Lendl

WIMBLEDON, England -- Because of Ivan Lendl's obsession to win his first Wimbledon title, he has become a favorite here. Every year he receives fan mail wishing him well. The only mail he will get after yesterday is sympathy letters.Unseeded American David Wheaton's 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 victory over No. 3 seed Lendl in the third round of the 105th Lawn Tennis Championships marks Lendl's earliest exit in a Grand Slam since 1981.It was the only major upset of the day as Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Guy Forget, Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Navratilova, Zina Garrison and Jennifer Capriati advanced.

Ivan Lendl spent so much time on the golf course toward the end of his Hall of Fame tennis career that some wondered which sport he enjoyed more. Lendl's love for his new game was passed on - eventually - to the oldest of his five daughters. At 14, Marika Lendl has the same lanky build as her famed father and an even better handicap. Eventually, she hopes to make as big a name for herself on the course as her father, an eight-time Grand Slam event titlist who won 94 tournaments worldwide, did on the courts.

COMMACK, N.Y. -- Stefan Edberg held off Jimmy Connors in three sets, and Ivan Lendl rallied past Omar Camporese, as the top two seeds advanced to the semifinals of the Hamlet Challenge Cup yesterday.Connors, 38 and ranked No. 195 in the world, made Edberg, ranked No. 2, work for every point before losing, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Lendl rallied after losing the first two games for a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory.In another quarterfinal at the Hamlet Golf and Country Club, qualifier Olivier Delaitre of Luxembourg beat Thierry Champion of France, 6-4, 6-4.Fourth seed John McEnroe used pinpoint accuracy and a commanding serve to overpower Luiz Mattar of Brazil, 6-3, 6-1, in the last quarterfinal match last night.

BANKSVILLE, N.Y. -- Ivan Lendl, who made such a religion of physical fitness that he overcame a shortage of tennis talent and transformed himself into the No. 1 player in the world for a record 270 weeks, announced his retirement yesterday.Alternately misty-eyed and jocular as he held court off the court at the Grand Slam tennis facility he owns here, Lendl, 34, said he finally had succumbed to the back problem that was diagnosed as facet joint syndrome last March. The condition manifested itself in crippling back spasms during many of his matches this year.

COMMACK, N.Y. -- Ivan Lendl ended a six-month victory drought just in time for the U.S. Open, defeating top seed Stefan Edberg, 6-3, 6-2, in the Norstar Bank Hamlet Challenge Cup yesterday.Lendl, who had been slow in recovering from surgery to his right hand in May, needed 1 hour, 21 minutes to dispose of Edberg, ranked second in the world.It was the fifth Hamlet title for Lendl, who was cautious about what the victory might mean for his chances in the U.S. Open, which will begin today."Winning breeds winning," said Lendl, ranked fifth in the world, his lowest position in 10 years.

FRANKFURT, Germany -- Pete Sampras, mixing powerful serves with delicate passing shots, beat Wimbledon champion Michael Stich, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), in the ATP Tour World Championships yesterday.Ivan Lendl beat Jim Courier, 6-2, 6-3, to go 2-0 in the event and virtually assure a spot in the last four. Courier, the top seed and the No. 2 in the world, dropped to 1-1.Guy Forget beat Karel Novacek, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), to maintain his chances of reaching the semifinals.The $2.25 million year-end event pits the top eight players in the world.

PHILADELPHIA -- Ivan Lendl gathers his emotions, holds them closely inside and guards them like a fierce lion protects his cubs.And so it was a surprise yesterday that Lendl, after he'd struck a forehand against Pete Sampras that practically left smoke trails behind it, a forehand that might have left skid marks on the blue carpet, pumped his right fist and exploded with a resounding "Yes!"Lendl finally let himself get excited. The three shots that followed were aces -- his 21st, 22nd and 23rd.

PHILADELPHIA -- Mark Woodforde walked out of the Spectrum into a snowstorm exactly the way he came in: a virtual unknown.Had it been Andre Agassi, Jim Courier or one of tennis' other glamour names, he probably would have needed security to get past a line of squealing fans. Woodforde, 27, who arrived in town without fanfare at No. 41 in the world, is used to obscurity.Even if he happened to be leaving as champion of Comcast U.S. Indoor Tournament. But his greatest individual moment in a 10-year career was somewhat tainted.

PHILADELPHIA -- The machine. It was always the unflattering term used to denigrate the tennis talents of Ivan Lendl.He was the robot brought to life on a tennis court, a bloodless, programmed performer who mastered the serve and the groundstroke and won through sheer repetition. If it rained, a joke went, Lendl would rust.Only in recent years, when age and a new generation of power hitters made him vulnerable, has Lendl's greatness been appreciated. The machine became human, his qualities of steadiness and control were celebrated, his indestructibleness was the measure of his resolve.

PARIS -- Ivan Lendl said he supposes his game will come around again. But when?It didn't at the French Open on Friday, where Lendl lost in the second round to Jaime Oncins, a 21-year-old unheralded Brazilian.In Lendl's first appearance on the stadium court at Roland Garros Stadium since his memorable loss to Michael Chang in the 1989 fourth round, he squandered a chance to win in the fifth set and lost, 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 8-6. The match had been halted by rain Thursday with the deciding set tied, 5-5.Lendl's slide in the world ratings began on these red clay courts two years ago, when Chang, then 17, rallied from a two-sets-to-none eficit.

NEW YORK -- He looks young out there, standing straight and tall on the baseline. The eyes are still cool and calculating under the brim of the white cap that shaded him from the sun on Stadium Court at the U.S. Open.But at 34, Ivan Lendl, the man who held the No. 1 ranking for a record total of 270 weeks in the prime of his career, knows the sun is setting.His game can come and go at any moment. He knows it. His opponents know it. And the fans who gathered to watch him play yesterday know it.But it was still painful to watch one of the game's greatest players come apart, blow by blow.

NEW YORK -- Play it again, Ivan.Despite a terrible 1993, Ivan Lendl, invincible of yore but lately incapable of clinging to the Top 10 where he once held court an epic 615 weeks, has vowed to return to the tennis circuit for at least one more full season of singles competition."

WASHINGTON -- Ivan Lendl, the No. 1 seed at the Newsweek Tennis Classic, changed his shirt three times, his racket twice. He transferred at least a pound of sawdust from his right shorts pocket to the handle of his racket, and he wiped the sweat from his body with a large white towel between nearly every point.Lendl was sweating yesterday, and it had as much to do with Robbie Weiss, the 134th-ranked player in the world, as it did with the afternoon sun. Weiss was relentless as he eventually ran Lendl, ranked No. 6 in the world, into the ground, 2-6, 7-6 (7-6)

WIMBLEDON, England -- Ivan Lendl arrived quietly yesterday morning, getting out of his car in front of the players' entrance, looking neither right nor left.He certainly didn't look at the fans lining the ropes at the entrance. And for their part, the fans didn't seem to expect him to. No one even called his name.Without a smile or wave, Lendl disappeared into the cavern that is the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for what would turn out to be one of his most disappointing days.At 33, he is the tournament's oldest entry, and time is short for Lendl's tennis career.

PHILADELPHIA -- Mark Woodforde walked out of the Spectrum into a snowstorm exactly the way he came in: a virtual unknown.Had it been Andre Agassi, Jim Courier or one of tennis' other glamour names, he probably would have needed security to get past a line of squealing fans. Woodforde, 27, who arrived in town without fanfare at No. 41 in the world, is used to obscurity.Even if he happened to be leaving as champion of Comcast U.S. Indoor Tournament. But his greatest individual moment in a 10-year career was somewhat tainted.

NEW YORK -- For a night and part of a day, he was the "new" Ivan Lendl, the Grand Old Man of American tennis, the people's choice, the wild and crazy serve-and-volley guy who shrugged off match points with guts and heart.And then he lost.Same old Lendl.Yesterday, in the resumption of a dramatic U.S. Open quarterfinal interrupted two minutes past midnight by a misty rain three games into the fifth set, Lendl and No. 2 seed Stefan Edberg of Sweden battled for nearly an hour to a taut, terrific tiebreaker.

WASHINGTON -- Ivan Lendl received an American flag and a ticket into the quarterfinals of the NationsBank Classic last night at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.Lendl, who became a U.S. citizen on July 7, dispensed with Jim Grabb, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), and then walked off the court with the flag in hand.Lendl, seeded third, took control of the match early when he broke Grabb in the third game of the first set. Then, up 4-1, Lendl hit a rocketing forehand cross-court passing shot off a Grabb second serve and Grabb double faulted, giving Lendl his second break of the set."

NEW YORK -- It was the Greatest Day of Tennis -- the sequel.Four men's matches. Nineteen sets. More than 13 hours of wall-to-wall drama at the U.S. Open.And it was only the fourth round.Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl, Michael Chang and Wayne Ferreira were the winners of this long day's journey into night at the Open.It was tennis for the city that never sleeps and it took place on the eighth anniversary of Super Saturday, Sept. 8, 1984. Back then, the headliners were McEnroe, Connors, Cash, Lendl, Navratilova and Evert.

NEW YORK -- It was the Greatest Day of Tennis -- the sequel.Four men's matches. Nineteen sets. More than 13 hours of wall-to-wall drama at the U.S. Open.And it was only the fourth round.Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl, Michael Chang and Wayne Ferreira were the winners of this long day's journey into night at the Open.It was tennis for the city that never sleeps and it took place on the eighth anniversary of Super Saturday, Sept. 8, 1984. Back then, the headliners were McEnroe, Connors, Cash, Lendl, Navratilova and Evert.

NEW YORK -- Michael Chang hits the stadium court, and the place clears out. He hangs around the baseline like some teen-ager at a mall, turning matches into marathons, trying the patience of his opponents, the audience, even the television networks.But, suddenly, the mystery guest who is signed in as the No. 4 men's seed is beginning to make some noise at this U.S. Open. He may be 5 feet 8, with a chest no wider than the face of his racket and a serve that rarely clicks three digits on a radar gun, yet it's the second week of the last Grand Slam of 1992, and Chang is still a contender for a title.