Tennis : Tournament Offers Shot at Big Time

Can you handle Ivan Lendl’s forehand? Pat Cash’s first serve? John McEnroe’s tantrums? Want to find out?

Almost 200 players, from as nearby as Studio City and as far away as China, will compete in a tournament at the Racquet Centre in Universal City on Tuesday for the opportunity to answer that question.

The five-day tournament is called the Wild-Card Pre-Qualifying tournament for the Volvo Tennis/Los Angeles tournament, and it is just as confusing as its name.

The top 16 players receive a bye into the round of 32 while 180 players compete in a draw to narrow the field to 16.

The top two finishers from the 32-player draw then advance to the Volvo Tennis/Los Angeles Qualifying tournament Sept. 17.

From that two-day tournament, four players will advance to the Volvo Tennis/Los Angeles tournament Sept. 19, where they could face Lendl or Cash or McEnroe.

That makes the wild-card tournament at the Racquet Centre a qualifying tournament for a qualifying tournament for the main tournament.

“Pretty complicated, huh?” tournament host Bill Rombeau said.

The Southern California Tennis Assn. has sponsored the wild-card event to give local players a chance to compete in the Volvo tournament, the most prestigious professional tournament in Southern California.

Most of the wild-card entrants are either college athletes, local players, top-ranked juniors or pro circuit players who were not invited to the Volvo tournament.

A non-ranked player would have to win eight matches in the first tournament and three in the second before advancing to the main event.

No wild-card player has advanced to the main tournament. However, Todd Nelson of San Diego, who played in the qualifying tournament two years ago, is now ranked 85th in the world.

“There are some very serious people that are in this tournament fully intent on qualifying and making the qualifying tournament,” Rombeau said. “The tournament is for all those Walter Mitty types.”

Tournament time: The third leg of the six-tournament Chrysler LeBaron series will be held this weekend at Cal State Northridge. Approximately 150 players will compete in 10 divisions during the three-day “Salute to Labor” tournament.

The divisions include men’s A, B+, B, C and D singles; women’s A singles; men’s B+, B and C doubles; and a combined B+ and B mixed doubles.

The tournament starts Saturday at 8 a.m. and the finals are Monday at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.