Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 5, 1992 TAG: 9203050156
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MARC STEIN LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
"There's only one way to play the game now," he said. "If you can hit the ball hard and get it in, you might win. If you can hit it hard and it hits the fence, then you come back and play one of your other 35 tournaments."
In what amounted to a trashing of technology, Connors spent several minutes after his 6-4, 6-4 win over Italy's Cristiano Caratti in the first round of the $1.075 million Champions Cup offering one of the most candid assessments of the sport you will hear.
"Something's going to have to be done, or a lot of people are going to lose interest," Connors said. "And that stadium is going to be half-full, and that's not going to be any good.
" . . . There should have been some view inside that said, `Hey, the bigger the rackets are, the harder they can hit the ball and the more boring it's going to get.' "
It was Connors' rally-filled match with Caratti that reminded him of the all-court style that has kept the ageless master in tennis for 20 years.
He said it was a "pleasure to play someone like that." The strokes they traded for 97 minutes are rare on a hardcourt in the age of the speed-of-light serve.
But when Connors was asked about the effect of widebody rackets on the sport he continues to embrace, the five-time U.S. Open champion went off.
"We are the professional players in this game," said Connors, who turns 40 on Sept. 2. "We should be able to, which we were, to use a wooden racket with a very small sweet spot, and be able to hit the ball and play the game the right way.
"Those [widebody] rackets are good for the club players. It lifts their game a little bit and they have more fun. . . . That's for them. This is not for us. We are supposed to be the best at it. We don't need any more advantages. It's like golf, you don't give them square grooves. They hit the pin anyway. You want them to hit a hole-in-one every time?"
Connors also assailed the ATP's ranking system, which allows players on the men's tour to enter as many events as they choose, with only their 14 best results counting toward their placement on the world ladder.
"Since when does walking out on a tennis court not mean anything?" he said. "I play 13 or 14 tournaments. Some guys play 35 tournaments, so that allows them to go out and just swing freely and not really care if they have a bad week, or two weeks, or five weeks or 10 weeks.
"I think they've gotten themselves trapped in a corner. What can you do? How would you like to play Manute Bol, who is 7-foot-7 and would just stand there and pound balls down? That's what the game's going to go to."
Throughout tournament director Charlie Pasarell's two-week festival of tennis at Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, power's place in the sport has been analyzed.
Several retired stars competing in an ATP Senior Tour event - including Australia's Rod Laver, Fred Stolle and John Newcombe - have suggested lowering ball pressure. The possibility of slowing court surfaces also has been raised.
To discuss possible alterations and the impact of high-tech equipment, a "Speed of the Game" conference has been scheduled for March 20 in Florida, with players, coaches and other "tennis people" expected to show.
David Wheaton, who is ranked No. 13 in the world and followed Connors in the interview room after beating Wally Masur, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), will be there.
"There's no such thing as a fair hardcourt anymore," said Wheaton, who favors modifications in racket specifications. "They're so one-sided toward the baseline players.
"You can slow down three things: the courts, the balls or the rackets. Basically, the court is a bad [choice] because that is so hard on your body. Right now, my hips and my knees are killing me after playing on courts that are like sandpaper. [And slowing down the balls] doesn't really work too well because then the ball is heavier and puts more strain on the arm.
"It would be sad to see a player's career being shortened by doing things to the court and the balls."
Connors, whose career would figure to last longer were he to face less power, admits that he hasn't deduced a solution. Actually, he really hasn't tried.
"No matter what I sit down and say, they're not going to listen," Connors said. "So why tax my brain with it?"
by CNB