Evert admits she's rusty
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from August 1989.
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"I'm rusty," said Evert, 34, who lost 6-4, 7-5. "I haven't played a tournament in six weeks. "I paid the price of not having played a match since Wimbledon. It's uncharacteristic of me for the past 18 years not to have been in every point. That's one of the reasons why I'm retiring."
Evert, seeded third, credited Minter with "playing a great match." "She really won that match, I didn't lose it," she said. "I'm disappointed because I had hoped to get a few matches under my belt before the U.S. Open." "I had nothing to lose," said Minter, 26, who ranks No. 41 in the world. "It was an honor to play her once again before she retires, and I just made the best of the situation."
When Evert walked to the court a spectator handed her a bouquet of red roses. During the warm-up, she was applauded loudly twice and several times during the two-hour contest fans yelled, "Come on Chrissie." Minter said she was not distracted by the partisan crowd of about 6,000.
"I knew that they would be for her. I just tried to block it out," she said. "I feel sorry for her. I know she wanted to go out on a good note." In earlier matches, French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez, seeded fourth, beat Jo-Anne Faull in straight sets and No. 7 Hana Mandlikova was eliminated by unseeded Jana Pospisilova.
Sanchez, a 17-year-old Spaniard, beat the Australian Faull, 6-1, 6-4, while Mandlikova fell 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 to Pospisilova of Czechoslovakia. Canadian Helen Kelesi, the 9th seed, disposed of Regina Rajchrtova of Czechoslovakia, 6-1, 6-2.
The Player's Challenge is played on a hardcourt surface similar to next week's U.S. Open and Sanchez said her goal is to improve on last year's quarterfinal loss to America. ican Zina Garrison.
No. 15 seed Sylvia Hanika, from West Germany, held off American Shauna Stafford, 6-2, 7-5, and Austrian Barbara Paulus eliminated Britain's Clare Wood, 6-2, 6-3.
Mandlikova, 27, a Czech who now lives in Australia, said her legs felt "heavy" and that she felt weary during her loss to the 19-year-old Pospisilova.
"I don't really think she won the match, I think I lost it," Mandlikova said. "I was tired. I've played four weeks in a row. That's not an excuse. She played good."
Pospisilova, through a translator, said she felt jittery in the first set playing against her former compatriot.
"It's a special case because Hana is for a long time a great star in Czechoslovakia," Pospisilova said. "For all young Czech players, she's a great tennis star."
