European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 5, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday october 5, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 25commentarymcenroe still a steamy Ticke Bucky Fox the hottest draws the players who not Only come through at crunch time but also fill seats Here they Are a football a Joe Montana. A baseball a Jose Canseco. E hockey a Wayne Gretzky. A basketball a Michael Jordan. A Tennis a John Mcenroe. Now wait a minute. Montana is absolutely the Best quarterback Canseco the Best hitter Gretzky the Best scorer Jordan the Best everything. They All pack and electrify stadiums. But Mcenroe the Guy who last won a grand slam title six years ago and is on a perpetual Mac is Back Campaign the same. It says Here that John Mcenroe is still the Best Tennis Plaver of them All. And the one player guaranteed to sell every ticket. So what if he a 31 and still pouting like he a 3? so what if he looked pathetic cussing his Way out of this years australian open and losing in the first round at Wimbledon Mac still has the Knack. I saw him work his magic at the Swiss indoors in Basel and in a a believer. He will win a grand slam title in 1991. He will return to the top 5. Done to think for a minute that Mac is a Hack. He might be 10 years older than the wave of rising players. His finesse Tennis might seem pass amid the Becker Agassi Sampras Power game. Big Deal. Mcenroe is coming on. Again. The Swiss indoors people know it. They plastered Mcenroe a image on the tournaments program posters postcards you name it. This was a $500,000 tourney that featured two other players ranked higher heading into the we Klong event. They were Andres Gomez who was no. 5, and Goran Ivanisevic at no. 10. Mcenroe had an 11 computer ranking. But lets face it. Whom Are you going to pay to see Gomez and Ivanisevic or the seven time grand slam Champion with the mean Mouth and meaner volleys exactly. Mcenroe was the big ticket who played in front of big crowds. By last Friday night Gomez had fallen out and Ivanisevic had reached the semifinals with a booming 7-6, 7-6 Triumph Over a rocketing German Michael Stich. The Ivanisevic Stich and Yannick Noah Scott Melville quarterfinals Drew full loud crowds. Noah is a terrific Talent and entertainer who had big backing because he lives in Monteux Switzerland. The Swiss cheered and clapped for him but he lost to the out of nowhere Melville 7-6 9-76-7 5-76-4. When Mcenroe took Center stage you knew immediately Why he was the chosen poster boy. Mac has presence. He carries a tension that plugs into every an in the Arena and every to viewer. Will he curse himself will he yell at the Umpire will he blast the fans will he Dink a drop shot or go Cross court with a backhand or slam a Winner with Mcenroe you can to predict his fits or hits. He earned his Mcbrat Label. He also earned his Genius tag. He has More shots than Jordan in a slam Dunk contest. He also has Power. Mcenroe beat his quarterfinal lid i John Mcenroe Here in the . Open last month won the Swiss indoors final in five sets last weekend. Opponent Andrei Cherkasov 6-3, 7-5 by spraying shots at a billion angles. And with an unnerving serve. Mcenroe pinpoints his serve. And stings it. Such muscle from this Skinny new yorker. It Sticks out dramatically from the rest of his touch game. And there it was at the end. Two Mcenroe aces to Clinch his semifinal berth and he walked off to whistles and cheers. You  Tell whether the fans loved or hated him but they made up a full House. That a Mcenroe a business. This was Mcenroe a third straight Victory Over Cherkasov who was rated no. 31 entering the Swiss indoors. Mac was nicer than he was nastier. He whacked his Racket against the court a couple of times but All that did was give the fans a reminder of explosions past. Mcenroe explained his civilized act at the pos match press conference with a when you play the Best players you better keep your  Cherkasov really is one of the better players. He beat Michael Chang at the . Open on the Way to the quarterfinals. And Cherkasov has his own moxie. The 20-year-old russian smirks his Way through matches which can be maddening to victims. Henri Leconte was so ticked off upon losing to Cherkasov in the . Open that the Frenchman nearly attacked him after the handshake. Cherkasov did no to have much to Smirk Over against Mcenroe. The russian did throw a few stares across the net which bothered Mac about As much As Cherkasova a backhand. Mcenroe Wasny to about to slap Cherkasova a style. A the looks like a big fighter to me a Mac said. A a that a Good for Tennis. He looks at you after a Point but that a part of the game. Tennis is not like football or boxing. You can to nit your opponent. That a his Way of dealing with it Mcenroe talked about his ascending Confidence after reaching the . Open semifinals about his endurance in his old age a mentally i probably slipped More than  he might be right. Mcenroe went the distance in his next two matches. He beat Melville 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 in the semis and Ivanisevic 6-7 4-74-6, 7-6 7-36-3, 6-4 in the final. The title match will prove to be the spark Mcenroe needs for his run in �?T91. Can Mac go five sets yes. Can Mac beat 19-year-old bazookas yes. As you can see by that championship Marathon Mcenroe had to come from Way Back to win. He came from Way Back last summer a when he hinted after his Wimbledon disaster that he might be headed for retirement a to a ranking of no. 9 after his Swiss indoors title. He dropped Ivanisevic to no. 11 in the process. A hot draw Mcenroe is still out there sweating up a storm. The stare and Stripe we Brucken forfeits into Safe history football a the we Brucken warriors closed their football history by forfeiting sundays game against the sem Bach tigers. A Safe a Continental sports conference reported that we Brucken called off its Home game because of a Lack of players. The warriors who lost 77-2 to Hahn last saturday thus officially lost 2-0 to Sembach. We Brucken ended its final season with a 1-7 record. The warriors Are the Only team to miss the Csc playoffs which take eight of the nine  Roundup we Brucken a has orders to close by sept. 30, 1991, which Means the warriors will never win a league championship. The Only time they made the playoffs was 1982, when they won a division title but lost to Ramstein in the Csc final. The forfeit Victory for Sembach gives the tigers a 6-2 record and the second seed in the playoffs. The tigers play Host to soes Terberg in the quarterfinals oct. 14. The forfeit also clinches last place for Wiesbaden which has the eighth seed at 1-7. The flyers visit Ramstein in the quarters oct. 13. The last regular season game kicks off at noon sunday with Rhein main at Hahn. The game affects the quarterfinal dates of four teams. If Hahn wins and gives up less than 40 Points it clinches the third seed with a 6-2 record. The Hawks would then play Host to Rhein main again oct. 14, and Pitburg would visit Span Dahlem oct. 13. If Rhein main wins sunday the rockets would visit Hahn oct. 13, with Pitburg at Span Dahlem oct. 14. Basketball Hanau will hold a veterans Day Community level menus and women a open tournament nov. 9-12. Entry fee is $85. Only the first 12 menus and women a teams to Register will be accepted. Registration deadline is nov. 7. For More information Call the Hanau Community recreation division at ets 322-8960 or 06181-15080. Running a the v corps Marathon will be run As part of the Frankfurt Marathon oct. 28. The deadline for free registration for v corps soldiers is today. Participants can Register by calling the v corps sports office at ets 320-5503 or 7310