European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday june 16,1937 the stars and stripes Page 25 Boris Martina top Wimbledon seeds Wimbledon England a defending Cham pions Boris Becker and Martina Navratilova were Given the no. I seeds for Wimbledon which begins monday while a notable name was not an the list. The All England Lawn Tennis club said american John Mcenroe a three Lime Wimbledon Champion and ranked among inc world s lop 10, pulled out of the tournament because of persistent Back injuries. Navratilova is ranked first in the world among women players even though she has not won a tournament this year. She i going for her sixth consecutive Wimbledon singles championship and eighth Overall. Becker of West Germany is ranked no. 2 in the men s world ratings behind Ivan Lindl of Czechoslovakia but Becker has won Wimbledon the last two years beating Lendl in 1986, and like Navratilova he plays Best on inc fast grass courts of the All England club. Lindl and West Germany s Steffi Graf winners of inc men s and women s singles championships it the French open earlier this month were seeded second for Wimbledon Graf who turned is on sunday takes a 39-match winning Streak into Wimbledon. She has not lost since last november and has won All seven tournaments she has played this year. Following Lendl in the men s so clings were swe. Den s Mats Wilander third and Stefan Edberg fourth Czechoslovakia s Miloslav Mccier fifth Van Nick Noah of France sixth american Jimmy Connors seventh Andres Gomez of Ecuador eighth Henri Luconte of France ninth Tom Mayotte of the United states 10th Pat Cash of Australia i the Brad Gilbert of the United slates 12th Joakim Nystrom of Sweden Ijeh Emilio Sanchez of Spain 14th and americans David Fate 15th and Kevin Curren 16th. Behind Graf in the women s so clings were three time Winner Chris Evert of the United Stales third Becker out duels plucky Connors London a Boris Becker wore Down Gritty Jimmy Connors 6-7, 6-3,6-4, monday and won uie $300.000 Stella at Tois grass court championship at Queens club for the second time in three years. In his final match before starting defense of the Wimbledon title he has won twice in a Row Becker had to Call on All his reserves to prevent the Veteran Connors from win Ning a grand prix tournament for the first time in More than 2vt years. The 34-year-old american a three time Champion at Queens club but with out any tide since october 19b4, played brilliantly for half the match. With magnificent service returns and Low Flat angled passing shots he took the opening set on a tiebreaker and had iwo break Points for a 3-0 Lead in the second set with his serve to come. Bui he missed a great Chance and Becker gradually finding his rhythm As Connors began committing errors fought Back to Square the match. In the third set Connors continued to pressure Becker s second service but had trouble holding h is serve. As Corpora appeared to lire in the warm Sun following Days of rain Becker won a fifth successive service break at love and served out the match after two hours and 18 minutes of excitement. The 19-year-old West German won $40,000. Connors received $20,000. He definitely had a Chance to beat me Becker said. If he had led 3-0 in the second set it would have been difficult for me to come Back. In the end 1 played the right shots at the right time.1 Becker hit 13 aces but also had 10 double faults and dropped his serve five limes in inc match. He said he would have to work on his serve before Wimbledon begins next week. I think i m playing much better Over All than last year but i definitely must improve my serve he said. For half the match today i could not get my timing. Jimmy was running around better than 1 was even though he could almost be my father. He is still one of the Best returners in the  Connors who has lost four straight times to Becker said getting to his third final of 1987 was not Good enough even for someone of his age i m not satisfied. I should have won the match but i lost concentration and that bothers me Connors said. I had the opportunities to win it in two sets and i did not seize them. 1 was a set and a break up and that should be Good enough for anybody Young or  the championship match had been postponed 24 hours because of rain that plagued the we Klong Wimbledon Lune up cd Cal p photo Boris Becker. Wears Down Connors czechoslovak  Mandrikova fourth and Helena Sutkova fifth  Shriver of the United states sixth Gabriels Sabatini of Argentina seventh Manuela Mariceva of Bulgaria eighth West germans Claudia to hic Kilsch ninth and Beltona Bunge Lola Lori Mcneil of the United Stales Lith Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden 12th Wendy Turnbull of Australia 13th bar Bara Potter of the United Stales 14th katrina Malce a of Bulgaria 15th and Raffaella Ruggi of Italy 16th. Joining Mcenroe no 7 in the world among the highly ranked men missing from the seeds  no. 11 Ken Carlsson of Sweden and no. 14 Martin Jaile of Ecuador both Clay court specialists. Two injured american women Are missing no. 7 Zina Garrison and no. 13 Kathy Rinaldi. Garrison suffered a stress fracture in her foot before the French open while Rinaldi was injured during the Paris tournament. Shriver wins 4th straight Birmingham England a  Shriver recovered from a set Down to beat Larissa Savchenko of inc soviet Union sunday and win the Edgbaston cup women s grass court Tennis title for the fourth consecutive year. The american no. I seed triumphed 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 after being a Point away from 3-2 Down in the second set. Shriver had problems coping with the soviet s steady serve and Volley game for the first half of inc match which was held up for 2 hours 25 minutes by rain at 3-3 in the opening Sel after the resumption the american dropped her serve and that lost her the set. She said later that the turning Point came when she held serve of. 3-2 in the second stanza after being Lj-40 in the fifth game. After that i thought  now Start hitting returns Flat and heavy and it worked she said. Shriver won three More games to Square tic match and the third set also was delicately poised at 2-2 when the american made the vital breakthrough. She broke Savchenko s serve again and then look the title by winning the last three games. Three things keyed lakers Success by Bill Barnard a  writer the los Angeles lakers title season started with a Trade that was t made and flourished with the continued Excel Lence of magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar As they won their fourth Aba championship in this decade. Los Angeles was stung by four consecutive defeats to the Houston rockets in the 1986 Western conference finals a loss that convinced Many that the lakers did t have enough size to contend for the title. They almost agreed to a Trade with Dallas thai would have brought Small Forward Mark Aguirre and 6-fool-ll Rookie Roy Tarpley to los Angeles for Small Forward James worthy. Lake re coach Pat Riley is Happy that general manager Jerry West vetoed the Trade although Tarpley Well on to be come an All Aba Rookie selection. From a Taleni standpoint Tarpley showed up belter than anyone thought but right now there in t a better player in this league than James worthy ritzy said. You Don t let a Guy like that go unless you know what you re going to gel m  in deciding to keep worthy and move second year pro . Green into the Start ing lineup ahead of Kurt Rambis a Strong rebounded Riley figured that the lakers could win with Speed and quickness. After producing the Best record during the regular season 65-17 and playoff victories Over Denver Golden state Seattle and Boston Riley s decision proved Wise. Riley said there were three reasons Why the lakers won this season. One Kareem is still Here to do it every night. Two not making that Trade kept the unit together. Three magic s development Riley said. Abdul Jabbar despite his continued status As one of the Aba s Best centers at age 40, had to make an adjustment in his 18th Aba season. In the previous 17. He always was his team s leading scorer. Bui in 1986-87, Riley made a conscious decision to give Abdul Jabbar a secondary albeit important offensive role we wanted to create More opportunities for More people Riley said Pur objective was to gel More balanced  i had to gel used to not getting the Ball As often but when you know it s helping the team it s an easy adjust ment Abdul Jabbar said. No longer constricted by an offence that nearly always went to Abdul Jabbar when it needed a Basket Johnson flourished. While leading the Aba in assists for the fourth Lime with a 12.2 average Johnson finished 10th in the league in scoring with 23.9 Points per game. Johnson s Elto is earned him his first regular season most valuable player award. The regular season however started the Way the previous one ended with a loss at Houston. The lakers then followed with nine consecutive victories to take Over first place for Good in the Pacific division. Two Days later los Angeles snapped the celtics 48-Gamc winning Streak at a Solon Garden with a 117-110 Victory. Johnson and 31 Points Abdul Jabbar 26 and worthy 25 As the lakers Defeated the defending champions for the first of two times during the regular season. The lakers continued to prove that their commitment to Speed was paying off As Johnson scored 38 Points and had 16 assists in a 10.1-96 Victory Al Houston dec. 21. Johnson went on to score 30 or More Points in four consecutive games including a career High 46 in a 127-117 Victory at Sacramento dec. 23. The lakers won their eighth consecutive game Jan. 7 with a 147-109 rout of Denver then suffered consecutive losses for the first Lime All season when they were beaten by Utah and Golden stale. But Al the All Star break the lakers had the league s Best record at 35-12. On feb. 13, the lakers acquired Mycha Thompson from san Antonio and a Day later without any practice he played 29 minutes As los Angeles heal Boston again 106-103, behind Johnson s 39  s. From March 31-april 5. Johnson had triple doubles in four consecutive games for the first time in his career. Arn sports television baseball new York its us must irial 10 to . Tuesday. Radio baseball Minnesota it Milwaukee 1 30 . Wednesday