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A&M’s Connell climbing tennis mountain
By ED CASSAVOY
Sports Writer
Grant Connell, a tennis star
for Texas A&rM just a few
months ago, now stands on the
courts of Vancouver,, Canada
and gazes at the Rocky Moun
tains ringing that beautiful city.
For Connell, those mountains
represent his tennis future, be
cause he’s got a lot of climbing
ahead.
Connell suffered a ruptured
appendix nearly a month ago
and he said that had the biggest
affect on his tennis game.
“I’ve been playing on the sa
tellite circuit,”" Connell says,
“and, right now, I just want to
get back into it. To work back up
to a better level.”
The satellite circuit is the
starting rung of professional
tennis, where players try to earn
tournament points to move up
the professional ladder.
Right now, Connell says he
feels he hasn’t had enough time
to really get a feel for playing in
the pros. Connell left A&M at
the end of the 1985 Spring se
mester.
“I played in the Canadian Na
tional (tournament),” Connell
says, “and I lost in the second
round. But I’m playing tourna
ments to work up to the Ca
nadian Open which starts
around Aug. 10.”
Connell says he was happy
with his finish in the NCAA
Tennis Tournament this past
spring.
“I got to the quarter finals in
the NCAA tournament,” he
says, “and I lost to the No. 1 seed
in the tournament.
“That’s the way it goes (Con
nell was seeded 7th). I figure
making it to the quarter finals
was about right for me.”
After battling it out in the Ca
nadian Open, Connell said he
will return to Texas to play in a
number of satellite tournaments
in Dallas, Corpus Christi, Waco
and Tyler.
Australia is the next stop for
Connell in a tennis schedule that
he admits “keeps you busy.”
Connell analyzed his play, in
and out of college, and came up
with this summary.
“Since getting out of college,”
Connell says with a laugh, “I’m
probably not playing as well as I
did at A&M. I’ve lost 15-pounds,
Former Texas A&M tennis player Grant Connell (above) is cur
rently playing on the Canadian satellite circuit in hopes of breaking
Battalion File Photo
into the professional ranks. Connell left the Aggie tennis team after
after the Spring of ’85 season to pursue a professional career.
and I’m just trying to get back
into shape. It’s a week by week
thing.”
He says the tough competition
in the satellite circuit doesn’t
help matters much.
“There are just so many peo
ple playing in these events,”
Connell says, “that it’s real
tough, especially playing against
the older players. The range of
ages in the circuit is 17 to 30.”
And how does Connell stack
up against his opponents?
“Ask me in a little while,” he
says.
Connell says as a Canadian,
who has played mostly in the
United States, he has noticed the
biggest difference between the
two countries’ players at the ju
nior levels. At these levels, he
says the U.S. has better players
and grassroots organization.
But at the higher levels of ten
nis, even the Canadian events
are played by the top American
players.
“The Canadian tournaments
are full of Americans,” Connell
says, “so it feels like I’m not even
playing in Canada.
“But Canadian tennis is grow
ing and more money is being put
into developing a good tennis
program.”
Connell is sponsored by Mol-
son Canada (Molson is a Ca
nadian brewery), which he says
pays for all his expenses on the
tennis circuit. In return, Connell
says he gives Molson Canada any
tournament money he wins.
Connell estimates a satellite
circuit event has an average win
ning purse of $3,000.
“But the money is not the sig
nificant thing to me,” Connell
says, “the important thing is the
points.”
He says tennis rankings and
movement to higher circuits in
the Association of Tennis Pro
fessionals (ATP) is all based on
points earned in the various sa
tellite circuits.
Connell says he hopes to play
in two more satellites circuits be
fore moving up to the 25,000
circuit, the next step up.
And how has his playing days
at A&M help Connell?
“It was great,” Connell says,
“If I could do it again I would.
When I came down, I hadn’t had
much match playing time.
“At A&M, I got three hours a
day of practice and tons of mat
ches.”
Connell thinks that coaching
had something to do with it too.
“He (A&M Men’s Tennis
Coach David Kent) didn’t push
me too hard,” Connell says, “but
he pushed all of us when we
needed it.
“He helped me to cut down
on the jumping I did on my
serves.”
But for now, Connell, hopes
the tennis mountain he’s scaling
is more in the order of Mount
Aggie, not Mount Everest.
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Ueberroth asking both sides
to set baseball strike back
Associated Press
! NEW YORK — With no “solution in sight,” Commissioner Peter Ueber-
|roth said Thursday he would offer a number of suggestions, including an
extension of Tuesday’s strike deadline, in an effort to end the impasse in
baseball’s contract talks.
One proposal would ask the union to set aside its Aug. 6 strike deadline
while negotiators tried to settle one of their most troublesome issues, the
owners’ contribution to the pension plan. Another proposal called on own
ers to stop asking players to help solve teams’ financial problems.
Talks ended abruptly Wednesday after the union formally rejected a
jmanagement proposal on pensions, and no new sessions have been sched
uled.
Lee MacPhail, president of the owners’ Player Relations Committee,
said the PRC executive board had been called to New York “for the rest of
the go.” The four-owner board, which sets policy in negotiations, will meet
Friday night.
MacPhail said he could not comment on any of the commissioner’s pro
posals since he had not seen them in writing.
Union negotiator Don Fehr, meanwhile, rejected all or parts of each of
the two suggestions. Fehr said he still viewed Ueberroth as being on man
agement’s side, but he thought it was “interesting” that he would tell owners
to quit blaming players for whatever financial woes the game suffers.
Ueberroth said he would submit five potential solutions in writing by 9
a.m. Friday. He said his proposals came from suggestions offered by fans,
private consultants and his “own ideas.”
Players have asked for a $45 million annual increase in the pension con
tribution, from $15.5 million to $60 million, tying it to their demands for
one-third of baseball’s $1.1 billion network television contract.
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Newest USFL merger a ‘dream team’
Associated Press
NEW YORK — New York real es
tate developers Donald Trump and
Steve Ross, saying they want a
“dream team” that can challenge the
National Football League, Thursday
announced they will merge the New
Jersey Generals and the Houston
Gamblers.
The merger brings together the
United States Football League’s top
quarterback, Jim Kelly of the Gam
blers, and premier running back
Herschel Walker of the Generals,
and probably means a trade for New
Jersey quarterback Doug Flutie.
“These two are building a dream
team in the nation’s No. 1 media
market,” said USFL Commissioner
Harry Usher. “Maybe this will start
generating demand for a dream
game between this dream team and
the other two teams that play profes
sional football in the New York
area.”
That would be the NFL’s New
York Jets and New York Giants.
“We’ll be challenging the NFL,”
said Trump, formerly sole owner of
the Generals. “There’s no way the
Giants and the Jets can beat this
team. I’d like to see the NFL stop
(Kelly and Walker), plus the receiv
ers and other offensive and de
fensive players on these teams.
“I don’t think it can be done.”
The first competition between the
Generals and New York’s NFL clubs
will be for playing dates at Giants
Stadium in New Jersey, home for all
three teams. The USFL is switching
to a fall schedule next year after
playing in the spring and summer
for its first three years. Trump said
he would look at other area stadiums
if the Generals can’t get playing
dates at Giants Stadium.
Trump and Ross also must settle
on a coaching staff and 35 players to
be protected during the long layoff.
Walt Michaels is the Generals coach
and Jack Pardee coaches Houston.
“We’re going to take the best of
each team and add it together,”
Trump said. “W'e’ll have not just the
best in the USFL, we’ll have the best
team anywhere.”
Trump and Ross also have to set
tle the future of Flutie, the 1984
Heisman Trophy winner whose
2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns can’t
compare with Kelly’s 4,623 yards
and 39 TDs.
“Jim Kelly is the quarterback and
Doug is on the team,” Trump said.
“A lot of people are very interested
in Doug. He’s a real winner.”
Flutie’s agent, Bob Woolf, said
from Boston, “We’re disappointed,
since one of the reasons we went to
the USFL in the first place was the
opportunity to play in New York.
Maybe some good will come of it.
There is the possibility that there
may be a USFL team in Boston.
“And the only thing better than
playing in New York would be play
ing in Boston, as far as Doug Flutie is
concerned.”
While Flutie and Kelly are known
for aerial power. Walker set rushing
records with 2,411 yards and 21
touchdowns. Trump, who signed
Walker after his Heisman Trophy
junior season at Georgia, said he has
been interested in Kelly since the
quarterback joined the USFL out of
Miami in 1983.
“Jim Kelly is equal to or better
than Dan Marino,” Trump said, ref
erring to the record-setting quar
terback of the NFL’s Miami Dol
phins. “Along with Marino and Joe
Montana, these three are the best
quarterbacks in the country.”
Ross, head of a group that agreed
last week to buy the Gamblers from
Jerry Argovitz and his partners, met
the club’s payroll and save the roster
from the waiver wire. Argovitz will
be president of the merged team.
In addition to the Gamblers, the
Portland Breakers, San Antonio
Gunslingers and Tampa Bay Ban
dits have been in financial trouble
this summer.
Usher blamed the problems on
ABC-TV’s failure to pay $7 million
this summer for broadcast rights.
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