The Waiting Is Over for Becker : He Beats Sanchez for Title

INDIAN WELLS —  Eight months can seem like eight years to an impatient 20 year old. But for Boris Becker, trying to get his up-and-down career back on an upward curve, it was far too long between tournament titles.

Becker ended the wait with his 7-5, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Spain’s Emilio Sanchez in a 3-hour, 3-minute final Sunday at the $702,500 Newsweek Champions Cup at Grand Champions Resort.

“It’s like a stone fell from my heart,” said Becker, whose last singles title came in June at a Wimbledon tuneup event.

To understand what exactly this victory means to Becker, one must first understand the set of standards he is faced with in every match. Few athletes can appreciate this high level of expectation. It isn’t enough that Becker merely wins. It’s how he wins that is scrutinized.

Becker himself reiterated this, saying that a win here, while important, is not really that important in the whole scheme of things, rather, it is a step in the right direction.

“As I know from the past, people only judge me on Wimbledon,” Becker said. “I can play bad, I can play good, if I’m Wimbledon champion, the year was great. If I’m not, the year was bad. But, as I’ve learned, it only counts Wimbledon for me.”

This, of course, counts, too. This was Becker’s first tournament victory since he began working with coach Bob Brett 2 1/2 months ago. And, this event again had a strong field, although not quite as good as last year. In the 1987 final, Becker seemed to be at the top of his game as he served and volleyed his way past Stefan Edberg, not losing a set all week.

Becker found it a bit harder this week. He opened successfully against Tim Wilkison, always a difficult opponent even under the best of conditions. Afterward, Wilkison said that Becker’s serve wasn’t as strong as before, adding that he wasn’t winning as easily anymore, either.

But, in the final two matches, in which Becker was pressed hard, physically and mentally, he was able to meet both challenges. Andre Agassi was a tough opponent because the 17-year-old is considered the bright young American hope and, obviously, had most of the crowd support on Saturday. Sanchez, ranked No. 18 in the world and seeded No. 8 here, proved to be just as tough but in a different way.

Sanchez and Becker have played on five other occasions, with Sanchez winning once in Rome on clay. Even more interesting is that when they’ve played best-of-five-set matches before Sunday, the matches have gone the limit both times.

Sunday, neither player looked especially dominant in the early stages of the first two sets, despite Becker taking a two-set lead. In the first, they exchanged service breaks in the fourth and fifth games and again in the sixth and seventh. Finally, in the 11th game, Becker made the break hold up when he hit a backhand passing shot down the line to break Sanchez at 15.

The second set featured more of the same. Again, Sanchez broke through first when his backhand volley hit the net cord and dropped over. That gave him a 3-1 lead, which was ever so brief because Becker broke Sanchez in the next game. Once again, Becker got the crucial break late in the set.

But, as always, Sanchez didn’t go down easily. He showed why he reached the final--after turning in back-to-back upsets of Miloslav Mecir and Pat Cash here--with his play in the third and fourth sets. He broke Becker at love with a backhand passing shot down the line to take a 4-1 lead in the third. This time, unlike the first two sets, Sanchez kept the lead, winning it, 6-2.

Becker, who played a three-set doubles match on Saturday after his singles semifinal, had an explanation.

“Yesterday, with the two tough matches, I felt it this morning,” he said. “In the third, I was quite tired. In the fourth, I pushed myself because once I’m in the fifth, you never know what can happen, you can get unlucky.”

Sanchez, on the other hand, felt he would have been favored had the match gone five sets.

“Other times, he was looking better,” Sanchez said. “Because today he was a little bit lucky at the end because he wasn’t looking so good.”

What ultimately turned the match in Becker’s favor came in the ninth game of the fourth set. Sanchez fell down 0-40 on his serve, pulled back to deuce and fought off five break points before Becker won it on the 14th point of the game. Becker earned the break by hitting an excellent forehand return deep to the corner, and Sanchez could only smack a weak forehand into the net.

Finally, Becker won the title and the $135,000 in prize money on his second match point in the next game when Sanchez hit a backhand passing shot in the net after Becker hit a forehand volley.

The strange thing is that Becker, on top of the world one day, must start all over again on Tuesday in another tournament, against Sanchez, no less. Make that an inspired Sanchez.

“I think it’s going to be a very tight match,” Sanchez said. “When I played him here, he’s not as good as last year. His weapons were less than before.”

Finally, Becker, who successfully answered the latest string of questions about himself and his game this week, was asked one more on Sunday.

Well, Boris, are you back?

“It’s a very long year, you don’t know what can happen,” he said. “Things like injuries . . . knock on wood.”

After all, when eight months can seem like eight years, anything can happen in one year.

Tennis Notes

Boris Becker won his second title of the day as he and France’s Guy Forget defeated Jorge Lozano and Todd Witsken, 6-4, 6-4, in the doubles final. Both Lozano and Witsken are former USC players. . . . Sunday’s attendance was 10,500, a capacity crowd. The seven-day total was 51,546, not including terrace-table seating. The total in 1987 was 49,718. Despite the announced starting time of 11:30 a.m., the players didn’t take the court until after noon, and the match didn’t start until 12:10. The delay was also caused by television on Saturday, too. . . . The on-court temperature reached 104 degrees.