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First Pro Tennis Tournament I Ever Covered
No comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
Was in July 1992 at Mahwah, NJ at the Crossroads Corporate Complex on Route 17. The women’s exhibition was called The Pathmark Tennis Classic and it was promoted by John Korff.
Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati were the two featured stars who both earned six figure appearance fees for playing three matches.
At the time I was just a rookie part time reporter for the Daily Record newspaper in Morristown, NJ – I had a syndicated interview feature in that paper three days a week and it allowed me to attend the Pathmark Classic every day with a media credential.
The event was a lot of fun. Arthur Ashe was there for a Safe Passage Clinic and if I remember correctly Agassi played an exo too. Musical acts included The Beach Boys. I actually did a Biofile with Arthur Ashe!
I still remember some of the players names who I did Biofile interviews with – Jennifer Santrock, Peanut Louis Harper, Barbara Potter, Robin White, Audra Keller, Camille Benjamin, Tami Whitlinger.
Mary Joe Fernandez dropped out after hurting her hip flexor during the first game of the second set. Mary Joe statement to media: “I felt my hip flexor pop when I hit a backhand. With the Olympics ten days away I was hesitant to keep playing.”
A couple of snapshot memories stand out. Sitting in the stands of the stadium watching one of the O’Reilly triplets from nearby Ridgewood, NJ vs Italy’s journeywoman player. I watched with Mr. O’Reilly who shared some insights about the game which I did not understand at all back then as a non-player. The Italian was on the baseline and O’Reilly was behind it which allowed the Italian to control the points. She won in straight sets. We talked about my budding Biofile career which he warned me that the big powers of tennis and media “would chew you up and spit you out.” Which was sort of prophetic as later after years of pitching to NY Post, they stole the idea and gave the column to one of their columnists Serby over twenty years ago – and he’s still doing it today though it’s an imitation and not nearly as good as my Biofile.
Seles played Capriati in the final and I remember Seles politely thanked the ballkids every time they gave her a ball to serve. She was the only player to do this. The media had unfavorably portrayed Seles in a somewhat negative image due to her grunting tendencies at Wimbledon which I found quite contrary – she was very nice and very pretty too.
At the press conference after the final I asked Seles about her interest in a future acting career and if she would like to go to a movie that night? She said acting was possible for her future after tennis but she couldn’t accompany me to the movies because she was flying him to Florida that night.
Seles wins Pathmark
MAHWAH, N.J. — Monica Seles withstood a late challenge to beat teenage rival Jennifer Capriati 6-1, 6-4 Sunday in the final of the $150,000 Pathmark Tennis Classic.
Seles, the top seed, won in 71 minutes, reversing a straight-set loss to the 16-year-old in last year’s final.
Seles, the world’s No. 1 woman player, earned $20,000 to go along with a reported appearance guarantee of $275,000. Capriati received $14, 000 plus a $200,000 guarantee.
The tournament, in its 15th year, is an exhibition and not part of the women’s tour.
Capriati, the No. 2 seed who is ranked sixth in the world, never got in front after losing her serve in an opening game that lasted 22 points and eight minutes.
‘That was the longest game that I have ever played,’ said Seles, who won on the fourth break point when Capriati netted a forehand.
Seles, 18, took advantage of second serves to lace outright return winners. Capriati had a 59 percent first-serve accuracy.
‘I should have gotten in more first serves,’ Capriati said. ‘She likes to munch on my second serves and slam them down my throat.’
The second set went on serve to 2-2 and Capriati held a 0-40 lead on Seles’s serve in the fifth game. Seles won the next five points and then broke in the sixth game to ignite a run of five service breaks that ended with the favorite closing it out in the 10th.
‘That fifth game was important,’ Seles said. ‘I was lucky to come back that way because I really needed that game.’
Capriati will next represent the United States at the Olympics. Seles plans to take off a few days and then watch the Olympics on television. She will not play for Yugoslavia because she did not participate in the 1991 Federation Cup, an eligibility requirement.
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