Beckerfest gets perfect start

ITS IS of no use pretending the Expo 2000 site in the out-skirts of Hanover is a thing of beauty. Not even yesterday's covering of snow could add anything in the way of charm, but then these ATP World Championships are not about charm or beauty; they are about Boris Becker.

In 1990 this tournament took over from the Masters, which for 13 years had been held in New York. German television paid vast sums to set up a Beckerfest in Frankfurt, and in 1993, the year Becker failed to turn up because of injury, Michael Stich won the title.

This new Hanoverian home is immense and built in that universal airport style of architecture that owes everything to the functional. The huge hall that houses the single, red-carpet tennis court seats more than 15,000. When Becker plays there seems twice that number.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov stood no chance in his opening match in the red group, which also includes Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, who play today. Becker strutted about as if he owned the place (he could probably just about afford it), and the holder of the French Open title was duly cast aside 6-4, 7-5.

The first four days comprise round-robin matches, with the leading two players in each group eventually reaching Saturday's semi-finals. The white group is made up of Michael Chang, Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Muster and the Wimbledon champion, Richard Krajicek.

That windy, wet, miserable and quite unpredictable Wimbledon seems a very long time ago, and for Krajicek the post-title blues have weighed heavily on his broad Dutch shoulders. He had been playing so badly that he hardly expected to be here at all in the company of the world's other top eight players.

Strains of No They Can't Take Thai Away From Me have played round his head since July. "I can tell myself I am going to win another title, but you have to feel it in your heart," he said here. It would be a surprise if Krajicek took the title, but at least he started with a bang against Chang, winning 6-4, 6-4 and thundering down more than a score of aces.

Not that that was the whole story, at least as far as the American was concerned. Above the court hangs a giant, four-sided television screen that doubles as a scoreboard. The players can look up after a point and watch themselves in glorious slow motion and that is not all.

A heat-sensitive camera tracks the ball and supplies an image on the baseline and service line. In the third game of the second set Chang hit a forehand he knew was in. He questioned the call immediately and then saw the projected television image prove him quite right. Lars Graaf, the Swedish umpire, was unmoved.

"It cost me the game," Chang said. He feels it is wrong the players are able to watch such playbacks on court. If such a call goes against Becker, expect considerable fun in the Festhalle.

Scott Barron, one of two full-time Irish professional tennis players (the other is Owen Casey), feels more confident than ever that the next 12 months will be a big year for him following his first outright win of a satellite event in Thailand last week.

Barron (21), maintained his winning sequence in singles yesterday after moving on to Khon Kaen for the third week of the circuit. He beat Zeng of Thailand 6-3 4-6 6-4, and was suitably pleased in the process.

The Dubliner, who leads Ireland in the European Nations team championship at Fitzwilliam next month, is still a member of the European Tennis Federation's special touring squad set up to help promising players from so-called weaker countries.