Tennis / Lisa Dillman : Rostagno Moving Up in the World

Day after day, announcer Cliff Drysdale piqued the curiousity of ESPN’s audience during the International Players Championship last week in Key Biscayne, Fla.

“I would say that Derrick Rostagno is the real story of this tournament,� said Drysdale during the early rounds.

And that was that. No details about the person behind the name. No funny stories or anecdotes. Nothing.

Which left us wondering, who is Derrick Rostagno?

Then, while watching Rostagno receive a four-set lesson from sixth-seeded Jimmy Connors in the quarterfinals, viewers learned from Drysdale and friends that Rostagno is a former Olympian and yet another former Stanford student on the tour. They also realized after he had taken the second set from Connors that he has a strong all-around game.

The night before he played Connors, Rostagno talked about himself and other topics in a telephone interview.

As it turns out, his having played in the Olympics--he was a member of the four-man U.S. Olympic team in 1984 when tennis was a demonstration sport--was in keeping with a family tradition. His late grandfather, Juan, represented Argentina in pistol shooting during the 1936 and 1948 Olympics.

“It was great,� said Rostagno, who lives in Brentwood. “I wanted to keep it in the family. We like to tease my father about breaking the string.�

In 1984, though, there was little clue that Rostagno would someday be on the verge of breaking into tennis’ top 50.

Rostagno, now 21, had suffered through an injury-plagued freshman year at Stanford that season. A bicycle accident curtailed his progress and nearly prevented his trying out for the Olympic team. His sophomore year was better, but he was stuck at No. 3 singles behind talented teammates Dan Goldie and Jim Grabb.

So, Rostagno left Palo Alto.

“The tennis was fun, but I felt like something was missing,� he said. “I really wanted to finish my tennis career before it was too late. I could always go back to school later.�

At first, it looked as if later might come sooner. At the end of 1985, he was ranked 420th. Within nine months, though, Rostagno reached No. 66.

For him, 1987 has started quickly. At the Australian Open, he was one service break from reaching the quarterfinals. The round-of-16 result and victory over top 20 player Brad Gilbert in Melbourne lifted him to No. 59. In Key Biscayne, Rostagno was scheduled to play second-ranked Boris Becker in the first round. But he advanced when Becker fell victim to the flu and no other qualifier signed up.

His reaction to the event was odd. While some players would consider it tantamount to winning the lottery, Rostagno was upset that he couldn’t play Becker, tour officials said.

“I still feel bad about it because it would have been great to play him,� Rostagno said. “Then again, in a way I wouldn’t be here. But I’m confident I could have given it a good fight. If I had been able to play Becker it would have been a thrill to play a big name.�

The opportunity to face a name finally arose after he had beaten Richard Matuszewski, Amos Mansdorf and Robert Seguso in the earlier rounds. Before playing Connors, Rostagno said the outcome wouldn’t matter as much as how he played.

One might say Rostagno looks at things differently from his colleagues. Part of this is by design.

For one thing, there is no entourage around him. “Just me by myself in this hotel room,� he said. “I don’t mind being alone. I like it that way.�

There is no full-time coach or management agency in the picture. Rostagno’s father, Juan, offers him advice by phone during tournaments, and Pancho Segura provides occasional guidance.

An agent? Rostagno has previously said no, thanks. Now, though, with his upward mobility, that could change, although reluctantly.

“I’ve always prefered to do things by myself,� he said. “I’m talking to some people, but right now I don’t have an agent.�

Perhaps another reason for his different outlook is an experience in March of 1986. After winning a $10,000 satellite tournament in Mexico, Rostagno was scheduled to fly home after making a connection in Mexico City.

Instead, he decided to play a circuit event in Mexico City and didn’t take the continuing flight. The plane he would have been on crashed about 20 minutes after takeoff, killing everyone on board.

Every so often, he thinks about that day. “At first, I didn’t think much of it,� he said. “I just thought it was good I didn’t take the flight. But now and then I think that I may not be here at all. I think about how short life can be for some of us. You just don’t have much say in the matter.�

There isn’t a formal name for the newly formed team of Mike Estep and his charges, Stephanie Rehe, Carling Bassett and Elise Burgin. They haven’t decided where to train between tournaments, either, but the trio of players and coach Estep have formally agreed to work together for at least a year.

Borrowing a page from the Swedes’ book, the players will train together with Estep and attend tournaments en masse. The next stop for Team Estep is Dallas.

Rehe, a 17-year-old from California, is ranked No. 19 and Bassett is No. 23.

In judging how successful the association could be, one merely needs to look at Martina Navratilova.

With Estep, she won 10 Grand Slam singles titles as well as 12 in doubles and 4 in mixed doubles. The post-Estep era hasn’t been so kind. Navratilova has lost twice in her last two tournaments, once to Hana Mandlikova at the Australian Open and to Steffi Graf at Key Biscayne last Thursday.

Tennis Notes

The UCLA women’s team moved up to No. 3 in the country in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. poll after defeating No. 2 Miami and No. 4 Trinity. The Bruins (12-0) will play fourth-ranked rival USC at the L.A. Tennis Center March 14. California, No. 6, and San Diego State, No. 8, are the other two top 10 women’s teams from California. . . . USC continues to hold the top spot among the men. UCLA, which also will play the Trojans March 14, is tied with Georgia for No. 3. Cal State Long Beach made its debut in the top 10, moving into a tie for No. 8 with Tennessee. Other men’s teams from California include Pepperdine, No. 10; California, No. 13; UC Irvine, No. 19, and Stanford, No. 20. NCAA runner-up Richey Reneberg of SMU is the top-ranked singles player, just ahead of USC’s Luke Jensen. The margin between Reneberg and Jensen is four-hundredths of a point.