Lendl cleans out Cash

Press, 1 December 1987, Page 68

Lendl cleans out Cash

NZPA-Reuter West Palm Beach, Florida Ivan Lendl defeated Pat Cash in the final of the SUSI million stakes match tennis exhibition yesterday and collected SUSSBMM — the biggest single payday in tennis history. The top ranked Czechoslovak needed four games in the best-of-five format to beat the Australian Wimbledon champion 11-21, 21-18, 217, 22-20, sending Cash home penniless. Lendl and Cash had qualified for the final by amassing more money than Sweden’s Stefan Edberg and the American, John McEnroe, after two days of round-robin competition. Each player started out with $250,000 and played the others twice with money changing hands on every , point and at the end of every game. During the qualifying, aces were worth $2600 and double faults cost $2OOO. Each time a. ball was hit in a rally another $2OO was added to the value of the point and the player who won it collected from his opponent’s stake. For the final the dollar values were doubled. In addition, the first game was worth $30,000 the second $60,000, the third , $90,000 and the fourth $120,000. Because of the bizarre format, Cash ended up with no money and Edberg and McEnroe, who failed to qualify, kept the money they had left at the end of round-robin play. McEnroe, who finished dead last in qualifying, walked away with $182,000.. “I feel a little sympathy for him,” Lendl said of Cash. “It’s hard to play like this and take home nothing. But we all knew this could happen. When I think about Wimbledon I don’t have sympathy anymore,” said Lendl, who lost the Wimbledon final to the Australian.