Tennis: Ridge dusts off the cobwebs for an encounter with Graf

By Peter Jessup

While Grand Slammer Steffi Graf was out yachting yesterday, her doubles partner or opponent tonight, Matthew Ridge, was brushing up on his backhand.

Former Kiwi and Warriors captain Ridge and Crusaders and All Black five-eighth Andrew Mehrtens will join Graf and her exhibition tour partner, Jelena Dokic, for a doubles hit-out in Christchurch, but as of yesterday no one was sure who would play with who.

The Graf tour has been a bit that way - not exactly secret and stealthy, but close to it.

At Auckland Tennis, where the visit was arranged, no one staff member was given all the tour details so as to prevent leaks. A lunch date with the Herald was withdrawn once organisers found a reporter was the respondent. There has been a strong security presence all round.

Ridge, who has been on court a fair bit over the past months as he, the Warriors, News Ltd and the lawyers sort out a mutually agreeable departure, was asked five weeks ago if he would take part. A former Auckland junior champion, he jumped at the chance.

"I can't wait," he said. "I've been playing a bit more seriously since I found out. I don't think I'll embarrass myself too badly."

Graf has not been playing seriously since last August, the lack of intensity clear in the slowing of the footwork that used to stun fans worldwide.

In her exhibition clash with Dokic at Stanley St, her shots were all there, the white lines gridlocked in her head so she can land angled backhanders without looking, but the retrieve and return were not up to Grand Slam intensity.

Still, Graf had enough skill to push the 16-year-old but clearly could not get into that clinical dominance that brought her 107 tournament wins.

Dokic might be the new "Fraulein Forehand," Graf has said of the Belgrade-born Australian, and the pair underlined that by trading winning passes.

Earlier, Graf said her motivation for the top level had gone and she felt fortunate to have gone out on her own terms.

Her brother, who raced touring cars here in the early 90s, had recommended New Zealand and she intended to see as much of the country as possible.

She deliberately wore a black dress with white flashes and white socks for the exhibition match, telling organisers she was well aware of the national colours. If the fans needed further encouragement to take her into their hearts it came with a loud and honest "sorry" to the stands when they let out a collective moan as she netted what seemed a winner.

She aced Dokic with the next serve. After losing the first 6-2 and taking the second 6-3, Graf was down 1-4 and fought back but lost the tiebreak finish 7-6 (8-6), the match all over in 1hr 40m.

"I was glad it was so close - everyone got their money's worth," she said.

She further endeared herself with a quip about Stanley St's stray cats. A long-term resident cat was named Steffi, her recent boyfriend dubbed Andre.

"I'm not going to ask for a prediction for a third name - I won't get into that," she joked.

The combatants lauded each other, Graf saying Dokic was a champion of the future and Dokic telling Graf she was a champion now and forever.

The retiring hero has some sympathy for the young charger, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame since the family's shift to Australia but learned a lesson about life in the limelight at the Australian Open.

In Melbourne, Dokic was bundled out early, then turned up late to the press conference and was fined.

Afterwards her father Damir, unemployed and relying on his daughter's earnings, had a confrontation with a Channel Seven television crew, who ultimately had to ask her to tell her father to return their microphone and some camera gear.

"It's difficult to judge what makes young players do what they do ... it could be their upbringing," Graf said.

"It is not easy to be exposed to the public eye, to the media, for someone growing up."