THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240642
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SERIES: Olympics '96
From Atlanta
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: 71 lines
The Olympics need tennis about as much as Andre Agassi needs a hair brush.
Not that tennis is exactly wrapping its arms around the Summer Games.
After riding two MARTA trains and a bus, I arrived in the piney woods of Georgia in time to hear a former gold medal winner suggest that the Olympics are almost too much of a bother.
``Two weeks ago, I was thinking it was not the best solution for me to play in the Olympics,'' Marc Rosset, the men's tennis champion at the '92 Barcelona Games, said Tuesday,
Not the best solution to defend a gold medal?
``The Olympics,'' he conceded after advancing to the second round over a Moroccan, ``are a very big thing. But on the other side, you have to play for your ranking, for your career.''
A check of my English-to-tennis dictionary tells me that what Rosset actually was saying: an appearance at the Olympics may not be worth a third-round victory at the U.S. Open.
In truth, tennis is an odd fit for these Games. The tournament being run at the attractive Stone Mountain facility feels more like a tour greedfest than a quadrennial festival.
No athletes have less to gain from the Olympics than the tennis players, not even the U.S. men's basketball mercenaries, who are being rewarded for their participation by footwear companies and pretzel makers.
If patriotism is the lure, tennis has the Davis Cup, played every year. Or in the case of the women, the Federation Cup.
You could put together a great tournament with the men who are not here. Pete Sampras sent a note from his doctor. Also missing, mostly for reasons having to do with indifference, are the current male champions of Wimbledon, France and Australia.
Steffi Graf is another who sent her regrets. She will play hurt at Wimbledon, but not at Stone Mountain.
Tennis' rich and famous are faxing a message: They can take or leave the Olympics.
Fortunately for this tournament, and for the U.S. effort, Monica Seles is sending out different vibes.
``I've never experienced anything like this,'' she gushed after her first-round, straight-sets victory over China's Li Chen. ``I never played in front of a crowd that was so into a match from the very beginning.''
Maybe no athlete here, from any sport, is so into the Olympics as Seles, a U.S. citizen two years now. A millionaire several times over, she brings the immigrant's zeal to the Games.
Most of America's best-known athletes will not sleep a night in the Olympic Village. Not even the women gymnasts. But Seles, rich enough to buy her own hotel, is happy to move in with the unknown fencers, field hockey players and swimmers.
``There's nothing like it,'' she said. ``Meeting all the best, that's part of the Olympic experience. Although it's true, I haven't run into any of the big ones in the village.''
Not unless you count Muhammad Ali. Eating dinner one night, Seles looked up and saw Ali taking a stroll past the dormitories. She ran outside and gave him a hug.
If Seles still carries psychic scars from her attack by that knife-wielding German fruitcake, she hasn't brought them to the Games.
``My life before the stabbing, but especially after,'' she said, ``is all about enjoying different adventures. My emotions here are very different than at a Grand Slam. I love the team spirit part.''
This is not the jaded voice of tennis speaking. It is the sound of an athlete who is giving as much to the Olympics as she is taking. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Monica Seles... by CNB