RECAPTURED YOUTH : Eight Years After Last Taste of Glory, Tracy Austin Finds Her Comeback Trail Leads to TeamTennis

In 1979, when she was 16, Tracy Austin wore her hair in pigtails--and won the U.S. Open.

But 10 years later, Austin’s left foot is sore and bothering her again, she has played tournament singles only once in more than five years and she is still thinking about coming back.

Where?

It has been nine years since Austin was the No. 1 player in the world and the women’s game has changed greatly in her absence. And the name game?

“Tracy Austin--well, it’s like anything else, the longer you are away, the quicker the mystique goes,” said Strings Coach John Lloyd. “She was nearly a legend, but the players now, well, they won’t be scared of her at all.”

So the game has changed. Austin has changed, too.

“I’m going to chase my dream and my dream is to get back and play,” she said. “But I’m coming back as a different person.

“Being 17 and winning the French Open like Michael Chang, he’s totally focused on one thing,” she said. “When you get older, it isn’t that easy. I don’t think I want to be like that.”

At 26, non-tennis events seem to be gaining more importance in Austin’s life. She is thinking about settling down. Sort of.

Austin has been spending a lot of time in New York with chemical engineer Wolfgang Mack, her boyfriend of one year, who will begin work on his MBA next year at Carnegie-Mellon.

Tracy grew up in Rolling Hills, one of five tennis-playing Austin kids, but she is relocating to Bel-Air, where she is buying a townhouse. Making something like house money has not been a problem for Austin, only staying healthy.

In 1980, at 17 years and eight months, she became the youngest athlete ever to win $1 million in a career.

Three years later, she couldn’t play because of injuries. Recurring problems with her neck and lower back finally forced Austin off the court for good in February of 1984.

The U.S. Open champion in 1979 and 1981 did not play another tournament singles match until last March. Austin began her singles comeback at the Virginia Slims of Indian Wells.

Austin’s first-round opponent was 19-year-old Nicole Provis of Australia. Austin lost in three sets, but better things were about to happen.

She was wrong. A month later, she suffered a foot injury. The comeback came and went.

Her reaction?

“That was a bummer, but I can’t let it get me down,” she said.

For its month-long season, Austin is playing TeamTennis with the New Jersey Stars (brother John is on the team) and concentrating on singles only because of her foot problem.

As for the comeback, Austin said she will come back to it. Sometime. For those in the game who have been waiting for her, they simply will have to wait a bit longer.

“I didn’t know it would take so long for me to come back, but I didn’t have a timetable,” she said. “I’m not giving myself ‘X’ amount of weeks or ‘X’ amount of months or anything.

“My goal is to come back and play full-time on the circuit. I have been sidetracked. I’m still 26 and I think my body is 26. I feel positive. I got frustrated, but I know I just got sidetracked.”

What kind of comeback will it be? If Austin does make it back, at what level will she play?

“She’s classy enough to get back to a certain level,” said Lloyd, who also coaches Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden and Bettina Bunge of Switzerland.

“As for top 10 again, one has to make sacrifices to get there,” he said. “Obviously, she can’t play a couple of times, then take a month off to be with her boyfriend. Tennis has to be her No. 1 priority.

“She could be top 50, but she won’t make top 10 unless she commits to tennis. Top 10 players work bloody hard.

“It’s all a question of what her priorities are--if she wants to have fun and play, then there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I am enjoying what I’m doing,” Austin said. “How many people really, really enjoy their jobs? I do. This is what I love to do. Just play.

“This comeback I thought was going to be easy. Boy, was I wrong. I’ll just play and see what happens. It takes time.”