The Week Magazine....Sports

EVEN as American star Richey Reneberg withdrew from the Gold Flake Open ATP tour, there was something to cheer about. Chennai-boy Mahesh Bhupathi was give a wil card entry to the subcontinent's only official ATP tour. Bhupathi was playing the Lipton Championships in the US when he was informed by the tournament director Brian Cooney.

"I am excited to be part of the first tournament in the city," said the overjoyed Bhupathi who will be joining Leander Paes, Gaurav Natekar, Sandeep and Nitin Kirtane to form the Indian line-up. This will be Peas's last chance to win a direct entry for the French Open.

Although Reneberg was forced to quit the Lipton Championship after he injured his left foot playing against Argentina Gaston Etlis, there are many other big names who will be fighting it out for the total of 160 ATP points that is up for grabs in Goldflake India Open. Leading the pack is the reigning Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek,25, one of the biggest names in the sport.

Malivai Washington, the American who lost to the Dutchman at Wimbledon, Swedish World number 8 Thomas Enqvist and Australian Pat Cash are some of the other stars who will see action at the state-of-the - art Nugambakkam stadium.

"I look out for every opportunity I get to play Richard. To pay him back for Wimbledon," joked Washington. "Seriously though, I am sure it will be fun in Chennai. I know it is a strong tournament and there is a lot of important ranking points and prize money to be won."

A world series event on the ATP tour, 58 international players -will be participating in the $430,000 Gold Flake Open.Although the locals fans will be rooting for Paes and Bhupathi, defending champion Enqvist could be the real draw. The tall quiet Swede has been playing some wonderful tennis lately. He produced some of that style in the Davis Cup final last December.

The Tournament holds another allure. Six weeks after the Gold Flake ATP tour ends the French Open starts. This gives players one of the last few opportunities to gain the necessary points for a direct entry into the Grand Slam. Otherwise they would have to play tough qualifying rounds. "So this tournament takes on a lot of importance," said Ravi Krishnan tour manager.

The ATP tour is played in just 34 countries and there are only 53 world series events in the entire circuit. Incidentally, the Chennai Open is one of the 26 events in the world to be played on hard court. "And being an official tournament, players stand to gain computer points that will help their world ranking. In the same way, prize money from this tournament will be added to a player's career earning, " said tournament director Cooney. It's open sesame, as they say.

Mixed bag

FOR Olympic medallist Leander Paes this year has been a mixture of triumphs and defeats, but mostly first or second round turn-offs at major competitions.

He has come nowhere near emulating his class act at Atlanta. Soon after the Olympics Paes lost to a little known Italian, Bolducci, in their confrontation in the singles qualifying round of the Gujarat challenger. In September, however, he made it to the finals of the Madras Challenger and reached the second round of the qualifiers for the Heineken Open (another ATP world series event) in Singapore.

His ranking then fell from 143 to 155.This February Paes was named the best Asian player along with China's Cheng Li for 1996-97 by the Asian Tennis Federation.He defeated the 110th ranked South African Marcos Ondruska 6-4,6-4 in the second and final qualifying round to make it to the $2,050,000 Newsweek Champions Cup ATP Tour event at Indian Wells, California,in March but lost in the first round to Dutch Scheng Shalken.

Paes, who won a direct entry into the 96-men main draw, suffered his second straight first round defeat in two weeks at the $2.5 million Super 9 Lipton tennis championship, losing to South African Grant Stafford. His present ranking is 106 and is seeded 10 at the Chennai meet.