WIMBLEDON TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS : Lendl Slips on Grass Again--Becker to Play Edberg for Men’s Title

WIMBLEDON, England — The mystery of Ivan Lendl, the best player never to win Wimbledon, deepened Saturday when he, you got it, failed to win again.

Lendl was sent packing over the course of a two-day semifinal match with Boris Becker, another case we’ve yet to solve. And so Wimbledon moves on to a final that’s only mysterious if you consider Stefan Edberg more familiar than subatomic physics.

What an odd tournament. The quarterfinal produces a concussive match between defending champion Pat Cash and Becker. The semifinal offers up Lendl and Becker. And now, losing its intrigue match by match, Wimbledon today gives us Edberg-Becker. The draw may not have been lopsided in terms of talent, but how did all the big names end up on top?

Things we know about Edberg:

--Though a wealthy Swede ($4 million in his young lifetime), he has chosen London over the traditional Monte Carlo homesite.

--He is blonde.

--He came back from two sets to love in the semifinal to beat Miloslav Mecir but said no big deal, he did it once before in the Australian Open.

--Though just 22, he has won the Australian Open (when it was still on grass) twice.

--He is unlike other Swedish players in that he serves and volleys.

--He tells Norwegian jokes (Q. Why did the Norwegian take sand paper into the desert? A. Because he thought it was a map.)

--Swedish laugh riot aside, he is the quietest third-seeded player ever to enter Wimbledon.

Edberg prefers things the way they are. He says, “I would rather not be known by anybody, but if I win the final I think that would change quite a lot.” Edberg, who claims to shop unobserved at Harrod’s, may come to be recognized as he moves from department to department. As in: “Isn’t that . . . “ The name escapes you.

Well, at least there’s Becker, which is more than this tournament had last year at this time. Becker, who won this tournament twice as a teen and then (now this is precocious) lost it back as a teen, is considered too young to be a has-been. But rededicated at 20, he has stormed through the tournament. Until his semifinal match with Lendl, he had not lost a set.

And he wouldn’t have lost that, except for a blunder in Friday evening’s tiebreaker. Everybody knows, you let Lendl into a tiebreaker, he wins it. Lendl said he’s been in 10 so far this tournament, but this was his last. Becker, with a good night’s sleep after the match was suspended by darkness, raced through a final set, shutting down Lendl, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.

That match, finished Saturday before the women’s final, was twice interrupted by rain as London sailed through one of its weather dioramas, four seasons in a day. There would be sunshine, then autumnal chill, than a November drizzle and the stands would bloom colorfully with umbrellas. Then the dreaded tarp.

Not much tennis was played, or needed to be played. Becker was doing his imitation Steffi Graf, hurrying through games. Here’s how it went: Play was suspended at 1:26 p.m. and resumed at 2. Becker served one game, won it, and play was suspended again at 2:01.

Through all this, Lendl, who has won every Grand Slam tournament but this, struggled heroically, hobbling around on a left leg that was shrouded in about 100 yards of gauze. When he won a game, it took 13 minutes and required the saving of four break points. The match’s last game, and too bad we didn’t time that, was typical of his courage and his ultimate failure here. He came back to save five match points on his serve before finally giving up the sixth when Becker fired a rocket back at him from the net. Lendl, correctly, ducked.

Poor Lendl has now lost three semifinals and two finals here, which hardly befits a man of his (top) ranking. Thus the following question: “Why are you struggling on grass courts?”

Never mind that a lot of players would like to struggle like Lendl, here is his answer: “It’s because of the way my game is set up, with aggressive ground strokes and not coming to the net until later in the rally. On grass courts you can’t do that because the bounce is uneven and you have to come in immediately.”

The other possible answer is that he must sometimes play Boris Becker. Lendl has not lost his cheer. “Of course, I’m disappointed right now,” he said. “I thought I played better this year than last year, so I’m sure, when I look back at it, I’m not going to be as disappointed as last year. But on the other hand, I thought I was a bit closer this year than last year.”

Lendl is 28, so if he gets closer each year (and Becker retires), he can someday win this thing.

Becker was having such an easy time of it, he could afford to drop back and talk to a lineswoman on match point. “I was asking her what return I should hit,” he said. “She said she didn’t know either.” Lendl aced him. Ha-ha.

Becker, though he admitted that he and Lendl did not begin the match with great tennis (“very tight, not good tennis”), looks to today’s match with Edberg.

“I’ve played him in two finals this year (WCT Dallas and Queen’s) and I’ve beaten him,” Becker said. “I think I’m mentally a bit stronger than he is. But that (five-set) game from yesterday is going to help him a lot. I think Stefan is a better player on grass than Ivan is. Ivan doesn’t feel comfortable with volleys and things like that, so Stefan is a very good player on grass and has beaten almost everyone on it.”

That’s the other thing to know about Edberg: He beats almost everyone.