Tennis: The Bomb at Wimbledon

Seeds came up weeds at Wimbledon last week. The All-England Tennis Championships had barely begun when three of the eight seeded players in the men's singles were eliminated. And by whom? By three Yanks — all of whom had been completely ignored by Wim- bledon's seeding committee, and two of whom were members of the U.S. Da vis Cup team that only a week before had lost ingloriously to tiny Ecuador in the American Zone finals. Illinois' black-browed Marty Riessen beat Denmark's No. 7-seeded Jan Leschly 1-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Then, in an 89-game, 3 ½-hr, marathon that ranks among the longest in Wimbledon history, Texas' crew cut Cliff Richey outlasted Australia's No.

4-seeded Tony Roche 3-6, 3-6, 19-17, 14-12, 6-3.

For pure drama — and implausibility — neither of those victories came close to matching the upset engineered by a 23-year-old Puerto Rican named Charles Pasarell. Son of a wealthy Santurce businessman, "Charlito" Pasarell is the reigning U.S. indoor champion, the No.3-ranked player in the nation, and the possessor of a big serve that he boldly calls "the Bomb." Yet Pasarell's game is as erratic as it is flashy. "I've beaten just about everybody in the world," he admits, "but I've been beaten by just about everybody too." He was not even named to the 1967 U.S. Davis Cup team, and the officials at Wimbledon obviously thought no better of him. In the first round, he was matched as a sort of warmup boy for the 1966 winner, Manuel Santana of Spain. Never in Wimbledon history had a defending champion been beaten in the first round.

Practice Pays. So much for history. Aiming his serves like a golfer lining up putts, Charlito blasted Santana with "the Bomb," kept him unmercifully on the run with delicate lobs and volleys, swept the first two sets 10-8, 6-3. Rain interrupted the match for 15 minutes, and the Spaniard, refreshed, took the third set 6-2. Then Pasarell dug in. He broke Santana's serve with a booming forehand in the 13th game of the fourth set and ran out the match 8-6.

For a while, prospects of a U.S. victory at Wimbledon looked reasonably bright—especially after Australia's Roy Emerson, the No. 2 seed, was beaten by an unseeded Yugoslav. But by week's end both Riessen and Richey had been eliminated, and Pasarell was the only American left. Finally, in the quarterfinals, Charlito also came a cropper, losing to Brazil's Thomas Koch, in five tough sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-8. At least the mercurial Puerto Rican had given the U.S., at a time when its tennis fortunes were down, a few shining sets.