Guitar-playing buddies by night, racket-toting opponents by day.
Former Wimbledon champions John McEnroe and Pat Cash, who have jammed together in a rock 'n' roll band, won first-round matches Tuesday and will meet across the net in the next round."You've just got to do it. It's just part of the game," Cash said. "Sometimes it's easier to do that because you are friends. At least you know if you don't win, your friend is going to win."
While McEnroe and Cash are unseeded this year, the first two days of the tournament have been kind to the seeds. Michael Chang is the only seed who was defeated Monday or Tuesday.
The seventh-seeded Chang, whose baseline game is not suited to grass courts, lost 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to Jeremy Bates, a Briton ranked 113th in the world.
But for the other seeds, Tuesday was like a sunny stroll on the grass - well, partly sunny. After a bone-dry Monday, there was a late drizzle Tuesday evening that suspended play for the night.
Three women's seeds advanced to the third round today.
Mary Joe Fernandez, the seventh seed, won 7-5, 6-2 over Cecilia Dahlman and 12th seed Katerina Maleeva was a 6-4, 4-1 winner over Manon Bollegraf. Nathalie Tauziat, the 14th seed, needed three sets to defeat Natalia Medvedeva 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.
On Tuesday, defending women's champion Steffi Graf,, nine-time champion Martina Navratilova and third seed Gabriela Sabatini had little trouble advancing.
The victorious men's seeds were No. 9 Guy Forget, No. 11 Richard Krajicek and No. 16 David Wheaton. Andre Agassi, the 12th seed, was trailing Andrei Chesnokov 7-5, 1-6, 2-1 when play was suspended.
McEnroe, a three-time Wimbledon champion, defeated Luiz Mattar 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, settling down after a first set in which he commited five double faults.
Cash, the 1987 champion, won 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) against Jacco Eltingh.
"I don't feel like a legitimate title contender. I'm down the list of guys," McEnroe said. "But because of the experience I've had and the fact that I've won, you can't totally discount me. And if two or three guys break their legs and if someone gets struck by lightning . . ."