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Connors & Gomez rule the roost as the Nuveen Tour nears its Season Finale
By James H. DeLorenzo [Originally published in the ATP Tour's International Tennis Magazine January/February 1997 issue.] Jimmy Connors is still at the top of his game, and at the top of the Nuveen Masters Point Standings, as the Nuveen Tour's 1996-97 season nears its season finale. During a career that has spanned over 20 years, Connors won eight Grand Slam singles titles, 108 singles titles, and 19 of a possible 31 titles on the Nuveen Tour. He will be the top seed in the third annual Nuveen Masters, the senior circuit's $300,000 end-of-season championship, March 3-9 at the Kensington Golf & Country Club in Naples, FL. Yet Connors faces some serious challenges from last year's Nuveen Masters winner, Andres Gomez. The current season's main storyline has been the unprecedented duel between Connors and Gomez for the top position in the Nuveen Masters Point Standings. Founded in 1993 as the Champions Tour, the men's over-35 professional tennis circuit has grown from just three events in 1993, to a dozen this season. It's a remarkable period of rapid growth that compares favorably to the Senior PGA Tour in its formative stages. From the Nuveen Tour's beginnings, through 25 total events leading up to this past May's Corel Champions in Washington, DC, the top dog had always been Connors. Connors won 16 of the first 18 tournaments on the senior circuit. Despite wins last season by Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Johan Kriek and Gomez, Connors had never been displaced atop the leader board. "Nobody steals anything on me -- only what I allow them to do," said Connors, 44. "I'm very happy that all the guys are playing great tennis. That just adds credibility to the tour. The kind of shape and attitude that we all have, we all play the kind of tennis that we're proud of." "I'd like to see Gomez win," Connors said. "I'd like to see Jose-Luis Clerc and Johan Kriek and John Lloyd and Eddie Dibbs and Harold Solomon and everyone win, which would be great for the tour. But don't worry. I still win my share." When Gomez collected his share, the $40,000 winners check in Washington last May, he became the first player other than Connors to stand atop the Nuveen Masters Point Standings (the official scoring system of the Nuveen Tour). Throughout the 1996-97 season, Gomez and Connors split time in the lead, with Connors finally emerging the regular-season top dog after his fourth victory of the season in Houston in October. Gomez finished second overall, with three tournament titles to his credit. Gomez, 36, who is best known for winning the 1990 French Open over Andre Agassi at the age of 30, joined the Nuveen Tour full-time in 1995. He has since won five regular-season titles on the circuit, and captured the 1996 special event, "The Challenge" presented by Quality Inns. "I always felt that I'd be in the top three," said Gomez. "When I came out on the tour, Jimmy was winning all the events and Bjorn was getting to most of the finals. I started feeling better, more relaxed on the court. My first win over Jimmy gave me confidence, but most important, I'm still playing great tennis." "It's nice to be ranked number one, as I was, but whether you're one or 12, you know the other guys are looking to beat you," Gomez said. "With the addition of people like McEnroe and Yannick Noah, the level of play on the circuit is getting stronger and stronger, Now, players can't just come in and roll over people just because they are younger. They have to be in great shape." The Nuveen Masters gathers together the circuit's top point-standing performers from the 1996-97 season in Naples, with a top prize in singles of $100,000. The first Nuveen Masters, in March, 1995, concluded with Connors capturing a spectacular 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 over Borg. Last March, Gomez thrilled a sold-out crowd of 3,500 with a 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-3) victory over Clerc in a two hour, 41-minute final. Since the '96 Nuveen Masters, the Nuveen Tour has had a full season of remarkable developments both on and off the courts. In April, John Nuveen & Co. Incorporated signed on as umbrella sponsors for the circuit in North America. In October, the Nuveen Tour reached a joint agreement with the ATP Tour and International Management Group to present a unified, worldwide senior tennis circuit beginning in 1997. On the court, the Nuveen Tour has watched Noah join the ranks of men's over-35 players. Noah made his debut at June's Big Bear Champions in Columbus, OH, and returned the following week in Pebble Beach, CA for "The Challenge" presented by Quality Inns. The 36-year-old French Davis Cup hero, and winner of the '83 French Open, Noah captured his first Nuveen Tour title in October, when the circuit made its debut in Johannesburg, South Africa. McEnroe, 37, competed in five events this season, including "The Challenge" presented by Quality Inns, the Coopers & Lybrand Champions in Los Angeles, and the Citibank Champions in New York. Mac gained his second Nuveen Tour career title, and first of the '96-97 season, in November when he captured the NTT Data Champions crown in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to Johannesburg, the Nuveen Tour enjoyed successful debuts in Washington, DC; Houston, TX; and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Over 270,000 fans attended the 11 Nuveen Tour events in a 1996-97 schedule that started in Los Angeles last April, and winds up in Naples this March. That total attendance should swell to over 300,000 by the end of the Nuveen Masters, if the first two years of the season championship are any indications. The Nuveen Masters has attracted over 57,000 fans in its first two years; over 30,000 fans crowded into the Kensington Golf & Country Club's Stadium Court over seven days last March. While Connors and Gomez fought it out for the top spot in the Nuveen Masters Point Standings this season, other players like John Lloyd and Johan Kriek gained ground and attention with their quality of play. Lloyd made it to his first final in four years on the circuit in Washington last May, and finished the '96-97 season ranked fourth in the Nuveen Masters Point Standings. Kriek, who like Lloyd has been a mainstay on the circuit since the start, played in four finals on four continents in five weeks, in October and November. The 38-year-old South African, who now calls Naples his home, lost to Noah in Johannesburg, Connors in Houston, and McEnroe in Tokyo, before finally capturing the Saudi Arabian Ford Champions title with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Australia's John Fitzgerald. It was Kriek's second career Nuveen Tour title, and solidified his hold on third place in the Nuveen Masters Point Standings. As the Nuveen Tour heads into the home stretch with the Nuveen Masters looming ahead on the horizon, the top eight reads like a "who's who" of tennis history. After Connors, Gomez, Kriek and Lloyd, Clerc is fifth, followed by McEnroe, Borg, and Noah. Close behind are Guillermo Vilas, Mel Purcell, Tim Wilkison and Roscoe Tanner. While the final eight contestants in the third annual Nuveen Masters have not been finalized, it's a sure bet that Connors and Gomez will be there at the end. Who will finish on top is a question that can only be answered on court.
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