Tennis Lendl ponders grand prix circuit future

Press, 20 October 1987, Page 39

Tennis Lendl ponders grand prix circuit future

By ROBERT WOODWARD NZPA-Reuter Sydney Ivan Lendl may quit the grand prix circuit if he is not allowed to cut down his appearances. Lendl, who beat his Wimbledon conqueror, Pat Cash, in the final of the Sydney indoor tournament, said that he needed more time to practise to maintain his position as world No. 1. “For the last nine years I have not been able to work on my game, I have played tournaments. To stay number one I need to improve because the young guys are not going to get worse,” he said. Lendl said that he almost decided to qualify for the tournaments he planned to compete in next year rather than commit himself to the grand prix circuit. But the M.1.P.T.C., the circuit’s ruling body, had acted swiftly to help remove this possibility, he said. Under present grand prix rules players in the top 10 select 14 tournaments in which they must play. "For next year I applied and was granted permission to commit myself to 12 rather than 14 on the basis of my contribution to the game,” said the French and U.S. open champion. “Then they will hopefully

pass a rule which says for each year over 10 on the circuit you can reduce your commitment by one. "I’ll have done 11 years so I’ll be down another one tournament. “But if it doesn’t pass this I will have to think about not committing myself to the grand prix and play less.” Lendl said that ideally he would to play the four Grand Slam events, the International Players’ Championship at Key Biscayne in Florida and five other events. But he denied he was planning a Bjorn Borg style

retreat from the game. ■ "I can’t understand the pressures that drove Borg out. I like playing, I enjoy playing, but I also like the time off when I can work on my game,” he said. “Tennis gives me pleasure but training gives me even more pleasure — my problem at the moment is that I have more fun practising on my own court than travelling round the world. “I think I could retain my No. 1 position with less tournaments because if you win two or three Grand Slam tournaments, you are No. 1.” Lendl said his one remaining goal was to become the third man to win the Grand Slam of all four main tournaments. "Winning the Grand Slam is something unbelievable, to do that would top anybody’s career. “The other thing, if I can’t do that, is to win all four titles throughout my career and hopefully I can make the first step towards that during January.” The Czechoslovak believes next year could be his year as his game is nearing its peak. "I can get better from my present standard, there are plenty of areas for improvement but if I play well I think I can beat everyone.”