Tennis. event in trouble

Press, 4 January 1988, Page 15

Tennis. event in trouble

NZPA-AAP Brisbane Organisers are frantically applying patches to a leaky “ultimate” tennis challenge at next week’s extravaganza opening of the Sanctuary Cove resort on Queensland’s Gold Coast. They were yesterday defending the “ultimate” tag, pointing out that the challenge still has the world number one, Ivan Lendl, and the eighthranked Yannick Noah playing. The project’s manager, Bob Barnard, confirmed, however, that South African-born Kevin Curren, himself a replacement player in the field, was the third player to pull out of the six-man challenge, one of the feature events of the multi-million dollar January 6 to 10 opening. Mr Barnard said Curren, ranked 36th in the world, had a back injury which would sideline him “for some time.” Curren is expected also to withdraw from the Ford Australian Open in

Melbourne. He came in as a replacement for the world number five, Boris Becker, who withdrew with a knee injury, as did the powerful Czech, Miloslav Mecir, world number six.

An American, Paul Annacone, ranked 32, steps in for Curren, leaving the final six at Ivan Lendl, Yannick Noah, Joakim Nystrom, Slobodan Zivojinovic, Annacone, and New Zealand’s Kelly Evernden, ranked 37. Evernden, who entered the tournament to replace Mecir, is also in doubt, carrying a forearm injury after the BP International in Wellington. He returned to Brisbane yesterday, planning to have immediate treatment with a physiotherapist, Col O’Brien. Queensland has been a successful hunting ground for Evernden, who won the Commonwealth Bank Queensland Open here last year and lost the final of the same tournament two years ago to Annacone.