Ivan Lendl, coming off his first grass-court tournament triumph since he was a junior, has been seeded No. 1 for next week's Wimbledon tennis championships. But teenager Michael Chang, the first American in 34 years to win the French Open, was only No. 9.
"I don't think it will make any great difference," said Lendl, who is seeking the one Grand Slam title that has eluded him. "To win the title you have to keep winning, and that's what I hope to do."Defending champion Steffi Graf of West Germany was the No. 1 seed in the women's draw by the All-England Lawn Tennis Club.
Lendl and Graf are ranked No. 1 in the world on the Association of Tennis Professional computer lists, and the women's seedings followed the rankings. Eight-time champion Martina Navratilova was seeded second, followed by Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina and three-time winner Chris Evert.
But the 17-year-old Chang, a winner in France, was the biggest loser in the men's seedings. Chang, unranked at Wimbledon last year and seeded 15th in the French Open solely on computer ranking, jumped to No. 6 on this week's ATP list but is seeded only No. 9 at Wimbledon, where he never has made it past the second round.
On the other hand, defending men's champion Stefan Edberg of Sweden got a break. He is ranked third by the ATP but got the No. 2 seed ahead of Boris Becker, a two-time champion and No. 2 on the ATP computer.
Sweden's Mats Wilander was seeded fourth, followed by John McEnroe, shooting for his fourth Wimbledon title, Jacob Hlasek of Switzerland, Miloslav Mecir of Czechoslovakia and Tim Mayotte, who has made it to at least the quarterfinals of eight grass-court Grand Slam tournaments.
Then came Chang, followed by Jimmy Connors, Brad Gilbert, Kevin Curren, Aaron Krickstein, Andrei Chesnokov of the Soviet Union, Sweden's Mikael Pernfors and Amos Mansdorf of Israel.
Behind Evert, the women's seeds are Zina Garrison, Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez of Spain, Pam Shriver, Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union, Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia, Monica Seles of Yugoslavia, Mary Joe Fernandez, Canada's Helen Kelesi, Hana Mandlikova of Australia, Lori McNeil and Susan Sloane.
Members of the ATP top 20 who are skipping Wimbledon because of injuries or dislike of grass courts are Andre Agassi, No. 4; Thomas Muster of Austria, No. 7; Alberto Mancini of Argentina, No. 11; Kent Carlsson of Sweden, No. 16; Emilio Sanchez of Spain, No. 18, and Yannick Noah of France, No. 19.
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At Eastbourne, England, top seeds Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert posted easy victories Monday in the first round of a Virginia Slims grass-court tennis tournament, but five other seeded players were upset.
Navratilova, the No. 1 seed who was playing on the day after winning a tournament for the first time in her career, overwhelmed Britain's Jo Durie 6-1, 6-1. Navratilova won a tournament in Edgbaston, England, on Sunday.
Evert, returning to tennis after a three-week break during which she tried to regain her motivation, had some patches of inconsistent play but still overpowered Poland's Iwona Kuczynska 6-2, 6-3. Evert is the second seed in the $300,000 tournament.
Third-seeded Zina Garrison, like Navratilova and Evert an American, eased into the second round when Australian opponent Janine Thompson retired with a rib injury after losing the first set 6-2. Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia, the fourth seed, defeated Briton Amanda Grunfeld in straight sets.
But the fifth and sixth seeds were knocked out of the tournament.
Fifth-seeded Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union, a finalist at Eastbourne last year, lost 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to qualifier Elizabeth Smylie of Australia, while sixth-seeded Lori McNeil of the United States lost for the second time in a week to compatriot Betsy Nagelsen.
Hana Mandlikova of Australia, the ninth seed, and 10th-seeded Patty Fendick of the United States both lost to Frenchwomen. Mandlikova was edged 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 by Catherine Tanvier, while Fendick returned from a three-month injury break to be demolished 6-2, 6-1 by Isabelle Demongeot.
The other seed to lose was 15th-seeded Anne Minter, who fell 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to fellow Australian Jenny Byrne.
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And at Wirral, England, American Jim Pugh rallied from a one-set deficit to defeat Yugoslavian Goran Ivanisevic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) in the first round of a pre-Wimbledon grass-court tourney Monday, setting up a second-round match against John McEnroe.
In other matches Monday, Diego Nargiso of Italy defeated India's Ramesh Krishnan 6-3, 6-4 and American Pete Sampras beat John Fitzgerald of Australia by the same score.
Also, David Pate defeated Jim Courier 6-4, 6-2 in an all-American match.