Heat, booze and noise await N.Z. players

Press, 27 February 1984, Page 36

Heat, booze and noise await N.Z. players

By

JOHN BROOKS

New Zealand has found itself jumping from the frying pan into the fire as the result of its Davis Cup tennis loss to Paraguay in a world group first round tie at Wilding Park at the week-end.

In order to preserve its place in the elite group of the top 16 nations, New Zealand will have to beat another first round loser, Ecuador, in the Ecuadorean capital of Guayaquil in late September. And by all accounts, that is an assignment which will make even the gut on Chris Lewis’s racket tremble. The authorities for this particularly appalling piece of news are the Paraguayan players, Victor Pecci and Francisco Gonzalez, who lost their abbreviated reverse singles matches against Lewis and Russell Simpson yesterday after establishing an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the NEC sponsored tie on Saturday. “We tried very hard to win this match because we did not want to go to Ecuador,” Gonzalez said, con-

vincingly. There was an uneasy stirring among the members of the New Zealand media, and Gonzalez was asked to elaborate.

“Well, for a start, it is very humid and it is hot. In fact, it is always hot. The equator runs through the country at Quito —that's why they call it Ecuador. There’s also a problem for visiting players with the high altitude. “Then, there’s the crowds — they are really bad. They get drunk on beer and rum and coke. You make a double fault and they bring the stadium down.

“The spectators in Ecuador are knowledgeable about tennis, but they make a lot of noise and don’t worry about the players’ concentration.”

As if that was not enough, Ecuador possesses one of the world’s leading players in Andres Gomez, a towering left-hander who stands 1.96 m in his sneakers and has Ivan Lendl’s scalp, among others, dangling from his belt.

A big server, not lacking in determination, and a

gifted doubles player as well, Gomez is reputed to have one of the most awesome forehands in the game, and he blasts it with topspin from any place in the court. His sidekick is Ricardo Ycaza, who, at 26, is probably not as sensational as he was in his best junior days. He beat John McEnroe in the final of the 1976 United States junior open, and repeated the dose against “the Brat” in the 1977 W.C.T. junior invitation final. “To beat Gomez will be hard — he will probably make two points” (meaning he should win both his singles) Gonzalez said. “But Lewis will beat Ycaza and New Zealand could possibly take the doubles as well. So the outcome could depend on the match between Simpson and Ycaza.” Both Pecci and Gonzalez agreed that playing Ecuador on clay in Ecuador would be a tough task. They have tried it themselves in the past — and failed. The New Zealand captain, Jeff Simpson, greeted the news about Ecuador guard-

edly. Clay courts, heat and high altitudes were all matters which would require careful study before New Zealand started its preparation, be said.

Both Lewis and Russell Simpson would probably be available for the Ecuadorean tie. “I don’t believe Russell has ever been there. Chris has been there three times — and doesn’t particularly like playing there.”

After their triumphs of the previous two days, the Paraguayans lacked the killer approach in their reverse singles, and both were beaten in two sets in matches lasting less than an hour.

For Simpson and Lewis the brief proceedings provided some compensation for the loss of the tie. As a morale booster for the trip to Ecuador, however, the benefits were doubtful.

Results were: Chris Lewis (New Zealand) beat Francisco Gonzalez (Paraguay), 6-3, 6-4; Russell Simpson (New Zealand) beat Victor Pecci (Paraguay), 6-3, 6-3.