Tennis: Bates the defender

JEREMY BATES, the British No 1, broke off from his Wimbledon preparations at the rain- drenched Direct Line Insurance championships yesterday to answer criticisms that tennis was devoid of characters and its top performers motivated solely by greed.

Concern about the game's health has been voiced from two respected quarters. Boris Becker, the three-times Wimbledon champion, has stressed that his fellow professionals must treat the court more like a stage and aim to entertain, while Sports Illustrated, the influential American weekly, claimed recently that tennis players were 'selfish'.

Bates disagreed with the magazine's allegations. 'It's totally unfair to say the players are greedy and selfish and don't give anything back,' the 31-year-old said as he waited in vain for the weather to improve at a bedraggled Beckenham. 'There are so many players now that there are a lot more characters. When a person is performing in the final of a major tournament you can't blame him for focusing his attention on trying to win just because he doesn't smile all the time.

'The argument is not new. People used to say Ivan Lendl was dour on court but you ask any of the professionals and they will tell you he's the funniest guy around off the court.'

Bates, the world No 93, who had his semi-final against Australia's Wayne Arthurs held over until today, was not over- enamoured by the great entertainers of popular memory. 'Connors, Nastase and McEnroe are the most quoted examples. Where is the personality you are talking about of these people? Nastase and McEnroe were the worst behaved people on court. So was Connors, although he is not remembered as much for that as the other two. Does that constitute a personality? Does that constitute entertainment?

Andre Agassi, who possesses the natural flamboyant talent to don Nastase's multi- coloured mantle, presented a dilemma for tennis, Bates argued. 'Agassi is a great entertainer, everyone says. But he's (ranked) about 25 in the world. What do you want? From a marketing and sponsors' point of view he's the hottest thing out there.'

Bates's eloquent defence of the modern game and its myriad practitioners also included Britain. 'The restructuring going on here has made it a nice environment to be in. The communication from all people (from LTA to players) has improved dramatically as a result. Changes are easier to make.'

Any improvement should be boosted by Wimbledon later this month. 'Last year was very good,' Bates said. 'We will have a maximum of 10 Brits in the draw this time and there's definitely a chance that we can all win some matches.'

Yesterday's women's final at Beckenham was moved indoors to the Surrey Tennis and Country Club, Croydon, where Kerry-Ann Guse, of Australia, defeated South Africa's Dinky Van Rensburg, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6.