentine's Day runs to star quality that is won, not inherited, there may be more appeal in the thin, impish-looking blonde who wears a watch she won with sweat and poise on the tennis court.

Bettina Bunge is a quiet 19-year-old who sometimes stays with her parents in their modest home on Valencia Avenue in Coral Gables -- between dates on courts around the world.

Bunge ended up on United Press International's list of the 10 most eligible women in the world, with Kennedy and Stephanie, because she pretty and rich and well-traveled and single.

Not to mention the former national champion of Peru and the ninth best woman tennis player in the world, according to the experts. She won $245,598 in official prize money in 1982, which doesn't include the extras like the new copper-colored Volvo she drives. It was given to her for what they call "promotional considerations."

Bunge (generally pronounced "Bung-ee" by Americans) is thin -- about 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds. She holds the racket in her right hand.

She was born in Adliswick, Switzerland, grew up in Lima, Peru, and speaks German, English, Spanish and a little French. She does not have any of her mother Margaret's distinct German accent.

She is friendly but retiring.

"She is just a person who doesn't want to lay it on very thick," says her father, Gables businessman Siegfried Bunge.

"She's not very outgoing, I guess, but friendly," said a Gables neighbor. "A real sweetheart."

So is she free Saturday night?

Bunge was too busy even to comment, practicing in Mexico last week, then flying with her only sibling, 21-year-old Henry, to Chicago Friday. This week she competes there in the Virginia Slims Tournament.

But Siegfried Bunge, an amiable broker who deals in fish meal, says she's "friendly with a few." Boys, that is.

Bunge's current address is Monte Carlo; her citizenship is German. She lived in Coral Gables from the age of 13 until a few years ago, when world-class tennis competition made her parents' house only a stopover on travels that are often made on her own.

She has a degree from the private Deerborne High in the Gables, but she "basically skipped" her final year there, her father said.

These days, she drops by every few months and calls a lot.

"She spends more and more time in Europe," says her father. "She likes the European lifestyle."

But if a hazy Valentine's dream places you at a Paris cafe with Bettina, imagine yourselves in the corner booth.

Reports her father: "She likes her privacy."

 

JAEGER WINS EASILY
Philadelphia Daily News
Thursday, February 17, 1983
United Press International

When 17-year-old Andrea Jaeger won a tough point and heard a cluster of extra-loud applause, she flashed a big smile at the stands.

Her fans were friends from Stevenson High School, who came to Chicago 's International Amphitheater last night to watch their classmate overpower Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, 6-1, 6-2, in a second-round match of the $150,000 Virginia Slims Championship of Chicago .

"It did not matter that there were not a lot of people to watch me," the world's third-ranked women's tennis player said. "These friends of mine didn't even ask me for tickets, but they wanted to see me play. And to me, that was the biggest thrill of the evening."

That kind of support "makes playing tennis worthwhile, since I have to give up normal activities such as dances and parties, and even have to miss school once in a while," Jaeger said.

One of those tennis absences came yesterday. "My teachers have been very understanding," Jaeger said. "And, since I am a senior, they are making sure I can take exams at other times so I can graduate."

Jaeger graduated to the quarterfinal round in exactly one hour, in a match she called, "so easy I really couldn't believe it.

"Helena is almost 6-2, and has a great reach. When her serve is on, she is really tough," Jaeger said.

But Sukova "was not only off her game, but appeared to take a lot of chances that backfired," added Jaeger, the tournament's second seed.

Another winner was fifth-seeded Wendy Turnbull of Australia, who was ahead of Candy Reynolds, 6-2, 3-2, when the Knoxville, Tenn., woman pulled a thigh muscle and retired.

Earlier, seventh-seeded Bettina Bunge disposed of Rosalyn Fairbank, 6-2, 6-0.

In today's quarterfinals, fourth seed Pam Shriver will face Claudia Kohde of West Germany, and No. 6 Sylvia Hanika will take on fellow West German Eva Pfaff.

Top-seeded Martina Navratilova will meet Iva Budarova of Czechoslovakia, while No. 3 Tracy Austin will face Anne Smith.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Two upsets last night give unseeded players a mental edge going into today's third round of the $315,000 U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championship.

Fritz Buehning downed No. 2 Mats Wilander at The Racquet Club, 7-5, 7-5, and Mike DePalmer upset No. 7 Steve Denton, 6-4, 6-3.

Top seed Jimmy Connors meets Raul Ramirez in third-round action today, and No. 3 Gene Mayer will play Henri LeConte.

Buehning, who had taken the lead, let Wilander grab a 5-4 advantage, but rescued the match by keeping cool.

"After that, I just said to myself, 'You let him off the hook,' " Buehning said. "Those are the things that usually throw me off, but today I didn't let them.

"I can beat a lot of guys one set. Now I'm working on beating them two sets. I'm trying to go out there and not let anything bother me. If I start yelling and screaming, it takes more out of me than hitting a tennis ball."

Wilander, a clay-court specialist, said he was uncomfortable on the Supreme Court surface.

"I don't feel confident on this surface," he said. "I can play maybe two good games at a time on it, and then I'll have a bad game. I still have a lot to learn on this surface."

Ramirez beat Jan Gunnarson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-4, in the second round. Mayer defeated Eddie Dibbs, 6-3, 6-2; No. 5 Peter McNamara took Mel Purcell, 6-4, 6-4, and Yannick Noah, No. 4, defeated Mark Dickson, 7-6, 6-3.

Brian Gottfried beat Guy Forget of France, 7-5, 6-0; Buster Mottram of England defeated Terry Moor of Memphis, 6-4, 6-2; No. 8 Eliot Teltscher downed Tony Giammalva, 6-3, 7-6, and 11th-seed Brian Teacher beat Anders Jarryd of Sweden, 6-3, 6-4.

 

An excerpt....


ANTI-UNLV VOTERS ARE IDENTIFIED
The Miami Herald
Thursday, February 17, 1983
DICK HELLER

[...]

Telling tales out of school

Who says you can't put a price on education? Andrea Jaeger can: something less than $1 million a year. The 17-year-old high school senior says she had considered dropping off the circuit to attend college before her family talked her out of that foolish idea.

"It wouldn't be smart at all," insisted her father Roland. "She makes $1 million a year between earnings and endorsements. Not only that, her ranking would go down. It would be very tough to get back on top."

Jaeger apparently became enamored of campus life after visiting her sister Susy at Stanford. Sound the alarm, folks -- family crisis.

"Susy told Andrea that you have to work in college, and there isn't time for tennis," Dad said. "Susy said that if Andrea really wanted to go to college when she was 23 or 24, she would go back with her."

First things first, anyway. Andrea will graduate from Adlai Stevenson High in suburban Chicago in June. She won't be there, of course. Coincides with the French Open, don't you know?

[...]

 

NAVRATILOVA LOVES CHICAGO
Philadelphia Daily News
Monday, February 21, 1983
United Press International

Martina Navratilova says she is going to miss the Chicago International Amphitheatre, which brought down the curtain after more than three quarters of a century of operations yesterday.

Navratilova has been nearly unbeatable in the facility and again demonstrated her invincibility in Chicago when she breezed past local favorite Andrea Jaeger, 6-3, 6-2, for an unprecedented sixth consecutive women's professional tennis tournament victory in the "Windy City" yesterday.

"I like this place; it's very intimate and there's plenty of room to move around," said Navratilova, who overcame a slow start to pick up the $30,000 first prize.

"It's closer to the action here. You can play before 15,000 in a bigger building and you don't feel it."

The amphitheatre is closing this week after being home to the women's tennis tour as well as various professional sports, including boxing and wrestling.

Navratilova will have a chance to defend her title at the new Illinois-Chicago Pavilion in 1984.

In disposing of Jaeger, Navratilova said she led her opponent into unforced errors.

"I was a little rushed at the beginning, but overall I thought it was a solid performance," said Navratilova, who won her third tournament of the year. "I lost my serve only two times in the tournament, so it seemed."

Jaeger, who reached the final of the Chicago tournament for the first time in her career, said Navratilova did not play one of her best matches.

"She played well enough to win, she didn't play great," said the 17-year-old Jaeger from Lincolnshire, Ill. "But I didn't play great either. I wasn't patient."

Jaeger started fast and led midway through the first set before Navratilova took command.

"I started well, broke her service, but then I didn't hold mine," said Jaeger, who lost to Navratilova for the sixth consecutive time and for the ninth time in 13 meetings.

"Then I got discouraged, I started to play streaky."

 

CITIZEN CUP TENNIS IS POSTPONED
The Miami Herald
Saturday, February 26, 1983
JIM MARTZ

The $250,000 Citizen Cup tennis tournament, featuring Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova and scheduled for April 1-3 at Palm Beach Gardens, was postponed Friday because of "insufficient national television coverage."

Tournament director John Korff, reached in Palm Springs, Calif., said commitments for the four-player event at the PGA National Resort had been received from defending champion Evert, Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger and Billie Jean King. But no national television network, including PBS and the cable networks, would commit to carrying the tournament.

"We're very disappointed," said Korff. "I have no idea why the networks wouldn't pick it up." Last year's tournament was telecast by the USA cable network.

"Without network television, the cost of the tournament cannot be justified solely in terms of cable or PBS coverage, in combination with actual attendance and local media coverage," said Bob Weltzien, president of Citizen Watch Co., sponsor of the tournament.

Korff said ticket prices would have had to be raised to $25 to make up for the lack of national television. He said no new date had been set, "but it will be held next winter, in nine to 12 months."

The players were to receive $200,000 of the $250,000 purse, with $50,000 going to the Women's Tennis Association. Korff said both the players and the WTA refused to reduce those amounts to keep the tournament alive.

 

Evert certainly was a superstar and her absence might well have killed the indoor circuit, but I thought the departure of Avon was related not to Evert's sabbatical but to BJK's Marilyn Barnett "galimony" scandal followed by Navratilova's coming out of the closet in the summer of 1981. Navratilova said in her book (iirc) that she was warned about Avon pulling the plug on women's tennis if she talked about her relationship with Rita Mae Brown.

Although I suppose it could have been a combination of both factors. Avon might have chosen to ignore the double whammy of BJK's and Navratilova's revelations as long as it could trot out Chris America as the face of women's tennis, but with Evert being MIA, they might have decided to withdraw their sponsorship altogether.
__________________

Hi Samn

I enjoyed reading your post. Your last sentence connects the two dots and addresses the issue in way I wasn't.

To me the Evert issue was more paramount, but there is no doubt the emergence of the King/Navratilova stories had an impact, and perhaps more than I think. I believe Martina when she says she was warned about it. It wasn't just a matter of her or King-but opening the closet, so to speak, might have resulted in a string of players being outed.

Last night I reread parts of Tracy Austin's book Beyond Center Court. Austin,without in any way knocking Martina or King, mentions how important to the tour Evert was overall for being "feminine" and such a star. So clearly Tracy is thinking there was a connection in the same way you are.

Austin also wrote about how in the winter of 1982 Peachy Kellmeyer kept telling her to enter events even if she thought she would withdraw due to her injuries. The reason according to Tracy? Avon wanted 1 of the big 3 (Evert, Austin, Navratilova) at each event, or prize money would be reduced.Tracy did withdraw and got heavily criticized for it. In her words she was "a dumb bunny". With Evert AWOL and Tracy injured it was left to Martina to carry the tour alone. Even the supporting cast from the late 70s was gone-Wade faded, Goolagong gone after 1980-Hana injured in 1982-and really only Andrea Jaeger to pick up the slack.

Surely the sex scandals gave Avon pause for thought, but with Evert playing enough indoor events it wouldn't have been a big deal. After all Virginia Slims had no problems signing on in 1983, when Martina was dominant. And Martina drew well IMO. Dallas, her hometown, always had good crowds. Chicago too, though it helped that Jaeger was from Chicago.

But after the glowing reception Martina got at the 1981 US Open (everyone was crying) and the open letters of support from Evert and Austin could anyone doubt that people would come out to see Martina? Of course they would. The problem was Martina could only enter so many events indoors. And there was no Evert or Austin to pick up the slack. it was the tour stops with no Navratilova or other name that really suffered and, in my view, led to the plug being pulled on the tour.

I'll see if I can dig up info on when the decision was made to stop sponsership and others views on it.

 

Another Jaeger excerpt...


INDIANA TV SPORTSCASTER IS HEARING "SILENT KNIGHT"
Lexington Herald-Leader
Sunday, January 9, 1983
Herald-Leader wire services

[...]

Sweet 17: At the tender age of 17, Andrea Jaeger is the youngest millionaire on the women's tennis tour and the third-ranked player in the world.

"She wouldn' t have existed before 1970," said Anna Laird, Virginia Slims' director of worldwide operations. "Chris (Evert Lloyd) became a role model for a certain generation that liked ponytails, earrings and makeup. Andrea became a role model for kids who want to be able to play soccer and watch football and know all the stats about the best pass defense. Before they had to keep it all within. Now they can afford to have male attitudes about sports and be female and be feminine. Andrea helped make it acceptable for women to have a male attitude about sports."

Even so, Jaeger has given up riding her motorcycle. "After a certain age, girls don' t look good on motorcycles," she said, "unless you're on the back and a guy' s driving. That's cool."

[...]

 

My plan to try to do this by tournaments is not going to work, so I'm just going to wing it and post them as i find them.

NAVRATILOVA CAN UNDERSTAND BORG'S EXIT
The Miami Herald
Monday, March 7, 1983
BOB GREENE, Associated Press

Martina Navratilova is No. 1 among women tennis players. That's why she understands Bjorn Borg's decision to retire from the sport.

"He saw the other side of the mountain," said Navratilova, who lost only three matches in 1982 and began 1983 by capturing the first two Virginia Slims stops at Washington and Houston in January.

"There's not that many days you have free," continued Navratilova, who was to play Chris Evert Lloyd Sunday in the final of a tournament in Inglewood, Calif. "That's where the commitment is -- planning your whole day around tennis.

"You can have only one glass of wine with dinner because a second glass will affect you the next day. You have to be in bed early enough to get nine hours of sleep. Everything you do is planned around either playing or practicing."

Borg took a five-month vacation from tennis at the start of the 1982 season, then dropped off the tour after two tournaments when he refused to sign up for the minimum number of stops and was forced to qualify for every Volvo Grand Prix event he entered. After he lost in the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo and failed to get through the qualifying at Las Vegas, he took off the remainder of the year.

Then, in January, Borg announced he would no longer compete full-time.

"With Bjorn, he knows what it is to be No. 1 and he knows what it takes to be No. 1 again," said Navratilova. "He wouldn't want to do anything halfway."

Navratilova hasn't done anything halfway in the past year. She collected a women's record $1,475,055, bringing her career earnings to nearly $5 million -- the highest of any tennis player, male or female.

Like Borg, Navratilova has never won the U.S. Open, although she has captured the other three Grand Slam events -- Wimbledon and the French and Australian Opens.

In 1981 at the U.S. Open finals, she crushed Tracy Austin 6-1 in the first set before losing. She lost to Pam Shriver, her closest friend on the tour and her doubles partner, in the quarterfinals of the 1982 U.S. Open.

"The last two years were the only times I gave it a really good chance," she said of winning America's premiere tennis tournament. "The best chance was when I played Tracy. Last year, mentally I was as ready as I could be."

But Shriver and an ailment that left Navratilova weak stopped yet another bid for the elusive U.S. Open crown.

In New York recently, Navratilova noted the success of players from her native Czechoslovakia -- Ivan Lendl and Tomas Smid on the men's tour, and a host of young players on the women's tour, headed by Hana Mandlikova.

"I've helped because they can do whatever they want to," she said.

When she was the promising young star, Navratilova felt she could not reach her full potential because the Czechoslovak government refused to allow her to compete full-time on the tour.

"I would leave the country to play a couple of tournaments, then I would have to return home," she said. "There was nothing between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, except maybe the European championships."

After the 1976 U.S. Open, Navratilova defected and became an American citizen in 1981. Since her defection, the Czechoslovak players have received far greater freedom. Last year, Lendl, who is now ranked No. 2 in the world on the Association of Tennis Professionals computer, earned a record $2 million.

Although they have to give a percentage of their earnings to the Czechoslovak Tennis Federation, the players are allowed to keep a large portion of their money. Lendl and Mandlikova have purchased homes in Florida.

Navratilova takes pride in that. Now, she hopes to give something back to the game with the creation of the Martina Youth Foundation.

"The purpose of the Martina Youth Foundation is to motivate underprivileged children to learn about a sport that can have a positive effect on all aspects of their lives," she said.

"I like kids. Basically I'm for the underdogs -- women, old people, minorities. Through tennis, the kids can get tennis scholarships, go to school and get a better education.

"Right now, we are really just beginning to get the Martina Youth Foundation on its feet. Once we get it going, the possibilities are endless."

Although Navratilova is currently providing the sole financial backing for the foundation, she plans to organize such fund-raising efforts as dinners, exhibitions and auctions of tennis equipment donated by players.

"I know I have to feel I'm making a contribution," Martina said.

 

Was this an exhibition or a sanctioned tournament?

NAVRATILOVA FIGHTS OFF COMPLACENCY
The Miami Herald
Tuesday, March 8, 1983
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd, the world's top- ranked women tennis players, brought greater ambitions to the $165,000 Carta Blanca-FCT Women's Invitational than simply winning the $35,000 singles prize.

"I want to make sure I don't get complacent," said Navratilova after defeating Evert Lloyd, 6-1, 6-3, Sunday. "My goal is to top last year, to win Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and with luck, to win the grand slam."

Evert Lloyd said she also had extra incentive going into the 50th match between the two, a series she leads, 30-20.

"You work harder when you're No. 2," she said. "I was No. 1 for seven years; I would love to be No. 1 again."

In the first set, Navratilova took a 5-1 lead, but Evert Lloyd took her to deuce twice in the final game.

Evert Lloyd started strong in the second set, leading, 3-1, on an unforced error by Navratilova. But Navratilova came back with 12 straight points to take a 4-3 lead.

"It helps to get the year off on the right foot," Navratilova said. "I had two bad games with unforced errors, but Chris is the toughest one to play.

"I now know I can rally from the baseline. I was winning the majority of the points from the baseline. Everything was going in. I can still play better, but at this point I don't know how much better."

From Evert Lloyd's side of the court, the assessment was a bit higher.

"I don't think she has ever played better," said Evert Lloyd, who earned $25,000. "We've played 50 times too many. I have to find a ***** in her armor. Maybe she'll get burned out if she keeps playing like this.

"It's the best match she has ever played me -- one of those days she couldn't do anything wrong."

But Evert Lloyd remained optimistic. "If I felt Martina was the perfect player, I wouldn't come out on the same court with her," she said.

Navratilova and Evert Lloyd paired to win the $10,000 doubles title Sunday night with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Bettina Bunge and Billie Jean King.

 

NAVRATILOVA OVERWHELMS EVERT IN TITLE MATCH
The Miami Herald
Monday, March 7, 1983
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Top-seeded Martina Navratilova defeated second seed Chris Evert Lloyd, 6-1, 6-3, Sunday to capture the $165,000 Carta Blanca Women's Invitational in the Forum.

The championship match was the 50th meeting of the world's top two women's tennis players, and despite the loss, Evert still holds the series advantage at 30-20.

In the first set, Navratilova held a 5-1 lead, but Evert still managed to make it tough, taking Navratilova to deuce twice in the final game.

Evert started out strongly in the second set, taking a 3-1 lead on an unforced error by Navratilova. But Navratilova came back with 12 consecutive points to take a 4-3 lead and eventually the $35,000 first prize.

"I now know I can rally from the baseline," said Navratilova. "I was winning the majority of the points from the baseline. Everything was going in today.

"I don't think she has ever played better," said Evert. "We've played 50 times too many. I have to find a ***** in her armor. Maybe she'll get burned out if she keeps playing like this.

"It's the best match she has ever played me, one of those days she couldn't do anything wrong."

 

I think this is the VS of Dallas...

EVERT SOLVES HARD-HITTING PFAFF
The Miami Herald
Friday, March 11, 1983
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Chris Evert Lloyd was not prepared for such a powerful serve from German Eva Pfaff, but the second-ranked women's tennis player in the world managed to adjust and come out like a champion.

Pfaff, ranked 29th in the world, took the first set, 6-3, but Evert won the following two sets 6-3, 6-3 and the second- round match in the $150,000 Virgina Slims Tournament Wednesday.

The pivotal game came in the third set when Pfaff had gone ahead by after her second serve. Evert came back from a 3-0 deficit to bring the match to deuce four times before finally winning the game to tie the set at 2-2.

Evert began capitalizing on Pfaff errors to take the last four games.

"I didn't expect that tough of a serve," Evert said. "She was sending bullets. She hits harder than anyone, I'm sure. Her service is the best part of her game. Her second serve is harder than my first serve."

In adjusting her game to match Pfaff's booming volleys, Evert had some difficulty with her own serve, double-faulting six times during the match.

"I think that's a record for me." Evert said. "I was coming down on the ball, ducking it, until I figured that out in the third set."

Though Pfaff, 22, gave Evert a fight, she insisted she did not play well.

"From the beginning, I thought I had a chance," said Pfaff. "Unfortunately, I missed a lot of easy shots throughout the whole match."

 

NAVRATILOVA, EVERT COAST TO WINS
The Miami Herald
Thursday, March 10, 1983
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Defending champion and top-seed Martina Navratilova and second- seed Chris Evert-Lloyd had few problems winning their first round matches in the $150,000 Virginia Slims championships.

Navratilova took only 50 minutes Tuesday to eliminate Sue Barker of England, 6-1, 6-2, despite a surge by Barker in the last game of the first set. Barker bounced back to deuce seven times before finally bowing. She took another victory on her first serve of the second set to tie the match, but Navratilova perservered, charging the net to take the next three games.

"My game is at a higher stage this year than it was at this time last year," Navratilova said. "My backhand is a lot better. I'm finally feeling better about it and I'm adding a few shots to my game and mixing up my serves."

Evert barely worked up a sweat in her 6-1, 6-0 triumph over 43rd-ranked Mary Lou Piatek.

Piatek's only success came in the third game of the first first set when she battled back from a 2-0 deficit to capture the next four points. However, Evert was taking her time, pounding shots from the baseline. At one point in the second set, Evert won 11 straight points.

Third-seed Pam Shriver beat Alycia Moulton of Sacramento, Calif., 6-3, 6-4. Shriver meets Wendy White in the second round, while Navratilova plays Ann Kiyomura and Evert plays West German Eva Pfaff.

In other first-round matches, sixth-seeded Hana Mandlikova, ranked eighth in the world, tripped up Diane Fromholtz, 6-4, 6-4, and seventh-seeded Bettina Bunge, ranked ninth in the world, eliminated Rosalyn Fairbank, 6-0, 6-2.

West German Claudia Kohde came back after losing the first game 6-3 to beat Kathy Jordan in the next two games, 6-2, 6-2. Kohde meets Jo Durie, who eliminated eighth-seeded Kathy Rinaldi in her first round match.

Yvonne Vernaak had little trouble beating qualifier Marcella Skuherski 6-4, 6-1. Vernaak meets fourth-seed Wendy Turnbull in the second round.

Anne Kiyomura won a tie-breaker in her first game before eliminating Sabina Simmonds, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, in the first round.

 

NAVRATILOVA RIPS EVERT
The Miami Herald
Monday, March 14, 1983
From Herald Wire Services

In their first official tournament showdown of the year, No. 1-ranked Martina Navratilova still had No. 2-ranked Chris Evert Lloyd's number Sunday.

Navratilova earned her fifth consecutive Virginia Slims of Dallas title with a 6-4, 6-0 rout of Evert that took only 77 minutes.

"I didn't feel that I played well," said Navratilova, who beat Evert in three of four tournament matches last year. "I played at about 75 per cent of my potential."

She added, "I guess the people are getting tired of seeing me win here. Well, that's fine with me. It makes me feel good, particularly against an opponent like Chris."

Evert lost her biggest chance with the first set tied four- all and Navratilova down, 5-40, on her serve.

"I had my chances right there but I didn't play aggressively enough and let her win the game," Evert said. "I have no excuses. I learned some things about Martina's game today."

Navratilova won nine straight games to close out the match.

"This [indoors] is her best surface," said Evert. "It's different outdoors. She lets little things bother her. She plays her best under controlled conditions."

Navratilova, who beat Evert in an exhibition match a week ago that didn't count in the point standings, has won 21 consecutive matches this year.

The $30,000 first-place money boosted Navratilova's earnings to $132,500 for the year. Evert, making her first Dallas appearance in five years, won $15,000 to bring her year's total to $42,500.

Evert uncharacteristically came to the net to try to rattle Navratilova, but the strategy failed as she committed errors on half of her volleys.

Evert is 30-21 lifetime in tournament matches against Navratilova but has lost 10 of their last 13 meetings.

An estimated crowd of 13,000 at Moody Stadium watched the first meeting of the year between the two women stars. * * *

Fifth-seeded Peter McNamara of Australia upset top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), in the final of the $315,000 Belgian Grand Prix in Brussels.

McNamara won a two-hour 50-minute match in which Lendl pulled a groin muscle early in the second set and appeared on the verge of defaulting.

From the beginning of the match, the 27-year-old McNamara was the favorite of the capacity crowd, which chanted his name at key points.

"The crowd is really the reason I won the match," McNamara said. "I got real excited in the tiebreaker. I don't think I have ever been that excited in my life."

McNamara earned $50,000, and Lendl received $25,000 as runnerup.

Despite the groin injury, Lendl said he never thought about giving up. "Peter played unbelievable today. He was not missing any balls. He very much deserved to win," Lendl said.

It was only the second loss for Lendl in his last 72 indoor matches. * * *

Unseeded Nick Saviano upset fellow American Chip Hooper, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in the final of the $75,000 Lorraine SNVP Open Volvo Grand Prix in Nancy, France. Saviano won $15,000. Hooper, the No. 3 seed, earned $7,500 ... Ginny Purdy of Indianapolis defeated Claudia Monteiro of Brazil, 6-2, 7-5, in the final of the $50,000 Ginny of Pittsburgh tournament. It marked Purdy's first professional tour title, but the 16-year-old turned down the $7,000 winner's check because she competed as an amateur ... Sweden's Henrik Sundstrom, 19, won the $50,000 Tunis (Tunisia) Open 83 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Thierry Tulsane of France ... South Africa's Cliff Drysdale upset top- seeded Rod Laver, 6-4, 6-2, to capture a $35,000 tournament at the Registry Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. The victory earned Drysdale $10,000; Laver picked up $6,000.

 

IS NAVRATILOVA LEAVING EVERT IN HER WAKE?
The Miami Herald
Wednesday, March 16, 1983
BOB RUBIN

Does Chris Evert Lloyd still belong on the same court with Martina Navratilova? The question arises because the rivalry between the two queens of tennis, so deliciously close and intense for so long, is starting to tilt decidedly in Martina's favor.

Anyone who writes off the formidable Mrs. Lloyd may wind up eating his words, but at least two experts are willing to take the risk.

"I think for Chris to win now, everything has to be in her favor, especially playing on a slow surface," said Fred Stolle, head pro at the Turnberry Isle Country Club, former French and Australian Open champion, and three-time Wimbledon finalist. "She'd have to be at her very best and catch Martina on a day she wasn't serving well."

Arthur Ashe, former U.S. Open and Wimbledon champion and current U.S. Davis Cup captain, agrees with Stolle. "It isn't too much of a rivalry right now," Ashe said. "Martina's a house on fire. Right now, she seems to be sacrificing more for tennis than any of the others. And let's face it, she's the best athlete on the women's tour, plain and simple."

A dissenting vote comes from veteran Rosie Casals. "I would never rule Chris out," she said. "Naturally, Martina's record has been unbelievable, and that gives her extra confidence. But I still think she considers Chris a real threat.

"I think it's still very much a rivalry. I think Chris will be gunning for Martina now. They've sort of reversed roles."

So the ball is in Chris' court, so to speak. No one else currently seems capable of challenging Martina, who has an other-worldly 111-3 record the past two years (21-0 in 1983). And she's not just beating people, she's annihilating them -- including Chris. Martina has beaten Chris decisively in their first two 1983 meetings, 6-1, 6-3 in an exhibition in Los Angeles two weeks ago, and 6-4, 6-0 in a Virginia Slims final in Dallas Sunday. Martina's last two victories came on fast indoor surfaces, where Martina's serve-and-volley game is virtually unbeatable, and the Dallas tournament was only Chris' second of the year as opposed to Martina's fourth.

Still, 6-0 against Evert would be impressive if it happened on the moon on Chris' wedding day.

Though Chris still holds a 30-21 career edge on Martina, Martina has won seven of their last 10 matches, eight of 11 if you count the L.A. match. In two of Chris' three victories, she was extended to three sets. Chris' only easy match was by an improbable 6-0, 6-0 score last year at Amelia Island, Fla., which is her home turf. Faced with intense crowd hostility, Martina simply tanked. No other way does she get double-bagled.

She hasn't been back to Amelia Island since, and don't look for her to return this century. Bobby Knight loves Puerto Rico in comparison.

The conventional line about the reigning monarch has always been "Nobody beats Martina but Martina." Bluntly, she has been a head case. She says that's over. "I don't think anything can bother me any more. The days of losing matches because I got upset are long gone."

She has said it before and then blown up, but she has been so consistently good the last year and three months there's reason to believe it may be true this time. The crowd was against her Sunday even in her adopted hometown of Dallas, but she was unaffected.

Martina is feeling so feisty these days, she says she's eager to meet Chris outdoors on clay, the setting and surface where Chris has always been deadly as a black widow. Martina notes proudly that in her last two outings against Chris, she has even been winning points consistently from the baseline, which is where Chris lives.

"It must frustrate her," Martina said, not sounding at all sorry about it. "I'm sure she's wondering how she's going to win when I can stand back on the baseline and trade shots with her."In discussing her latest loss to Martina, Chris was, at times, her usual dispassionate, analytical self. But she also offered a few uncharacteristic rationalizations, launched a few defensive lobs.

She pronounced herself "disturbed but not devastated" over the loss, and said the tournament was an over-all plus in that she played a lot of matches and "gutted them out." She also said, somewhat cryptically, "I learned a little more about Martina's game, and that might help me in the future. The more I play her, the better it is for me."

After 51 matches, she's still learning about Martina's game?

Going beyond the immediate post-mortem, one sentence from Chris seemed to sum up the current state of the rivalry. "I know if I'm playing well I can stay up with her," she said.

Stay up with her? That sounds suspiciously like give her a good game. Opponents used to say that before playing Chris. They still do ... everyone but Martina.

 

King still volleys with abandon, but what comes after tennis?
The Christian Science Monitor
Tuesday, March 15, 1983
Larry Eldridge

Even as she continues to seek that elusive last big triumph on the court, Billie Jean King is looking ahead toward life after tennis.

Last year she came as close to the former goal as she has in a long time, staging a dramatic series of upsets to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon before losing to Chris Evert Lloyd. For many at King's career stage that might have been a twilight accomplishment worth savoring. But Billie Jean is not the type to be satisfied with anything less than victory, no matter what the circumstances.

''It wasn't good enough though, was it?'' she said when an interviewer recalled that moment. ''I intend to play again this year - and if I do, I want to win it.'

And beyond that.

''After July, I'll reevaluate what I want to do with the second half of my life,'' she said during an appearance in Boston where she is playing in this week's women's tour event. ''I know I want it to be something involving motivation. I think people tend to sell themselves short and have low self-esteem - especially women. I like to see people do better than they think they can do, and I think I can help.'

Billie Jean, of course, has never had that problem. On the contrary, she's been an eternal optimist regarding both her game and her longtime role as a standard-bearer for equal rights. And if she hasn't always won, she's scored enough victories on both fronts to assure her a permanent place in the annals of tennis and of the women's movement.

From her debut at Wimbledon as 18-year-old Billie Jean Moffitt in 1961 (she lost her first match), through her incredible record of 20 titles there including six singles championships, to that gallant bid for one more crown last summer at age 38, King has regularly been on center stage at this most prestigious of all tennis tournaments.

And there have been many other triumphs - four US Open titles; scores of victories all over the globe including the French, Italian, and Australian Opens; four times ranked No. 1 in the world; a record 18 times in the US Top Ten; first female athlete to earn more than $100,000 in a season (1971); etc., etc. And although it was mainly for hype and money, who can forget her victory over Bobby Riggs in their famed ''Battle of the Sexes?''

Early on, King began battling for women's rights too, or, perhaps more accurately, for equal opportunity for all.

''I don't think of myself as 'for women,' '' she said. ''I think of myself as for people - men and women. That's what women's liberation is all about: for all people to get the opportunity to do the best they can.'

But historically women were frequently denied such opportunities - so that's where her battleground lay. In 1968 she and three others formed the first women's pro troupe. Next she helped establish the first major women's tour. Then she led a long and ultimately successful battle to gain equal prize money for women at the US Open. No wonder that in the '70s it was generally agreed that the two most recognizable American athletes were Muhammad Ali and Billie Jean King, or that today's top female players - even those who may be at odds with her - readily give her the lion's share of credit for today's big prize money and endorsement opportunities.

Of course all this seemed in the past when she ''retired'' in 1975, and especially when she did so again in '81. But each time her need to compete was too great to give up just yet.

''I still had the ability,'' she says now. ''And I missed the game. As you get older, you acquire a different perspective. You realize the joy and love of what you do. It's like a Horowitz playing the piano, or a Nureyev dancing. You keep remembering how much you like it.'

She never had, after all, depended on things like size or strength - in both of which she was far below many of her rivals. She always did have a pretty fair amount of overall athletic ability, but clearly her biggest asset was her tremendous will to win - and that still rages within her as powerfully as ever.

That was apparent in last spring's Italian Open, where she saved an apparently lost first round match and went on to reach the semifinals. And at Wimbledon she followed basically the same script, saving three match points against Tanya Harford, then upsetting Wendy Turnbull and Tracy Austin before losing to Evert Lloyd. And although it's been eight years now since she last won a major tournament (Wimbledon 1975), the fire still seems to be there as she plays various selected events while looking forward to one more try for a big one this summer.

She is also now playing in the Women's Tennis Classic, a new tour for players over 30, and in the current scaled-down version of Team Tennis run by her husband, Larry.

''I believe in the concept,'' King said of the latter venture, which failed in a more big-time approach and is now in its third year as a smaller, less costly operation. ''It helps men and women work together, and teaches the importance of things like cooperation and being supportive. I think it would be good culturally over the long run. But if it makes it, it makes it - and if it doesn't, it doesn't. I believe in free enterprise.'

Asked to compare her own longevity in the game with the recent abdication of Bjorn Borg, who was a toddler when she was already playing big-time tennis, King replied.

''You have to take each person on his own terms. When the women's pro tour started I was 27. That gives you perspective. Also, since 1970 the prize money has grown so enormously. Borg has made millions. When I was his age, I was broke.

''That's not why I stayed in it. I love the game. But I just want to point out that Borg has had a very different experience than I've had. I think it bothers him that he's not No. 1 anymore. That has happened to others. If his experience had been like mine, I think he'd be fighting tooth and nail to be back up there. But maybe he'll be back. Who knows?'

King, of course, knows all about ''retiring'' and coming back - but even as she eyes her busy 1983 schedule, see seems resigned that the next time will probably be for good. And although she doesn't indicate anything more definite than that vague hope of ''motivating'' people, she seems ready for her next challenge, whatever it turns out to be.