Tennis: Confident Korda returns in style

PETR KORDA, wryly described as "an unbanned substance" in the latest edition of Tennis World, continued to ply his trade yesterday, winning his first match in London since testing positive for the steroid nandrolone at Wimbledon last summer.

The 31-year-old Czech had his best win of the year so far, defeating the South African Wayne Ferreira, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the pounds 510,000 Guardian Direct Cup.

The left-hander's confidence grew to the point where he delivered four aces in his penultimate service game. The only mishap came early in the second set when the umpire, Mike Morrissey, was stung by a wasp and the trainer was called to treat him.

A year ago Korda was ranked No 2 in the world after winning the Australian Open and had opportunities to overtake Pete Sampras at the head of the game. This week his ranking has dropped to No 75, only two places above the semi-retired Boris Becker.

As if to underline the opportunity Korda missed, Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the newly crowned Australian Open champion and current world No 2, is now within two wins of supplanting Sampras. Kafelnikov, who needs to advance to the semi-finals to rise to the top, won his opening match against Sweden's Magnus Gustafsson yesterday, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Korda's lawyers are due in the Court of Appeal in London next month, when the International Tennis Federation will challenge a High Court judge's ruling preventing them from taking Korda to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

Describing the moment he was told last July that he had tested positive as a "shock to my tennis" (ranked No 3 at the time, he has since won only six of 23 matches), Korda said playing through to the end of last season in the knowledge that his appeal was due to be heard by an ITF panel was "the hardest thing".

He added that he "was realistic" when returning to Australia in January to defend his title (he lost to Todd Martin in the third round). "I knew the first few months were going to be as tough as hell," he said. "I knew I would would get the media attention, which I am not really used to, and I knew that it was going to be tough on the court."

As for the reaction of his fellow players, Korda said there was "no problem at all, nobody was going after me". Jim Courier, the former world No 1, had expressed his point of view personally, Korda said, adding that he disregarded comments players had made to newspapers, including remarks by Greg Rusedski. "I am not counting any person who is critical behind my back," Korda said. "He is not challenging me unless he talks to me. He cannot laugh at me, and be nice. If he wants to say something, I'm here. I can come and really talk to him any time. Whatever he said in the newspapers, I am the person who is cleaning in front of my house. I don't think Greg or anyone else has a right to clean my house.

"First of all, Greg doesn't know the rules well and doesn't know the case. Once it is over, maybe it is going to be [explained] in the media, maybe it is going to be different. I am not ever going to be offensive to anyone. What happened, happened, and if somebody is critical in the papers, what can I do? Everybody has the right to express themselves."

The sight of 188 players competing at Wimbledon without prize-money - and umpiring their own matches until the later stages of the tournament - will be a feature of the 75th anniversary of the International Club during the week of 2 to 7 August.

This throwback to the amateur ethos represents the largest mixed tennis team event ever held in the United Kingdom, with 31 men's and 22 women's teams travelling to the All England Club to play on six of the outside courts used during the Wimbledon Championships. Spectators will be able to gain entry to the event by paying pounds 5 for a programme.

Chris Wilkinson, 29, and Mark Petchey, 28, will play for Britain in the the under-45 event, and Robin Drysdale and Phil Siviter have been nominated for the veterans' event. Siviter is the holder of the ITF over-45 doubles title in partnership with Brian Greatrex. Anthea Stewart, who recently won the British indoor over-40 championship, will compete in the International Club's over-40 event.

The International Club, established to "promote, by social union and match-play, good fellowship amongst players who have borne their rackets overseas", was founded at the Royal Automobile Club in London in 1924.

l There was a minute's silence at the Battersea tournament yesterday in memory of the Dutch player Menno Oosting, who was killed in a car crash on Monday night while returning home from a tournament in Cherbourg, France. Oosting, 34, was ranked a career-best No 72 in the world singles in 1988, and No 20 in doubles in 1995.

BATTERSEA RESULTS

FIRST ROUND

T Johansson (Swe) bt P Luxa (Cz Rep) 6-2 6-4; P Korda (Cz Rep) bt W Ferreira (SA) 6-3 6-4; B Black (Zim) bt K Alami (Mor) 6-1 1-6 7-6; G Raoux (Fr) bt D Vacek (Cz Rep) 6-4 6-3; N Kiefer (Ger) bt C Pioline (Fr) 5- 7 6-2 7-5.

TODAY'S ORDER OF PLAY

Centre Court (10:30am start): J M Gambill (US) v D Sanguinetti (It). Not before noon: (6) T Enqvist (Swe) v D Prinosil (Ger). Not before 2:30pm: (4) R Krajicek (Neth) v N Kiefer (Ger), followed by (7) G Ivanisevic (Croa) v H Arazi (Mor). Not before 7pm: J Kroslak (Slovak) v (2) T Henman (GB), followed by B Becker (Ger) v (5) K Kucera (Slovak).

Court One (1pm start): C Suk (Cz Rep) & P Tramacchi (Aus) v N Broad (GB) & R Koenig (SA), followed by W Arthurs (Aus) & J Tarango (US) v D Adams (SA) & J De Jager (SA). Not before 7pm:(1) P Galbraith (US) & P Haarhuis (Neth) v B Black (Zim) & W Ferreira (SA).