Youth Will Be Served

By Tom Callahan

To win the French Open was a triumph. To do it at 17 was a wonder. But Michael Chang seemed to grasp more than just the moment when he beat Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg in Paris to join the company of world-champion tennis players. Chang was wise enough to understand, "These two weeks are going to stay with me the rest of my life," but excited enough to imagine, "Maybe someday I'll be able to achieve something greater." More than a few days later, the sport is still tingling with his possibilities.

And with those of Spain's Arantxa Sanchez, also just 17, who, in the face of that invincible Grand Slammer Steffi Graf, took heart from the achievements of her American contemporary and turned both the female and male sides of the French Open into historic celebrations of youth. "When Chang beat Lendl ((in the fourth round))," Sanchez said, "I think then I have a chance against Steffi. Plus, look what Monica did." Monica Seles, a two-fisted Yugoslav giggler, every bit of 15, terrified Graf in their three-set semifinal. "That gave me hope," said Sanchez, who came back in the championship match from a 3-5 deficit in the final set to win the last four games and Spain's only women's title. (Poor, dilapidated old Steffi dropped her first major trophy in a year and a half and, four days later, turned 20.)

A theme of youthful impertinence, especially Chang's, rang through the tournament and carried for a distance. "It's embarrassing," grumbled John McEnroe all the way from England, where preparing for grassy Wimbledon seemed a more profitable exercise than adding to 34 years of U.S. desperation on French clay. Since Tony Trabert succeeded at Paris in 1955, not one of the grand Americans -- not Stan Smith, not Arthur Ashe, not Jimmy Connors, not McEnroe -- had ever won the French. And the brazen way Chang finally did it galled McEnroe, 30, who muttered the fairly amazing statement, "We've got to teach these kids some manners."

This was a reference to a trick or two Chang used to upset Lendl, who was more than just the top seed in the tournament. For most of four years, the Connecticut Czech with the gloomy eyes and great forehand has been the finest tennis player in the world. After 15th-seeded Chang lost the first two sets 6-4, he won the next two 6-3. But in the fifth set and hour, Chang's legs began to complain, and the banana cure he tried during the breaks could not hold off the cramping. Wobbling, Chang decided the best tactic was to use his head to abuse Lendl's. Up 4-3 in games but down 15-30 in points, Chang quick- pitched his opponent an underhand, if not underhanded, serve. From that moment to match point, the smoke never stopped streaming from Lendl's ears. It obscured his skills.

Crowding the service box impudently, Chang taunted Lendl into double faulting away the closing point in the last 6-3 set. But the three-time French Open champion brought grace to the interview room afterward. "He showed me a lot of courage," Lendl said. "He deserves credit." Defending champion Mats Wilander, who has fallen off the charts this year, was less magnanimous. Watching Chang dispatch his Swedish teammate Edberg in the finals, Wilander said, "It just shows you that anyone can beat anyone on clay."

Edberg took the 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6 defeat better. "I had my chances, but I missed too many break points. I got a little tired in the fifth. Then it was too late." Edberg is only 23, but everyone in Paris felt a little older. "Chang's young," he said. "Maybe he doesn't think that much." By four months, Chang displaced two-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker as the youngest major champion of the modern era. With his charming, sidearm delivery, Becker, 21, said, "Almost-the-older-ones you have to call us now."

A 5-ft. 8-in. native of Hoboken, N.J., but a resident of Placentia, Calif., Chang is supervised on tour (17 months, $533,000) by his mother Betty, who, like her husband Joe, is a chemist. She prefers the chemists' word stabilized, saying, "I think that I stabilize him. I hope my presence makes him comfortable." Chang describes his calm manner on and off the court as a residue of his Christian faith, though he does not dispute those who detect some Oriental mystery. "I guess that could be appropriate. I am a quiet person and do not show much emotion. My hobby is fishing, and fishing is very tranquil too."

Wimbledon begins next week, a tougher stop for a baseliner, though Bjorn Borg contrived to win five in a row that patient way, and Chang has that kind of dream. "I want to be the No. 1 player in the world and have all the best shots in tennis: serve, volley, base line, drop shot, you name it. I try to set my goals as high as I can." If he inspires Asians, Chang will be pleased. "It helped Sweden when Borg came along and made such a big impact. I'm hoping it will also happen in Asia."

Joe Chang fled China for Taiwan in 1948, but those newspapers still publishing in China claimed the new champion nonetheless. In his victory speech, Michael also embraced them. "God bless everyone," he said in summation, "especially the people of China."

With reporting by Erik van Zwam/Amsterdam