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Show f" -. ""hw-- -" Tennis Everyone ? By Alexander T. Holmsen The Iceman prevailed. Sweden's Bjorn Borg thwarted jeering coin-throwing partisan fans, biased line calls, and finally, unseeded local favorite Adriano Panatta to win a grueling five-set battle for his second Italian Open in Rome's notorious "Lion's Pit" center court last weekend. Spain's Jose Higueras had actually been forced off the court the previous day while leading Panatta because of the intolerable verbal abuse as well as showers of 100-lire coins (considered an insult in Italy) and soft-drink cans. In addition, British umpire Bertie Bowron also walked off the court after a decision he made in favor of Higueras was overruled by Italian referee Sergio Baruti. But Borg, who himself threatened threa-tened to leave the court if any more coins were thrown, nevertheless never-theless remained in control of the situation and thereby reinforced his standing as number one player in the world on all surfaces. Next for Borg is the French Open and shortly afterwards Wimbledon, where the Swedish magician will be going for his third straight title. The sad fact, however, is that Borg and Higueras weren't the only, playerrs superior to Panatta who were unmercifully harassed (all but Borg to defeat) by the unruly and foul-mouthed Italian fans: Vitas Gerulaitis and Hank Pfister were among the more prominent victims. Now this sort of rowdyism has no place in tennis. The Italian Tennis Federation should be severely censured by the world body-if, that is, anyone other than Italians ever returns to play at the Foro Italico! The Park City Racquet ciub "Ice breaker" Tennis Tournament, Tourna-ment, featuring men's and women's "A" and "B" singles and doubles, attracted a large and enthusiastic field despite the somewhat stiff $6 singles and $4 doubles (per person) entry fee. Which brings us to the sad state of repair of two out of the three city courts: it is a disgrace that there is only one usable city tennis court, and that, if the two unusable courts are not resurfaced resurfac-ed immediately, there will literally literal-ly be no place for the city's citizens to play on their tax-money tax-money constructed courts once virtually all-day lessons begin on the single usable court in two weeks! Well, City officials? |