[Ms. Anthropic]

NAVRATILOVA CHANGES ATTITUDE FOR NEW YORK TOURNAMENT
The Miami Herald
Wednesday, March 23, 1983
From Herald Wire Services

Although she played 93 matches last year, Martina Navratilova has no problem remembering the agonizing details of all her losses.

That's because she lost only three times, and two of them came in New York. What's more, both of those defeats, by Sylvia Hanika and Pam Shriver, came after she breezed through the opening set, 6-1.

Still, she has no fear returning to New York for today's start of a $350,000 championship bringing together the top 15 women in the world, plus Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who was given a wild-card entry.

The tournament, carrying a top prize of $80,000, is known as the Virginia Slims Championships of New York.

"I've also won here before and I've won in the Garden twice," said Navratilova, who plays her first match Thursday night against Hana Mandlikova. "I can't be psyched out about a tournament. It's the same players, the same lighting, the same carpet. There's no more reason to lose here than in China or anywhere else.

"Last year you guys [the media] gave me the trophy and the money [before she lost in the final to Hanika]. I'm not going to let you do it this time. Last year I was trying to make sure I didn't lose instead of trying to make sure that I won, and I won't do that again."

Navratilova hasn't come close to losing in 1983. She's played in five tournaments, including an exhibition in Los Angeles. Not only has she won all 24 of her matches, she has yet to drop a set.

She already holds two decisions this year over Chris Evert Lloyd, ranked second in the world and seeded second here. Evert had the flu earlier this week.

"I know I'm playing as well as I ever played," said Navratilova, whose career earnings exceed $5 million. "My results speak of that. I'm hitting the ball better, and I know what I'm doing on the court. There's no reason for me not to be confident."

"She has so much confidence now that a lot of girls are psyched out when they get on the court," Tracy Austin said. "They don't believe they can win, and that helps her. But nobody is ever unbeatable."

Mandlikova, her first-round opponent, added, "Against her, everything is confidence. Some players, before they go in a match, are afraid they're going to lose. That's not the right attitude."

Navratilova sometimes can sense the intimidation.

"I am playing better, and everyone knows it," she said. "Maybe the others put extra pressure on themselves to make the best shot, and because of that they'll make a mistake. That's where intimidation comes in."

Hanika, the left-handed West German, who upset Navratilova in the final at Madison Square Garden last year, opens play against Kathy Rinaldi at 6 p.m. Wednesday, followed by Austin against Virginia Ruzici, Evert-Zina Garrison and Bettina Bunge- Bonnie Gadusek.

Wendy Turnbull, winner of a tournament in Boston Sunday, faces Barbara Potter starting at 10 a.m. Thursday, followed by Shriver-Goolagong and the winner of the Austin-Ruzici match against the Rinaldi-Hanika winner.

Billie Jean King will face No. 3 seed Andrea Jaeger for the first time in her career at 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by Navratilova against Mandlikova and then the Evert-Garrison winner against the survivor of Bunge-Gadusek.

Jaeger, who pulled out of last week's tournament in Boston with injuries to her Achilles tendon and knee, said she is feeling much better now.

* *

Thomas Hogstedt, a 19-year-old Swede who emerged from qualifying rounds, upset fifth-seeded American Steve Denton in a first-round match of the $365,000 Cuore Tennis Cup Tuesday at Milan.

Hogstedt needed two hours and 28 minutes, three sets and two tie-breakers to score an unexpected 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 victory over Denton. In winning, he gained a berth in the second round at Milan's indoor Sports Palace.

Hogstedt, who had gone through three elimination matches before qualifying for the 32-player tournament of the Grand Prix circuit, showed a precise serve, powerful two-hand backhand passing shots and was tough in the crucial moments of the match.

The 26-year-old Denton is 13th in the world rankings.

Hogstedt, the 1981 U.S. Open junior champion at Flushing Meadows, N.Y., won the first set tie-breaker, 8-6.

In the third-set tiebreaker, Denton built a 5-2 lead. The young Swede then scored five straight points to win the tie- breaker, 7-5, the set and the match. In the second round, he will play Brazilian Marcos Hocevar.

In the exhausting third set, Denton and the Swede exchanged shots for 58 minutes.

In other first-round matches, South African Kevin Curren, 25, defeated Paul McNamee, a 28-year-old Australian, 6-4, 7-5, and Czechoslovakian Tomas Smid ousted American Fritz Buehning, 6-4, 6-0, in 49 minutes. Both Smid and the 23-year-old Buehning, were unseeded.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

NAVRATILOVA LOSES SET BUT WINS MATCH
The Miami Herald
Saturday, March 26, 1983
BOB GREENE, Associated Press

Surviving a first-set scare, top-seeded Martina Navratilova roared from behind to oust Hana Mandlikova, while crowd favorite Billie Jean King upset third-seeded Andrea Jaeger in first-round matches during the $350,000 Virginia Slims Championships of New York Thursday night.

Earlier, Sylvia Hanika advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 upset of fourth-seeded Tracy Austin.

Navratilova, dropping a set for the first time in 1983, beat Mandlikova 4-6, 6-1, 6-0, and King, at 39 the oldest player in the tournament at Madison Square Garden, stopped Jaeger, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

In other matches Thursday, Barbara Potter eliminated No. 6 Wendy Turnbull, 6-2, 6-3, and No. 5 Pam Shriver stopped Evonne Goolagong Cawley, 6-1, 6-3.

Also advancing was second-seeded Chris Evert Lloyd, who defeated No. 7 Bettina Bunge for the seventh straight time, 6-1, 7-5.

Evert breezed through the first set before Bunge fought back with superb passing shots and all-round court play in the second set. The 19-year-old West German saved two match points with aces before finally succumbing to the 28-year-old Evert, a six-time U.S. Open singles champion.

Navratilova's victory sends her into the quarterfinals against Shriver, her doubles partner and closest friend on the women's tennis tour, and the person who upset her in the quarterfinals of the 1982 U.S. Open. King will face Potter in the quarterfinals.

King, who has won a record 20 titles at Wimbledon, delighted the crowd of 10,383 as she fought her was past a foe 22 years her junior. Jaeger, who later said she was bothered by injuries, never was in the match after the first set.

"Her heart and soul was not in it [the match] 100 per cent," King said of Jaeger. "Sometimes you can play badly, but the effort is there. Maybe she injured herself during the match. I really don't know."

Like King, Navratilova fell quickly behind, losing her serve in the first and third games as Mandlikova jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The 21-year-old Czech combined a bewildering assortment of passing shots with Navratilova's unforced errors to move out front.

After handing Navratilova her first loss in 43 consecutive sets, Mandlikova broke her foe again to start the second set.

Then, as suddenly as the winning streak began, it ended. Mandlikova never won another game as the world's top-ranked women's player dominated from the baseline and at the net.

Navratilova served seven aces, but it was when they came that counted.

She capped her second-set victory with ace No. 5 and served the final one to end the match. Five of her seven aces came on game points.

The victory was Navratilova's ninth in 12 career meetings with Mandlikova and her eighth in a row. It was only the fourth time the two had battled through three sets -- two of those coming in their first two meetings.

Hanika upset Navratilova in the final at Madison Square Garden a year ago when this tournament was the windup of the winter circuit. She has reached four finals this year -- in Washington, Houston, Oakland and Boston -- but has yet to post a victory.

Hanika was too powerful against Austin, who suffered through a subpar 1982 with injuries. It was the first time Hanika has bested Austin in seven career meetings.

The two traded service breaks in the fifth and sixth games of the first set, then held in the seventh and eighth games to level the set at 4-4. But the West German lefthander then ripped off 12 of the next 13 points to capture the set.

Alternating pace and changing spins, Hanika forced Austin into numerous unforced errors, uncharacteristic for the two- time U.S. Open winner.

Austin broke Hanika in the second game of the second set, but the German broke right back in the third. They traded breaks again in the fifth and sixth games.

In the seventh game, Austin fought through four deuces before holding serve, then broke Hanika for a 5-3 lead.

With Austin serving for the set, Hanika jumped out to a love-40 lead. Austin saved one break point with a forehand volley, then lost her service when she sailed a forehand long.

Hanika held serve at 15, broke Austin in the 11th game at 15, then held at 30 to close out the 1-hour, 35-minute match.

Potter, a hard-serving lefthander ranked 13th in the world on the Women's Tennis Association computer, used her overpowering serve to down Turnbull, fresh from winning the Slims tourney in Boston on Sunday. Potter finished with 15 aces, while Turnbull committed seven double-faults, including one to close out the first set.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

NAVRATILOVA, EVERT MEET TODAY IN FINAL
The Miami Herald
Sunday, March 27, 1983
From Herald Wire Services

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd, the first and second seeds, advanced to today's final of the $350,000 Virginia Slims Championships of New York with quick, decisive victories Saturday.

Navratilova needed only 55 minutes to beat West Germany's Sylvia Hanika, 6-1, 6-1, and Evert polished off Billie Jean King, 6-1, 6-1, in 54 minutes.

The champion of this tournament, the world's richest for women, will earn $80,000, with $45,000 going to the runnerup. Hanika and King will battle for the $25,000 third-place prize, with fourth place worth $20,000.

Before Saturday's semifinals, Navratilova said she lacked no confidence, despite the fact that Hanika was one of only three players to beat her last year (Evert and Pam Shriver were the other two). Hanika rallied from 0-40 to hold serve in the match's first game but won only two points over the next two games.

"I knew I was going to break her serve more than she was going to break mine, so I was not afraid," Navratilova said.

King, 39, got her chance to play Evert by using an aggressive serve-and-volley game to beat Andrea Jaeger and Barbara Potter. But Saturday, Evert played her steady baseline game to near-perfection, winning with passing shots almost every time King charged the net.

Evert has a career 30-21 advantage on Navratilova going into today's final, but Navratilova has won 10 of their last 15 matches since early 1980, including two this year.

"She owes me one more than I owe her," Navratilova said. "Always in the past, with Chris we've had great matches. You don't need extra incentive."

Evert added, "For those who think it's an unfriendly rivalry, it's not. It's a friendly rivalry, but in the back of each other's minds she feels I'm her big rival and I think she's my big rival."

Tennis

Top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia struggled to beat American Chip Hooper, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-2, in the semifinals of the $365,000 Cuore Cup in Milan, Italy. In today's final, Lendl will play South African Kevin Curren, who downed American Bill Scanlon, 6-4, 7-6 (9-7). First prize is $70,000 ... Spain's Manuel Orantes and Sweden's Henrik Sundstrom reached today's final of a $75,000 men's tournament in Nice, France. In the semifinals, Orantes beat Fernando Luna, 6-2, 6-2, and Sundstrom defeated Mario Martinez, 7-5, 6-2 ... Bjorn Borg will play his in last pro tournament this week in the $300,000 Monte Carlo Open, which will begin Monday. Borg agreed to play in Monaco, where he lives, to gain exemption from taxes.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

NAVRATILOVA WHIPS EVERT, 6-2, 6-0
The Miami Herald
Monday, March 28, 1983
From Herald Wire Services

Martina Navratilova, again proving herself without peer in women's tennis, swept through the last 10 games to stun Chris Evert Lloyd, 6-2, 6-0, Sunday in the final of the $350,000 Virginia Slims Championship of New York.

Navratilova now has won the singles and doubles titles of all five tournaments she has played this year. She has won 27 straight matches since losing to Evert in the Australian Open final, and has won 114 of her last 117 matches.

Navratilova, 26, earned $80,000 for winning the singles plus another $15,000 for her doubles victory Saturday. That brought her career earnings to $5,161,059.

"Martina cleaned my clock today," said Evert, who only a day earlier had talked of her aspirations of reclaiming the world's No. 1 ranking. "I hope that this was one of her better matches. It had better be."

Navratilova moved extremely well and was particularly effective at the net, managing to return just about everything that Evert sent at her. By midway through the second set, it appeared that Evert had just lost hope, and she double faulted twice in the fourth game, the second one coming at break point.

In all, Evert managed only 15 points in the second set and bowed out in 64 minutes.

"I didn't expect it to be that quick," Navratilova said. "My coach, Renee Richards, prepared me for a two-hour match.

"There was no reason for me not to be confident. I've been playing well, and I had my confidence."

Evert managed to make a match of it only for the first five games, and the fifth game may have been the turning point. Evert had a triple break point, but was unable to capitalize as Navratilova won the next five points and held service with a lob.

Navratilova then broke in the next game at 15 when Evert sent a backhand into the net; Navratilova didn't lose another game.

In the second set, Evert could reach deuce only once on Navratilova's serve and otherwise never threatened to break.

Evert, who earned $45,000, leads, 30-22, in a series that started in 1973, but Navratilova has won 11 of the last 16 meetings.

Sylvia Hanika defeated Billie Jean King, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), in the consolation match. King broke service in the 12th game of the second set to force the tie- break, but her West German opponent took an early lead in the tie-break and managed to hold on.

* *

Ivan Lendl, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, won a third set tie-breaker after spoiling four match points to defeat unseeded South African Kevin Curren in the final of the Cuore Tennis Cup at Milan, Italy.

Lendl, 23, won, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). He earned $70,000 and took a lead of almost 300 points in the over-all standings of the Volvo Grand Prix circuit.

Sunday's victory brought Lendl back to the top after a string of disappointing early-round eliminations in recent tournaments.

Lendl had six double faults and 10 aces in the match at the sold-out indoor Sports Palace of Milan. It was his fifth victory in five matches with Curren.

Curren earned $35,000.

* *

Bjorn Borg, appearing in his last tournament before retiring at the age of 26, didn't get much help from his wife Mariana during the draw for the Monte Carlo Grand Prix.

Mariana, invited to draw Borg's opening opponent in the $360,000 clay-court tournament, selected third-seeded Jose-Luis Clerc of Argentina for the first-round match today at the Monte Carlo Country Club.

Borg is a member of the Monte Carlo club and entered the 32-man tournament on a wild card.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

NIT has own personality; Navratilova in the 'zone'; baseball openers set
The Christian Science Monitor
Thursday, March 31, 1983
Ross Atkin

[...]
27-0 and counting

In tennis, when everything is clicking players are said to be in the ''zone.'' Martina Navratilova resides there now. No one has come close to beating her this year, not even the estimable Chris Evert Lloyd. The two met last Sunday in New York, and it was no contest, with Navratilova winning 6-2, 6-0 in the richest final on the women's winter tour. The world's top-ranked player indicated it ''was pretty close to as good as I can play.'' Evert Lloyd, who suffered her worst defeat in 13 years, probably hopes so.

If Navratilova has lifted her game, it can't be by too much. In 93 matches a year ago she lost only three times - once each to Evert Lloyd, Pam Shriver, and Sylvia Hanika, all of whom Martina defeated in New York. In doubles she's been just as devastating, accumulating a perfect record with Shriver. In the past, she has been on the ''Doubles Team of the Year'' four times with three different partners.

The real measure of greatness, of course, generally comes in the major tournaments, particularly Wimbledon and the US Open. She has to go some to catch the likes of Evert Lloyd and Billie Jean King at these events. Billie Jean has a total of 10 victories at the two tournaments and Chris nine. Martina has won Wimbledon three times but, like Bjorn Borg, is still looking for her first US Open title.

[...]

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

WHITE WEATHERS JAUSOVEC
Philadelphia Daily News
Friday, March 4, 1983
United Press International

For two days, driving rain virtually halted all activity in the desert, including tennis. The rain finally subsided, but Yugoslavia's Mima Jausovec wishes it didn't.

Little-known Wendy White turned the third-seeded Jausovec's first match of the tournament into her last match last night, posting a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in the opening round of a $50,000 tournament.

White lost the first set, but early in the second the 22-year-old's service began to take its toll on Jausovec, and she easily captured the final two sets.

In the other featured match, top-seeded Hana Mandlikova of Czechoslovakia breezed to a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Mary Lou Piatek. Mandlikova played nearly flawless tennis to beat Piatek, who defeated Leigh Thompson, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, earlier in the day as officials scurried to make up matches postponed because of two days of rain.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

MANDLIKOVA HURT AGAIN
Philadelphia Daily News
Saturday, March 5, 1983
United Press International

For top-seeded Hana Mandlikova, the $50,000 tennis tournament at Rancho Mirage has been nothing but a royal pain in the knee.

Mandlikova retired from her match yesterday against Canada's Carling Bassett after dropping the first set, 6-3, complaining of pain from a recurring knee injury.

Mandlikova has had right knee problems for several months. She pulled out of an indoor event in Chicago last month. She looked strong beating Mary Lou Piatek Thursday and rattled off the first three games of yesterday's match against Bassett in similar fashion.

But the 21-year-old then began to miss many of her shots, and she lost the next six consecutive games before informing the umpire she was withdrawing from the tournament and a shot at the $9,000 first prize.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

TURNBULL WINS TITLE IN BOSTON
Philadelphia Daily News
Monday, March 21, 1983
United Press International

Wendy Turnbull used a variety of serves and accurate volleys yesterday to defeat Sylvia Hanika, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, in the finals of a $150,000 women's tennis tournament.

Turnbull, 30, was runner-up in the same tournament last year. As in her semifinal match against Tracy Austin, Turnbull dominated the first set, appeared tentative in her shot selection and execution in the second, and then returned to form for the third set and the win.

Hanika, who has now gained the finals in four tournaments since the beginning of the year and lost all four, said in a post-match interview, ''Wendy keeps the ball very deep and her slices are very flat, which on this court makes it difficult for me to play my game."

The match was played on a carpet surface at Boston Garden before 5,247 spectators.

Turnbull, who earned $28,000 for her victory, had lost to Hanika in their last two meetings. "But I learned from our match in San Francisco and I saw how Billy Jean (King) served to her last night, so I tried to take some of the pace off my serve to her backhand," Turnbull said.

The strategy worked as the heavy-set Hanika had difficulty with the varied pace and placement.

Turnbull, who said she "concentrated very well when it counted," also tried to prevent Hanika from setting up on her groundstrokes.

In the first set, the two women each broke the other's serve once during the first nine games, but Turnbull broke Hanika again in the 10th game to win the set.

Turnbull's fatigue from the 12:15 a.m. conclusion of her match against Austin began to show in the second set, when she made many more unforced errors and was not placing the ball as deeply. Hanika also began to pass Turnbull more easily at net.

The two women each held serve through the first six games of the third set before Turnbull, ranked sixth in the world, attained the sole service break of the set.

Hanika said she believed the turning point of the match was when she had double-break point on Turnbull's serve in the second game of the second set but could not win it.

"I lost that and I just let it go," she said.

Turnbull, of Australia, who suffered from tennis elbow last year, said she is enjoying competition more now.

"When I had the elbow problem I realized how much I enjoyed playing. Still, after coming here to Boston for so long, it's just nice to win."

Hanika received $14,000 for second place.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

TURNBULL WINS TO END BOSTON DRY SPELL
The Miami Herald
Tuesday, March 22, 1983
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Veteran Wendy Turnbull says she has lost count of the number of times she has entered Boston tennis tournaments and come up short.

But the 30-year-old Australian grabbed the net early and often Sunday to end the dry spell with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Sylvia Hanika of West Germany in the final of the $150,000 Virginia Slims of Boston tennis tournament.

"I wanted to be the one attacking the net, make her hit the passing shots," said Turnbull, who finished second in Boston last year and upset Tracy Austin Saturday night to make it to the final round.

"When it really counted, I concentrated well and I was aggressive in the right games. I put the pressure on Sylvia at 3-all in the third set ... and she was not able to hold serve," Turnbull said after the see-saw match with Hanika.

The two players offered a classic matchup of styles. Turnbull, a one-time Boston Lobster on the team-tennis circuit, was steadier and dominated the match when she grabbed center court. The more powerful Hanika, 23, took charge when she had enough time to set up her zooming backhand passing shots at the baseline.

"She is more effective when she has that extra second, a split-second to set up for it [the backhand]," Turnbull said. "When you've got her running, she doesn't have that much choice."

* *

Brian Teacher won the WCT Indoor event in Munich, beating fellow American Mark Dickson, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 ... Gene Mayer upset top-seeded Guillermo Vilas of Argentina, 6-1, 7-6, to win the Rotterdam Grand Prix event. Mayer's victory was his first over Vilas and gave him his first 1983 title ... Top-seeded Rod Laver captured the Foster Lager event for older players with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory over Ken Rosewall at Naples, Fla.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

EASTER BOWL: FLORIDIANS FEW
The Miami Herald
Tuesday, March 29, 1983
JIM MARTZ

The top seeds come from places like Brentwood, Tenn., Woodbury, N.Y., and Grosse Point, Mich. Other leading contenders grooved their strokes in such coldbeds of tennis as Lodi, Ohio, Okemos, Mich., and Excelsior, Minn.

Where are the Floridians? The few that you do find in this week's Olympus Easter Bowl junior tournament at Laver's International Tennis Resort in Delray Beach are several notches down the line.

Florida may continue to rank second only to California in terms of depth in junior tennis, but it's not No. 2 in cranking out superstars as it used to be. There are no Chris Evert Lloyds or Kathy Rinaldis or even a Van Winitsky in this week's Americans-only tournament that has attracted the nation's best boys and girls.

Of the 72 seeded players in the three boys' and three girls' age divisions, only 12 are from Florida. A 13th would have been Miami's Mary Joe Fernandez, No. 6 in girls' 14-and-under, who withdrew because of illness. The highest seed is Fort Lauderdale's Clare Evert, No. 3 in the girls' 16.

And South Florida, which has traditionally led the state in producing talent, has only one player besides Evert ranked among the top eight seeds. That's North Miami's Amy Schwartz, who has moved into Fernandez's No. 6 spot in the girls' 14.

Two seeds from upstate were ousted in Monday's first-round play. Jeff Chambers of St. Petersburg, No. 5 in boys' 18, lost to Scott Moody of Larchmont, N.Y., 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. And Jeff Brown of Hawthorne, No. 4 in boys' 16, lost to Jim Childs of Atlanta, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6.

"Last year I predicted California and Florida would not dominate," said Seena Hamilton, director of the 16th annual Easter Bowl. "California is still kind of heavy. With John Ross of Gainesville and Chuck Willenborg of Miami Shores now in college, Florida has a lot of good, solid talent but no domination. It's always a cycle, but I don't know why."

Bobby Curtis, junior coordinator for the Florida Tennis Association and the Youth Tennis Foundation, is searching for the answer, too.

"I can't say if it's a cycle, but the last two or three years we've dropped in numbers," said Curtis. "I don't know if it's because the money isn't there to travel around the country to play in tournaments, or if the others have caught up with us.

"Our depth is as big as ever. But we have been allowed only seven players per age division in the national tournament, and this year it's only six. That's based on our number of members in the FTA."

Only the boys were in action Monday, and the top seeds advanced easily. Aaron Krickstein of Grosse Point, Mich., No. 1 in boys' 18, whipped Chris Maier of Atlanta, 6-0, 6-3; Ricky Brown of Brentwood, Tenn., tops in the 16s, downed Cortney Taylor of St. Petersburg, 6-0, 6-3; and Chris Garner of Bayshore, N.Y., breezed past Tommy Alfono of San Antonio, Tex., 6-1, 6-0.

The girls' 18 and 14 divisions begin competition today and the girls' 16 will begin Wednesday.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

BERGER LOSES FINAL, BUT WINS THE WAR
The Miami Herald
Monday, April 4, 1983
SANDY KEENAN

Unseeded Jay Berger is probably the happiest loser in the 16-year history of the Olympus Easter Bowl Tennis Tournament. He soundly lost the 16-and-under final to Ricky Brown, 6-2, 6-3, Sunday at Laver's International Resort in Delray Beach, but he earned a much bigger victory in the week leading up to the final.

At last year's Easter Bowl tournament, a showcase of the nation's best junior players, a serious injury to Berger's right knee forced him out in the second round. A doctor told Berger that he might never play tennis again.

Wrong. After surgery, and seven months of off-court rehabilitation, Berger, a 16-year-old junior at Plantation High, is defintely back. Unranked last year, he was refused entry into the Orange Bowl Tournament and barely made it into the 292- player Easter Bowl draw.

The rebuilt Berger soon proved he belonged back among the nation's best, knocking off the No. 11, No. 2, and No. 8 seeds to reach the championship match.

"I was surprised to be playing him," said Brown, the No. 1 seed, after the 80-minute final. "He was moving like a rabbit. It didn't seem like there was much wrong with his knee."

Brown, 16, of Brentwood, Tenn., controlled the match with a powerful serve (four aces) and crushing overheads, but Berger won over the South Florida crowd -- inundated with his friends and neighbors from Plantation.

"The crowd got me pumped up," Brown said. "I love it when they're against you. I enjoyed beating him in front of his own crowd."

Berger, a scrappy player partial to topspin lobs and finesse dropshots, didn't appear too upset by the loss. "Ricky played well, and I played well." he said. "He just played better than me today."

Once ranked in the nation's top 10 in the 12-and-under and 14-and-under divisions, Berger hopes to repeat the feat this year in the 16s. Two years ago, he reached the 14-and-under Orange Bowl final before losing, his top accomplishment before this week.

"I think this tournament is a little bit more meaningful
because of my rehabilitation," Berger said. "Maybe I proved to everyone else what I already knew myself -- that I am back and they better watch out."

* *

In the girls' 16-and-under final, 13-year-old Stephanie Rehe fended off Colinne Bartell, 15, in a 2 1/2-hour marathon, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Rehe, the nation's top-rated 14-and-under player from Highland, Calif., maintained a steady, unflappable pace while Bartell's play vacillated from hot to cold.

"I just tried to be too aggressive," said Bartell, a short, stocky player from Lodi, Ohio. "I had never played her before. I think she's one of the steadiest players around, and very mentally tough."

Rehe, a svelte 5-9, is coached by Robert Lansdorf, who used to instruct Tracy Austin.

"She was hitting really hard shots," Rehe said, "and I was just trying to be steady. I hung in there, and she made a lot more errors in the third set."

In the girls' 14-and-under championship match, Halle Cioffi of Knoxville, Tenn., defeated Susan Sloan of Lexington, Ky., 6-3, 7-5.

* *

The longest match of the seven-day tournament came in the playoff for third place in the boys' 14-and-under draw. Tom Blackmore of Rolling Hill, Calif., and David Wheaton, of Excelsior, Minn., played for four hours and 35 minutes Saturday before Blackmore won, 6-2, 3-6, 23-21.

In other matches late Saturday: Aaron Krickstein of Grosse Point, Mich., defeated Bill Stanley of Rye, N.Y., 6-4, 7-5, in the boys' 18-and-under final; Terry Phelps of Larchmont, N.Y., topped Leigh Anne Eldredge of Altadena, Calif., 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, to win the girls' 18 title; and Chris Garner of Bayshore, N.Y., beat Miami's Greg Levine, 6-2, 7-5, in the boys' 14 championship match.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

TWO VERY FORGETTABLE FLICKS DEBUT
Philadelphia Daily News
Wednesday, March 9, 1983
JOE BALTAKE

Regarding two of the new films that opened over the weekend, let me just say this: If I had more time, I would have been briefer:

"Spring Fever." A comedy starring Susan Anton, Jessica Walter and Frank Converse. Introducing Carling Bassett. Directed by Joseph L. Scanlan. Written by Stuart Gillard and Fred Stefan. Music by Fred Mollin. Running Time: 100 minutes. In area theaters. (Screened at the Ellisberg Cinema, New Jersey)

The print ads for this film loom as yet another message to and from middle America: It shows two bikini-clad young women dousing a not-so-unhappy stud with light beer. Specifically, they're spraying the foam in his crotch area.

I bring up this dubious ad, not because it titillated me, but because it has absolutely nothing to do with what goes on in the movie. One would be hard put to find either a beach or light beer in "Spring Fever," a throwaway comedy about a tennis tournament for teenage girls.

True, the central teen character (Carling Bassett) does get to jog on the beach, but she's wearing a sweat suit. And, yes, her show-girl mama (Susan Anton) does get to drink beer in the bar where she picks up men.

So much for beach-and-beer action in "Spring Fever" (even the title doesn't make sense!), a large part of which is devoted to the competition between the little girls in general and between the mothers (Anton and a wicked Jessica Walter) in particular. The clowning and bickering are terribly forced and, before long, "Spring Fever" seems nothing more than an extended (and endless) commercial for Nike sneakers, Dunlop tennis racquets, Bain de Soleil, Anton's teeth and her beer.

I'm not sure, however, if it's the same light beer used in the ads.

One great scene: Anton singing to herself and catty Walter slipping her a bill for her services.


"time walker." An action thriller starring Ben Murphy, Nina Axelrod, Kevin Brophy and James Karen. Directed by Tom Kennedy. Adapted by Tom Friedman and Karen Levitt from a story by Jason Williams and Friedman. Music by Richard Band. Running Time: 90 minutes. In area theaters (Screened at Budco Community, Barclay Farm, N.J.)

This movie bears a tenuous relationship to those old Mummy horror movies that were the bane of the '50s and still haunt certain TV channels on Saturday afternoons.

Its lone claim to fame, however, has nothing to do with the resurrection of a decrepit movie genre, but with its thorough lack of style. "time walker" is a veritable textbook example on how to make a horror film on the cheap - and without mirrors.

By restricting the action of his film to a college campus and by wrapping his monstrous thing in mummy garb, director Tom Kennedy had half of his film made. The remainder of it dotes on people who should know better (college profs, the police, brainy doctors) doing all the wrong things and going in all the wrong places on the misty campus.

Kennedy's mummy rises from his sarcophagus when a larky frat brother steals the five precious stones hidden in the tomb. Throughout the rest of the tilm, this "time walker" - a mummy from another galaxy - roams the campus, retrieving his stones and literally scorching the wrongdoers.

The cast is aptly flighty, risky and gabby, particularly Kevin Brophy as the fraternity house goof-off whose theft triggers the mayhem, and Nina Axelrod, a strong-willed, straight-haired blonde who gets to scream into the moonlight.

Note in Passing: I previewed "time walker" at South Jersey's Community Theater on the last day of the theater's existence. It is slated to become a restaurant. A sad farewell to yet another movie house. . .

Parental Guide: Both films are rated PG, both pretty much for their language.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

THIS 'BEACH' FLICK DESERVES TO BE BURIED
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Wednesday, March 9, 1983
Rick Lyman

The ad shows two bikini-ed women on a tropical beach pouring beer down the trunks of a grinning young man who happens to be standing on his head.

Your conclusion, Holmes?

Obviously what we are dealing with, Watson, is an insidious specimen of the soft-porn, youth-exploitation beach flick.

Wrong, Annette Funicello breath.

Spring Fever, despite what its ad may lead you to believe, is not a beach flick. It is an inept, two-year-old Rocky rip-off set in the scintillating world of preteen tennis tournaments. Somebody apparently pulled its script off a well-deserved back shelf, blew off the dust and decided another buck could be made by trying to pass it off as a springtime beach movie.

What was assembled was an unimpressive cast of TV has-beens, with the mixture spiced with dashes of jiggle-sitcom humor. It's the kind of story that thinks 12-year-olds casually dropping an obscenity are a laugh riot.

It's all about a 13-year-old named K. C., the junior female tennis champion of Las Vegas. Her mother (Susan Anton) is a showgirl, low in social status but high in parental devotion.

K. C. and Mom travel to a small condo community outside Sarasota, Fla., for the national under-13 championships. The snobs and rich creeps treat them shamefully, clucking their tongues whenever Mom bounces by; except for the number-one seed, a rich kid named Melissa, who wants to be a ballerina but who is being thwarted by her parents.

Melissa and K. C. become friends. They run slow-motion down the beach. Music plays. The sun sets, a blazing orange ball silhouetting our two young friends as they hold hands. More music.

Mom meets a reporter from the Sarasota paper (Frank Converse, of all people), and they have a brief fling that scandalizes the snobs. Melissa's nasty Mom (Jessica Walter, how could you?) accuses K. C. of stealing. Melissa is wrongly busted for cocaine possession. A nasty little girl named Bunny calls K. C. all sorts of bad names and even welshes on a bet.

And all the while you just sit there waiting for them to put on their bikinis and go to the beach. They never do.

SPRING FEVER

Produced by John Bassett, directed by Joseph L. Scanlan, written by Stuart Gillard, photography by Don Wilder, music by Fred Mollin, and distributed by Amulet Pictures; running time, 1 hour, 40 mins.

K. C. - Carling Bassett

Louis - Frank Converse

Mrs. Berryman - Jessica Walter

Melissa - Shawn Foltz

Parents' guide: PG

 

[Rollo]

A Documentary on Carling Basett:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_dW9miD3zk'

and of course one of THE most exciting matches of 1983 was the Amelia Island final-Bassett pushing Evert to the very edge of the cliff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g9SkPNWYUU

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

JAEGER DOGGEDLY CHASING NO. 1 NAVRATILOVA
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Wednesday, April 6, 1983
Steve Goldstein

Andrea Jaeger is having trouble getting her villa cleaned during this week's Family Circle Cup tennis tournament. One look at her 18-month-old Doberman pinscher, Striker, and visitors leave in a hurry.

"He's just a small Doberman," Jaeger said in defense of the fearsome-looking animal. In fact, her parents are planning to take Striker along when Jaeger starts the European segment of the women's tennis tour.

"They don't want him to stay away from me long," Jaeger said, "because he's really sensitive."

Is it true that people choose pets that reflect their own personalities? No one has ever accused Jaeger of not being ferocious enough on the tennis court, but perhaps Striker serves as a not-so-subtle reminder to the 17-year-old from Lincolnshire, Ill., that tenacity is one of her most important assets.

And tenacity is what Jaeger will need this week if she hopes to stop Martina Navratilova from turning women's tennis into woman's tennis.

In the absence of clay-court specialist Chris Evert Lloyd, the second- seeded Jaeger is one of the few players in this $200,000 tournament with a chance to derail the Navratilova express. The Har-Tru surface at the Sea Pines Racquet Club is similar to clay and hardly Navratilova's favorite, but she liked it well enough in beating Jaeger, 6-4, 6-2, in last year's final.

There are others here who could prevnt a rematch. Navratilova has Bettina Bunge, Barbara Potter and Sylvia Hanika in her half of the draw, while Jaeger has to contend with Hana Mandlikova and Tracy Austin. But Jaeger is not intimidated by Navratilova, as some others are.

Jaeger, too, knows what went wrong in 1982 and hopes she gets another chance in Sunday's final, though she would be happy to play almost anyone else.

"I think I have to be a little more patient," she said yesterday after ousting Kerry Reid, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the third round. "Last year I was really excited that I beat Chris in the semis and I went in the finals thinking, 'I beat Chris in the semis.' She (Navratilova) played well, and I didn't play my usual game."

Jaeger's usual game is to lob you to death, if the surface is slow, or bludgeon you with crisp groundstrokes. She has always been an opportunistic player, as she showed last year in moonballing the usually patient Evert Lloyd and forcing her into countless unforced errors.

Jaeger has rested the sprained ankle that forced her to withdraw from a tournament in Boston three weeks ago and may have contributed to a first-round loss to Billie Jean King in New York the following week.

"Clay's a lot easier on my legs," Jaeger said. "I went to see a doctor, and he said it would take a while for it to get better, but I could keep on playing if I wanted to. He said six to eight weeks, and I'm not going to sit around for six to eight weeks. If it hurts a little on the clay, that's still a lot better than on the carpet (indoors)."

Very little can force Jaeger to sit still. She has played a rigorous schedule since turning pro in 1980 and has moved steadily up the rankings to a firm position as No. 3 in the world.

But she also has not played an entire year without injury, and the toll tennis was taking on her body was one reason she recently considered dropping off the tour and enrolling in college. Jaeger was lured by the prospect of joining her older sister, Suzie, at Stanford. But Jaeger was worried about not liking college and not being able to play varsity tennis while there because she is a pro.

"I can always go back to college," she said, indicating that her family strongly influenced her decision to keep playing. "Once I stop playing tennis, I don't want to go back to playing.

"Besides," she said, "if I'm getting injured while I'm playing full time, what's going to happen when I take off and come back? I'll play one long match and probably be lame for the rest of my life.

"I want to play a year straight when I'm healthy."

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

CREATING A STORM A DRIVEN FATHER AND A GIFTED DAUGHTER GIVE WOMEN'S TENNIS A CONTROVERSIAL TEAM
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Friday, April 8, 1983
Steve Goldstein

The father squirms uncomfortably in his seat at courtside. He grimaces, shakes his head, mutters an imprecation in Hungarian. After the next point, he waves his right arm in a sweeping gesture and hisses something in a menacing tone to the tall blonde on the tennis court.

It is hard to believe that the player, his daughter, Andrea Temesvari, is winning the match.

The Temesvaris, Andrea, a talented player from Budapest who will be 17 later this month, and Otto, her father and coach, are creating quite a stir in the Family Circle Cup tournament at the Sea Pines Racquet Club. Not only
because of the young player's success - she has risen rapidly in the world rankings to No. 16 and yesterday advanced to the quarterfinals here by ousting seventh-seeded Barbara Potter, 6-0, 6-4. And not only because of the statuesque 5-foot, 9-inch righthander's striking attractiveness.

The attention is due in large part to the chemistry of this father-daughter and coach-player relationship, which seems to embody the best and worst of such a situation. Otto Temesvari, a former Olympic basketball player and coach (he guarded Oscar Robertson in a game at Rome in 1960), has been the sole architect of Andrea's tennis career. You can easily recognize him at courtside. He is tall, handsome, a very youthful 48 despite his razor-cut gray hair - and he always looks as if he is in excruciating pain.

Simply put, Otto Temesvari is a stern taskmaster. Even during the thrashing of Potter, the 11th-ranked player in the world, the elder Temesvari cracked a grin only once, when Andrea won a point on a fluke shot. At one point, he exchanged sharp words with his daughter. He makes Tom Landry look like Smilin' Jack.

Off the court, harsh words are forgotten.

"I feel that I'm very lucky," Temesvari said about her father's tutelage. ''But it's harder to have a father coach than a coach. A father always wants more than a coach. He's always going to tell me the truth, and it doesn't feel very good for me. When we're on the court, he's telling me something after every point."

"We have the same mentality for the sport," Otto said. "We started together, and I'm a little bit crazy about the sport. I push my attitude for her."

Said Andrea: "I'm angry a lot on the court, but I know that he wants to be with me, not against me. I know he wants to help me, but he's like this, so I can't change him."

But not everyone views this relationship so benignly.

"Temesvari's very good, she's going to be a top-10 player," said Roland Jaeger, father and coach to the third-ranked Andrea. "That is, unless her father prevents her."

No slouch in the intensity department himself, Jaeger has been known to stalk away from matches when he is displeased by Andrea's performance. Jaeger, an ex-boxer, said that ex-basketballer Temesvari is "like me, only worse."

"He doesn't want to let go," said Jaeger.

A more serious charge leveled against Otto Temesvari is that he uses hand signals to coach his daughter - an illegal practice. Players have reported Temesvari for this to the Women's Tennis Association, according to Jaeger.

Still another tennis parent, who requested anonymity, said that he became "sick to his stomach" listening to Temesvari badger his daughter and had to leave his courtside seat.

None of this should detract from the skill of Temesvari's game. Her father, she said, has taught her to "play like a man." She drives the ball hard and hits with a lot of topspin. She grew up playing on slow clay, a surface slower than the clay-like Har-Tru here, but her goal is to become an all-court player.

"To be a good player, you have to be able to play every surface," she said. "I want to show them I'm not just a clay-court player. I want to beat them."

She also prides herself on her appearance. She dresses impeccably, and her blonde hair is always encased in the Olivia Newton-John headband currently in fashion. "It's very important that you look nice," she said, displaying a keen sense of self-promotion.

In 1982, Temesvari came to the U.S. to try the pro tour full time. Within two months, she compiled a 19-7 record in eight tournaments and won a second- level tournament at Hershey, Pa. She also reached the final of the Swiss Open. This year, she has reached the semifinals of two tournaments, most recently in Oakland, where she beat Tracy Austin before losing to Bettina Bunge.

Today, her quarterfinal opponent is the top-seeded Martina Navratilova. Of her first meeting with the world's best, she said: "I just want to see how she's better than me. I want to see what I can do - how many games I can win."

Navratilova is not shaking in her tennis shoes. "Andrea's a typical

baseliner, but she puts more topspin on the ball," noted Navratilova. "She can volley, but she's not comfortable at the net. She can stay out there all day long."

The match pits a defector from the Eastern European bloc (Czechoslovakia) against a Hungarian just tasting the benefits of capitalism. Yet Otto Temesvari explained that his daughter's international travel is in no way restricted, though Andrea must return a percentage of her earnings to the Hungarian Tennis Federation.

"I'm never going to defect," she said, adding that didn't mean she wouldn't live anywhere else. But as long as there are no restrictions on her travel and she is earning enough to satisfy herself and the federation, she will remain in Hungary.

"Money is not the most important thing," she said, as her father watched her carefully. "I'm not playing for the money. I'm playing to beat the others."

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

GOOD, AS IN GOLDEN: CARLING BASSETT IS ONLY 15, BLOND AND A TENNIS PRO
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, April 7, 1983
Steve Goldstein

Her braided golden hair glowing in the sunlight, Carling Bassett body-surfs through a wave of preteen autograph hounds at the Sea Pines Racquet Club, signing her name with a flourish and an eagerness that is missing in most tennis professionals.

She has the look of newly cast gold bullion, from her blond tresses to her Ultra Brite smile and the 24-karat "#1" necklace nicely set off by her Florida tan. She has won one tournament this year, has starred in a new movie and has been featured in People magazine. Agents are fighting to sign her, and the United States Football League team her father owns is 4-1.

She is 15 years old.

"She's the luckiest kid in the world," John Bassett said recently without a hint of self-consciousness after his daughter had advanced to the third round of the $200,000 Family Circle Cup. "Touring the world playing tennis, she's been more places than I have. It's fantastic. Pretty little girl, I mean, she's got the world on a string. And she doesn't need it. Really, she's the most fortunate child I know."

This is not the story of another tennis wunderkind, though Carling Bassett should do very well in her career as a tennis professional. More than that, it is the story of a player's turning pro at a tender age and being accorded star trappings before she's even begun to travel the storied road so well-worn by Billie Jean King, Chris Evert Lloyd, Martina Navratilova and others. And of why too much may be expected of her.

Much of this has to do with her family. John Bassett of Toronto is the well-known sports entrepreneur. At various times, Bassett has had interests in the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League and in the Memphis franchise of the World Football League. Currently, Bassett is co-owner - with good buddy Burt Reynolds - of the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL.

Then there is the name. Carling comes courtesy of the family of her mother, Susan, founders of Canada's Carling brewery. The name has afforded her a blue- ribbon background, not a black label, though John Bassett joked, "What people don't know is that my wife's grandfather sold the brewery in 1922
because he couldn't pay the bills."

One of Bassett's other assets is a film company called Amulet Pictures, which produced a tennis film called Sneakers in 1981; the film features Carling with Susan Anton, Jessica Walter and Frank Converse. The distributors didn't like the title, so the film was recently released under the title Spring Fever, a turn that infuriated Bassett.

"They're selling it as a teenage sex picture," he railed, though the film is rated PG. "I'm thinking of suing the distributor for fraud." Bassett said that the film was making money but that the reviews have been mixed, with one journal calling Carling's appearance "nepotism of the worst kind."

The 5-foot, 5-inch, 105-pound Bassett appears in the film as K.C., a girl who hopes to become a junior tennis champion. Though the distributor did not change the film's content, it dubbed in a sexy voice for Carling for the promos.

In real life, Carling Bassett has fullfilled K.C.'s ambition. Prompted by her father, a former Canadian Davis Cup player, she picked up tennis when she was 9 years old, fitting it into a schedule that included skiing, horseback riding and soccer. Tennis was hardly her first love.

"I thought tennis was just one thing, hitting the ball back over the net," she said. "I liked it more as I kept playing. I was hitting the ball where I wanted to, not just trying to get it over the net."

When she turned 11, her father sent her to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Sarasota, Fla. "I thought she'd stay there a month and a half," Bassett said. "She's been there four years."

Bollettieri, who has trained many women at his academy and such male stars as Chip Hooper and Jimmy Arias, honed his new pupil's game to perfection, making her an aggressive player who is comfortable on all surfaces. The familiar two-handed backhand became a staple, as did a bullish, determined temperament that often has her muttering on the court.

"When I stay quiet," she said, "it's like I have no fire to win."

In her first year in Florida, Bassett reached the semifinals of the under- 12s event at the prestigious Orange Bowl tournament and soon won both singles and doubles at the USTA 12s-and-under nationals. At 13, she won the singles and doubles of the Canadian 18s-and-under nationals, and in 1981, she finished sixth on the International Tennis Federation's junior world rankings, the youngest player ever to be included in the top 10.

Last year, Bassett again won the Canadian nationals and took the singles title at the Orange Bowl. She finished the year ranked as the second junior in the world, and she promptly decided that she had accomplished everything she could as an amateur.

On Jan. 3, 1983, Carling Bassett turned professional, complete with a management firm, ProServ Inc. of Washington, D.C., that is busy lining up promotional contracts for her. On Feb. 20, she won her first tournament, the
Ginny of Hershey, Pa., one of the second-level tournaments in the Virginia Slims championship circuit.

A steady rise in the rankings enabled her to join the main tennis circuit. ''Darling Carling," as she has become known on the circuit, quickly became a media darling as she scored some impressive wins, making it all the way to the final at Palm Springs two weeks after winning at Hershey. She climbed all the way to number 45 in the rankings.

In her first-round match here Monday, Bassett defeated Rosalyn Fairbank of South Africa, ranked 17 in the world. On Tuesday, with both her father and her mother looking on, she ousted Switzerland's Petra Delhees. Today, she must face Bettina Bunge, seeded fourth in the tournament, but Bassett said she felt no pressure.

"There's no pressure unless you play a player ranked below you," the teenager remarked.

As she perceives matters, her goals are simple. "I just want to do well and play until I'm 25 and accomplish a lot and not play tennis and get married and have kids," she said without taking a breath.

"I really don't have a tournament I want to win more than anything right now," she added. "I just want to get as far as I can in every tournament. I don't want to have a great tournament and then a bad tournament. I want to keep improving and not be erratic."

It sounds simple enough, this being a professional. Yet while she is signing autographs at courtside, Mark McCormack of the International Management Group is waiting to have a word with her father. "He's an old friend," Bassett explained, but the simple fact is that McCormack was hoping to persuade the Bassetts to defect from ProServ.

It is all happening very fast for Carling Bassett, who has never known anything but the fast lane.

"If somebody's going to give her a whole lot of money over the next few years to wear things she wants to wear anyway, why not do it?" said the elder Bassett of professionalism and the pro circuit.

"It's the same game (as the juniors)," he said. "She might as well play against the best and reap the rewards. She has to be goal-motivated anyway. She said she wanted to ranked in the top 50 by the end of the year, and here it is April and she's already in the 40s. She's won one tournament and reached the finals of another.

"The first time we'll have a problem is if and when she has a slump. She's never had a slump, just gone from plateau to plateau. In the slang expression, she's been on a roll since she's 10 years old."

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

NAVRATILOVA STRUGGLES BY TEMESVARI
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Saturday, April 9, 1983
Steve Goldstein

Perhaps Martina Navratilova is human after all.

Or perhaps Andrea Temesvari has arrived much sooner than expected.

Temesvari, 16, of Budapest, Hungary, yesterday played the match of her young and extremely promising career, coming close to doing what what has become well nigh impossible: beating Navratilova, the world's best female tennis player.

A lapse of concentration by Temesvari while serving at 4-4 in the third set under a steady drizzle enabled Navratilova to prevail, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-4, and advance to today's semifinals of the $200,000 Family Circle Cup against Bettina Bunge.

In the other semifinal, Andrea Jaeger will meet the winner of the match between Tracy Austin and Manuela Maleeva, which was halted by rain with Austin leading, 6-3, 1-0, and will be completed this morning.

A packed stadium crowd of 4,500 at the Sea Pines Racquet Club gave Temesvari a standing ovation at the conclusion of the 2-hour, 15-minute thriller. It was the second such tribute paid the blonde Hungarian, the first coming after she had won the second set.

Why the reaction? Perhaps because it was only the second time this year that a player had taken a set from Navratilova, who has won 27 consecutive matches in 1983. In fact, Navratilova, 26, has lost only three of her last 120 matches.

If Temesvari's play unnerved Navratilova, the ovations were salt on No. 1's wounded psyche, and she was testy and graceless in the postmatch interview.

"Who the hell cares if I beat Temesvari?" said Navratilova. "I mean, most people don't even know she is. The only way I can make headlines these days is if I lose."

Rather than credit Temesvari with gutsy, skillful play on the clay-like Har-Tru surface, Navratilova criticized her own performance.

"She's a tough player, but I can't play like that and expect to win the tournament," Navratilova declared. "I played too much not to lose today. Maybe I was too much like Houston against N.C. State. I can dunk, but I wasn't going for it. I should play to win."

Navratilova never got comfortable on the court against the righthanded Temesvari, who rates clay as her best surface right now. Temesvari hits the ball extremely hard and with a lot of topspin, which kept Navratilova in the backcourt. The favorite's approach shots were short and weak, giving Temesvari excellent chances to pass Navratilova, which she did when she wasn't hitting outright winners from the baseline.

An early spell of unforced errors by Navratilova gave a hint of what was to come. At 5-5 in the first set, Temesvari wasted a break point against Navratilova that would have left the Hungarian serving for the set. But in the tie-breaker - only the third Navratilova has had to play all year - it was no contest, with Navratilova winning five straight points from 1-1.

Many players crumble after losing a tough first set, but not Temesvari. With her father, Otto, shouting encouragement - and some other things - Temesvari won 12 of 14 points and the first three games of the second set. She had a break point for 4-0, but Navratilova employed the best drop shot in the game to come back and hold serve. Then Navratilova won the next two games to even the match.

"I lost three straight games because I was thinking about winning the set," Temesvari said later. "I was nervous in the last two sets."

But a turning point of sorts came when Temesvari held serve in the seventh game from 0-30. Navratilova was clearly agitated, muttering to herself, waving her racket angrily and even directing an exasperated comment to her friend Nancy Leiberman at courtside.

In the 10th game, some loose play by Navratilova gave Temesvari a set point, which she cashed in with a brilliant forehand passing shot. A roaring crowd rose to its feet.

In the final set, Navratilova broke serve in the third game for a 2-1 edge that stood until the eighth game, when Temesvari broke back.

"Give it away, why don't you," Navratilova fumed.

But in the next game, Temesvari double-faulted, made two forehand errors and a backhand error to give Navratilova a service break and the opportunity to serve out the match. Temesvari saved two match points, but Navratilova
closed her out with a slashing backhand volley winner.

"Maybe If I concentrated a little better at 4-4 on my serve, I would have won," said Temesvari. She said she became impatient and tried to win the points too quickly.

Temesvari said she was surprised how well she played against Navratilova, but only because she didn't know what to expect in their first meeting. Temesvari became tired, but never lost her sense of humor, while Navratilova looked uptight the whole match.

"She's always like this," Temesvari said of Navratilova's behavior. ''She's No. 1, so maybe she thinks that no one can beat her. But I know she tried more and more to beat me because she was angry."

Temesvari was not happy with the loss, but said she learned something from losing, and that can only help her. "I can be in the top 10 this year, I hope," said Temesvari, who is No. 16 and rising fast.

And most people will soon know just who is Andrea Temesvari.

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

AUSTIN OUTLASTS JAEGER
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Sunday, April 10, 1983
Steve Goldstein

Tracy Austin, who has been desperately seeking to rejeuvenate her tennis fortunes for more than a year, yesterday found a bright silver lining in weeping gray clouds as she upset Andrea Jaeger to reach the final of the $200,000 Family Circle Cup.

Austin, 20, and Jaeger, 17, whose baseline styles mirror each other, waged a war of attrition through intermittent rain for 2 hours, 25 minutes before a jubilant Austin triumphed, 7-5, 7-5.

Today's final at the Sea Pines Racquet Club will pit Austin against an old nemesis, Martina Navratilova. As expected, the tournament's top seed had little trouble eliminating Bettina Bunge, 6-2, 6-3, in an hour and 9 minutes.

For Navratilova, today brings her 11th consecutive tournament final, the possibility of extending her win streak to 32 matches and a chance to swell her already bulging coffers by $34,000.

For Austin, today brings an opporunity to renew a brilliant tennis career that has gone awry. First injuries, then a romance with tennis player Matt Anger, have seemingly derailed the fire-belching Austin Express. Austin won only one tournament in 1982, in San Diego Aug. 1, and she has come up empty in 13 since that time. During that period, her ranking has fallen to No. 4, the lowest it's been since 1978.

Austin last beat Navratilova, 26, in December 1981, and Navratilova holds a 19-13 career edge. Their match today will be on clay, a surface on which they last met in their first match, in 1977.

"This would be my surface to beat Martina on," Austin said as she reflected on her victory. "She better know that she has to stay out there all day, because I'm willing to.

"I'm not worried," Austin added. "She's got all the pressure on her."

It was a remarkable day's work for Austin, who first had to complete a rain-postponed quarterfinal match against Manuela Maleea of Bulgaria. Leading, 6-3, 1-0, when play resumed, Austin won five of the next seven games in 32 minutes to resolve matters. The victor than had about 90 minutes rest before she had to go out and do battle against Jaeger.

Hours later, as Austin came off the soggy clay court after beating Jaeger, a spectator commented to her coach, Robert Lansdorp, that he hadn't seen such fire in Austin's eyes for a long time.

"I swear to God," Lansdorp replied, "neither have I."

Jaeger, however, was not particularly impressed with the level of Austin's play, saying that she lost only because she failed to take advantage of Austin's errors. And she had a prediction for the final.

"Tomorrow," said Jaeger, "if Martina plays well, it's going to be close to a kill."

Jaeger's mood was almost as dark as the clouds before the match. She was irritated by the rain, which began falling precisely when the first ball was struck, and was further annoyed that her match with Austin had to be played on an outside court at the same time Navratilova and Bunge met in the stadium.

Tennis, of course, is not meant to be played in the rain. But a national television broadcast dictated that the show go on. The Navratilova-Bunge match was actually halted for 10 minutes, while Jaeger and Austin played continuously.

So piqued was Jaeger by the weather and the scheduling that after she lost the first set, she refused to allow the match to be moved to the stadium, where Navratilova already had mopped up Bunge.

Jaeger had four game points to make it 6-6 and send the first set to a tie- breaker, but she wasted those chances with errors. Austin failed to capitalize on the first set point, but Jaeger provided a second chance and then dumped a forehand into the net on the ensuing point.

In the fourth game of the second set, Austin avenged an earlier service break to make it 2-2. She accidentally hit Jaeger with a soft shot on the final point, but no amount of apologizing could placate Jaeger, whose feathers were clearly ruffled to stay.

In the long ninth game, Jaeger wasted a break point that would have given her 5-4, serving for the set. Serving at 5-6, Jaeger fell behind by 15-40 on a double-fault and a forehand error, then lost the match with a wide backhand. Austin clenched her fist and looked heavenward in triumph.

A gratifying win? "It really was," said Austin. "I'm glad I was really patient. I felt like I was really concentrating well, not just playing two good points and then a loose point. I wanted to get a good match like this under my belt."

Last year, Jaeger was trounced by Navratilova in the Family Circle Cup final. One reason for that, Jaeger said, was that she wasn't sufficiently psyched, having upset Chris Evert Lloyd in the semifinals.

Would the match with Jaeger dim the Austin fire?

"I think," said Austin, a glint in her eyes, "I can get up for tomorrow."

 

[Ms. Anthropic]

BORG LOSES FINAL MATCH TO CONNORS
The Philadelphia Daily News
Monday, April 11, 1983
United Press International

Jimmy Connors, the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, outserved and outslugged Bjorn Borg yesterday to deal the retiring Swedish tennis superstar a 6-3, 6-4 defeat in his final professional match.

Connors, who defeated South African-born American Johan Kriek Saturday to advance the finals of the $250,000 exhibition series, collected $110,000 in first-prize money. Borg got $70,000.

A record 14,500 fans jammed the Yoyogi indoor stadium in Tokyo to watch Borg play out his farewell match after a magnificent 10-year career that made him a five-time Wimbledon champion and the winner of 61 pro tournaments.

The 26-year-old Swede, who played his last official tournament in Monte Carlo, Monaco, last week, has said he would hang up his racket after Tokyo and will not play tennis anymore except for fun.

In the first match of the day, American John McEnroe, who yielded to Borg Saturday, defeated Kriek, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3, for third place and pocketed $40,000 in prize money.

Japan's Crown Prince Akihito and his wife, Michiko, avid tennis players, led the crowd in cheering on the retiring champ.

To the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" played by a visiting U.S. Navy band, organizers of the match presented a bouquet of flowers to Borg and his wife, Mariana.

As the capacity 14,500 crowd cheered on, Borg kissed his wife, and the two walked around the court amid thunderous cheers from the jammed gallery.

Borg said he was retiring because he couldn't recapture the competitive edge that once made him the undisputed world champion.

"I can't put all the effort into the game anymore," he said. "I don't enjoy it as much anymore."

He said he chose Japan as the venue of his last public match because he likes it here.

"I enjoy coming to Japan, and this was the only chance I had to come here this year," he said.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Martina Navratilova relaxed after a mistake- filled first set yesterday to defeat Tracy Austin, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0, for the championship of a $200,000 women's tennis tournament.

Navratilova, who has won seven consecutive tournaments and 32 consecutive matches, won $34,000 for the singles title. Austin, appearing in her first title match of the year, took home $17,000.

Navratilova also extended her string of consecutive victories to 47 in doubles competition, teaming with Candy Reynolds to defeat Andrea Jaeger and Paula Smith, 6-2, 6-3, in the doubles final.

The tourney is known as the Family Circle Cup.

"Once the first set was over, I was more relaxed," Navratilova said. "I wasn't at any stage thinking I was going to lose the match. It was just a matter of settling down.

"In the first set, I was controlling so many points, but she was winning them because I would make errors."

Austin, who at 20 is six years younger than Navratilova, said she was tired by the third set and unable to concentrate.

"There was a lot of emotion involved as well as the physical part of it," she said. "I wish I could have kept concentrating."

HOUSTON - Top-seeded Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia defended his title and took the $100,000 prize yesterday at the $300,000 River Oaks International Tennis Tournament with a straight-sets triumph over unseeded Paul McNamee.

Lendl, the first person to defend his title successfully in the tournament since Rod Laver in 1961 and 1962, defeated the Australian, 6-2, 6-0, 6-3.

McNamee, winner of $32,000, had trouble with an inconsistent forehand, committing 36 errors, 22 of which were long, and totaling 52 errors in all.