Jury’s Out If Court Costs Seles in Tough Schedule

The dreaded jury duty notice-- seldom a welcome sight for anyone--came at a most inopportune time for Monica Seles.

Here she was at home in Sarasota, Fla., after Wimbledon, trying to figure out a baffling quarterfinal loss to Natasha Zvereva of Belarus and eager for two or three solid weeks of training with her coach Gavin Hopper.

Then, jury duty beckoned.

Seles could have made some phone calls or asked any of her business associates to pull some strings. After all, an intense part of her schedule was coming up: the United States vs. Spain in Fed Cup, followed by three consecutive tournaments, at Palo Alto, the Toshiba Tennis Classic at La Costa and the Acura Classic at Manhattan Beach.

It has been obvious for awhile Seles doesn’t act like other star players, and this was no different. Born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia, she became a U.S. citizen on March 16, 1994, and the 24-year-old takes her responsibilities seriously.

“I was selected, and then I was on a case,” she said. “I was kind of bummed. A whole week was gone.

“It was real interesting. I enjoyed it so much. First, when they selected me, I was like, ‘Oh, this is taking away from my practice.’ Once I started the case, two hours into it, I loved it. It was a fun experience. I wouldn’t have traded it.”

It is unusual for a famous person to be seated on a jury, let alone a victim of crime. Her career, and life, were changed forever when Seles was stabbed in the back by a deranged fan in Germany in April 1993. She did not return to the tour until August 1995.

“The weirdest thing happened while they were selecting--this was in Sarasota, it’s a small city--a big tall guy just barged into the courtroom and said, ‘Can I get an interview with you? How does it feel to be on a jury?’ ” Seles said. “And then the judge threw him out.

“After that, I thought there was no way they were going to select me. And, sure enough, they did. It was quite an experience.”

GOING, GOING . . . GORAN

Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia simply spilled everything he had into the Wimbledon final against Pete Sampras, losing in the fifth set. There was nothing left. Ivanisevic could barely lift his head, let alone even muster a polite smile for the cameras or spectators.

Those would have been a false emotions and there is nothing false about the three-time Wimbledon finalist.

Since then, Ivanisevic has been relaxing on a boat with some friends near his homeland. For those who wondered whether Ivanisevic was so distraught he might float off and never play tennis again, he is here in Los Angeles and seeded third at the Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA.

It will be interesting to see the state of his game . . . and his psyche.

At Wimbledon he was able to control his temper for the most part, saying: “Every time when I’m cool like this, when I don’t talk, when I don’t talk, when I don’t throw the rackets, I always wait for the one moment when I will explode.”

Then there was his beard and his long hair.

“I just don’t want to shave,” he said. “I am lazy. The people expect me to always do something new. They always ask me, ‘When is there going to be new hair style? Do something new.’ I have to invent something new, but it’s coming.”

THE HUNT FOR NO. 1

We thought Marcelo Rios of Chile might be allergic to grass, the way he feels about Wimbledon.

But another allergy--apparently to his contact lenses--prompted treatment on the court from a tour trainer during his semifinal against Karol Kucera of Slovakia at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, on Saturday. Although Rios saved seven match points, Kucera defeated him 6-1, 6-7 (8-10), 6-4.

Rios needed to reach the final at Stuttgart to take the No. 1 spot from Sampras. He held the No. 1 position for four weeks in the spring.

TOUCH SHOTS

Top-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia will replace Sampras on Monday in a charity event, “An Evening at the Net,” playing in an exhibition doubles match with Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Andre Agassi. The event, starting at 7:30 p.m., benefits the United Friends of the Children and United Friends of the Children Bridges programs. Sampras, still recovering from a minor operation on the bottom of his right foot on July 15, withdrew from the tournament Friday.