Colorado Springs Gazette-Telegraph du lieu suivant : Colorado Springs, Colorado • Page 15

Pro Tennis Seems Bent on Suicide Tuesday, Dec. 14, 1976 Gazette Colorado Springs, Colo. HOUSTON (AP) Big time tennis, says Lamar Hunt, is a a horror agrees Jack Kramer. I firmly believe in the long run our system will game has grown so tremendously it takes a lot of tournaments to absorb the players and to meet spectator he says. Stan Molless, president of the U.S.

Tennis Association, says, true we need tighter don't see any war. Promoters are still putting up money for the tournaments. We are drawing good crowds. From the standpoint, great. the Tennis seems bent on suicide.

It is on a course. Give it a couple of years more under present conditions and it will self-destruct. The powerful men in the game are at each throats. They are glutting the markets with tournaments. Prize money is phenomenal, but public interest is lagging.

The television networks, which have been saturating the screens with tennis matches are taking another look. A sharp TV cut- down has been ordered for 1977. The deplorable state of tournament tennis was reflected here last week in the Grand Prix Masters, a $5 million enterprise aimed at selecting the best tennis players in the world. The climax of a series of tournaments throughout year, it advertised itself as the of the It was supposed to bring into final combat the Open champion Jimmy Connors, Wimbledon winner Bjorn Borg, Adriano Panatta of Italy with his French and Italian crowns, flashy Illie Nastase and others. It was perbowl.

Connors, although third in the qualifying lineup, declined to play. Borg and Nastase failed to show enough interest to qual- $200 CASH REBATE ON PONTIAC ASTRES Colorado Quality Oaalar. STIVE JOHDSOfl PONTIAC GMC JEEP 1250 South Nevada at Wide TracK Bivd 475.1155 ify. Panatta also make it. So, insofar as determining the champion of champions was concerned, the it produced sparkling was a total dud.

The year 1977 is expected to be even more inconclusive as multi-millionaire Lamar Hunt, proprietor of the World Championship Tennis circuit, goes head to head with the Grand Prix. The latter is the establishment tour sanctioned by the International Lawn Tennis Federation and blue-printed by Jack Kramer, the onetime great who nursed pro tennis through its growing pains. The current war actually is a personal feud between Hunt and Kramer, who have been at bitter odds since tennis went open in 1968. are trying to run us out of want us to dry up and go says Hunt, owner of a $2 billion oil fortune who doesn't dry up easily. Keep in mind that it was Hunt who bankrolled the American Football League and forced a merger with the NFL.

dont care what Lamar insists Kramer. wants to run a contract operation. control players and use them in 14 man selective tournaments. Our concept is more like the golf tour. We set up tournaments with double that field and let the guys play where and when they wish.

objections to is that we think his plan gives enough players a chance. Also, we object to the fact that he wants to run taped shows in competition to our regular tour- During the past few years Grand Prix group reached an accommodation with Lamar, permitting the WCT to control the first four months of the season and the Grand Prix holding sway the rest of the year. For 1977, however, with a soap company replacing a giant insurance firm as the financial angel, the Grand Prix set up a 12-month, 75-tournament package of $8.5 million. It was like a slap in the face to Hunt. Hunt countered by signing Connors, rated the No.

1 player, to a four-year exclusive contract and also signing six other members of the top 10, including Borg, Nastase, Manuel Oranies and Panatta. This set up rival tours, which now also must compete with World Team Tennis, a summertime franchise operation which draws heavily on available talent, and the influx of mini tournaments, usually four-man exhibitions involving name stars and set up by player agents such as Mark McCormack of Cleveland. Officials on both sides of the battle lines regard these informal events as the chief threat to the tournament game for the players. They are quick, pay well and create minimal pressures. good for the says Kramer, who also opposes WTT.

only hope is to get the players themselves to discourage them for the good of the game. As it is, the players are completely free of controls, even from their own players association. They can do what they Barry MacKay, former U.S. Davis Cup ace who promotes the $125.000 Fund tournament in San Francisco, recognizes the dangers. able to get any of the four top players this he says, referring to Connors, Borg, and Nastase.

had one of those four-man tournaments set up in Caracas, arranged, I think, by an agent. figure it cost me around $40,000. With this proliferation of official and unofficial tourna ments, its just a question of how long sponsors will continue putting up big money when they be certain of getting the big names. Tournament tennis is, as Hunt says, a polyglot. The women have a single tour, headed by Chris Evert, and it continues to pack gate appeal.

But the men's tournament schedule has become a hazy mish-mash with leading players so scattered in their loyalties and tournament selections that fans are constantly confused and bored. Taped television shows have added to the confusion. Husker Aide Takes Washington St. Post STARTING SOON! EbcJCetotjark eimcs Delivered to your Door ON SUNDAY call 635-0484 details on SA for Christmas 21 oz 29c Fishing Lures Buy 1- Comet Cleanser, 14 01 .19 1 FREE at pric. Pup Tents, good cond.MO00 Army Surplus Brake Fluid, 12 oz OIL Gun Racks, Constant Comment Tea.39c 10 bag boi PEPSI, 8 pack, 16 oz.

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Seven colors. PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) Warren Powers, University of Nebraska defensive backfield coach, announced Monday he has accepted the head football coaching post at Washington State University. The position is the first head coaching job for Powers, 35, The Kansas City native played defensive back for the Oakland Raiders of the old American Football League for six years. Powers, in his eighth year as a fulltime assistant at Nebraska, replaces Jackie Sherrill, who one week ago announced his resignation to coach top- ranked Pittsburgh.

will take over as soon as my duties are done at Powers told a news conference. Powers said he will help the Cornhuskers prepare for their Dec. 31 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl game with Texas Tech, then travel to Pullman shortly after that. Powers said his coaching Saints Sinned, Says Newland NEW ORLEANS (AP) Bob Newland, a former wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League, filed an $876.000 damage suit Monday, charging his former team with breach of contract. Newland said he signed a contract through 1977, but claims in the federal court suit that the Saints refused to pay him for the last two years of the contract.

He also charges that the club breached the contract by failing to provide proper medical care for a knee injury he suffered during the 1974 season. He seeks $126,000 in back wages and $750,000 for knee damage that he claims resulted after he was told he could play out the 1974 season without aggravating his injury. staff remains to be chosen. in the process right now of talking with each coach at Washington State he noted. Powers said he left Nebraska of the opportunity to come here to Washington State University.

always wanted to be a head Powers, who graduated from Nebraska in 1963, played offensive and defensive halfback for the Cornhuskers for three years before becoming a pro. State has a tremendous nucleus of fine football Powers said. would not have taken the job if 1 hadn't thought I could do the job for Yukon Tent Stoves Oil Lamps, full Wood burning Reg. S19 95 anS globe. WIN AT SURPLUS CITY Enter name and address at bottom and bring in to our store 2409 W.

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