Tennis: Forget fights colour blind

SO MANY aces were served here a year ago that the court is blushing. It has also slowed considerably. Gone is the slick 'Supreme' carpet, on which Goran Ivanisevic helped himself to 105 free points in five matches, to be replaced by a medium-paced 'GreenSet', which is more the colour of Bordeaux wine.

Injury has prevented Ivanisevic from returning to defend his title at the dollars 2.25m ( pounds 1.56m) Eurocard Open, but Richard Krajicek, who recorded the fastest serve on the ATP Tour last year (132mph on a rubberised concrete court at Indian Wells) is among the competitors chasing a first prize of dollars 355,000.

Krajicek opened yesterday with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Sergi Bruguera, making amends for a straight-sets defeat by the Spaniard in Milan last week (Bruguera went on to lose to Boris Becker in the final). Krajicek produced 10 aces and served with power throughout the match, though the speed of his deliveries was a question of guesswork.

This is one of the many tournaments not using the IBM radar gun, a point which tends to devalue the fast-serve statistics. Some players, notably Jim Courier, the world No 1, find the system a distraction, while others, such as Krajicek, believe it helps ('I can look to see how my second serve is going, and when it's better than I thought it gives me peace of mind').

Most would acknowledge that the timing device adds to the enjoyment of the crowd and occasionally flashes up a gem. Ivanisevic, for example, delivered the slowest serve last year: 37mph. This was in his match against Mark Woodforde at Wimbledon, during an interlude of light relief when both players switched their racket to the non-serving hand.

Speed is pointless without accuracy, and it is not only the pace of indoor courts that helps the big- server. There is no wind to disturb the toss of the ball, enabling players to swing into a consistent rhythm.

Guy Forget, the joint second- fastest server last year (131mph at Wimbledon), believes there is another reason why serves are difficult to return indoors. After advancing to the second round with a 6-1, 6-4 win against Magnus Gustafsson, the Frenchman discussed the problem of seeing the ball against a multi-coloured background, including perimeter advertisements.

'It is very difficult when you cannot pick out the ball,' Forget said, sounding rather like a batsmen asked to face Curtly Ambrose without a sight screen. 'At the big outdoor tournaments, the backstops are of a single dark colour and you can see the ball clearly. I think this is one of the reasons why Agassi was able to return so well against Ivanisevic in the Wimbledon final.'

The spectators here have certainly seen more of the ball in play than last year, and the tournament is a sell-out and is covered by television from mid-morning until late at night. Not that everybody is entirely satisfied.

Ion Tiriac, the promoter, was not impressed with last year's coverage when the event coincided with the Winter Olympics and has divided the television rights. Two public service channels, ARD and ZDF, agreed to pay DM3.6m ( pounds 1.53m) over five years to screen play until 8pm.

Their cameras and crews will continue to transmit the pictures for the night sessions, which Tiriac sold to a satellite station, DSF, for DM300 per minute. Faces dropped when Tiriac informed the public service companies that Becker wanted to play his opening match last evening. Not that the former Wimbledon champion played particularly well; indeed, he struggled against the finesse of Henri Leconte, a wild card entry, serving 10 double faults before squeezing through 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.

A new scheme has been launched to help British juniors. Players of both sexes aged 13 and under and 17 and under will take part in qualifying tournaments at 10 of the Lawn Tennis Association's Indoor Tennis Initiative centres. The winners will compete in finals at the Nottingham Tennis Centre on 10 and 11 July, the weekend after the Wimbledon finals. The event will be sponsored by Girobank.

James Baily, the 18-year-old from Hampshire who won the boy's singles title at the Australian Open last month, suffered his second defeat in seven days when he lost 6-4, 7-5 to Cuba's Juan Pino in the first round of the LTA satellite tournament in Bramhall, Manchester, yesterday.