Wimbledon / At A Glance -- Stich's Name On The Trips Of Everyone's Tongue

WIMBLEDON, England - After Michael Stich defeated Stefan Edberg 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, in the semifinals, one of the first questions put to him in the news conference was:

"Could you set the record straight on how you pronounce your last name?"

Stich offered a pained smile. Obviously, it was a question he had heard many times.

"If I say it to you, you still can't say it," he said.

"Try it," the questioner said.

"Stich." That's Shteekh.

Someone else wanted to know: "Michael, what will you say to the people who will say, `Who is Michael Stich?"'

This time, he was abrupt. "Can we get another question, please?"

Stich, 22, was born in Pinneberg, Germany, 15 miles north of Hamburg, and trains in Munich. A top-ranked German junior, he chose to complete his secondary education before hitting the tour in 1987. His rise has been rapid, from No. 795 to No. 7.

He is seeded sixth here.

So when Stich was asked if he thought tennis fans knew less about him than any of the four semifinalists, he nodded: "That's right. They do."

Although somewhat ostrich-like - he is 6 feet 4, with broad shoulders and thin, spindly legs - he has a gigantic serve that is tailor-made for this surface.

And in his first Grand Slam semifinal, he showed the poise of a British royal.

"I was nervous when I went on the court," Stich said. "There was a full crowd and it was just a great feeling. But then I had a very good first game, and from that point on I just felt pretty good."

Quote of the day -- Stich, on hitting Edberg with the ball during the match: "I hit him on purpose. I wanted to hit him, but still you say, `I'm sorry' ".

Who's laughing now? -- Before the tournament, Pam Shriver was asked her pick for the men's title. She said Stich.

The reporters around her laughed.

Out, but not down -- Edberg lost three straight tie-breakers and the match.

Edberg, twice already a winner at Wimbledon, didn't alibi, whimper or moan. He didn't take issue with the tie-breaker system used in Grand Slam tournaments - "Otherwise we'd still be in the second set out there," he cracked. And he positively stifled a grin when someone suggested, almost as a consolation, that an obituary on the inventor of the tie-breaker system, 88-year-old James Van Alen, had appeared in the morning papers.

"Really?" Edberg said. "I don't know what to say."

Reclaiming the crown -- Boris Becker will reclaim the world No. 1 men's tennis ranking from Edberg by virtue of the results in the men's semifinals.

Becker, a three-time Wimbledon champion, first took over from Edberg at the top of the Association of Tennis Professionals computer rankings in January after he won the Australian Open. But he dropped back to second three weeks later through injury.

Are you being served? -- Jennifer Capriati, 15, is the tournament's hardest-serving woman. The radar gun caught her at 108 mph during her quarterfinal upset of Martina Navratilova. Steffi Graf, in the final against Gabriela Sabatini, is next at 107.

The fastest serve in the men's bracket remains Marc Rosset's shot of 134 recorded in a first-round loss to Edberg. It also is the fastest on the tour this year. Stich is second at 124.

Notes -- The men's doubles final today will match Javier Frana of Argentina and Leonardo Lavalle of Mexico against John Fitzgerald of Australia and Anders Jarryd of Sweden. The women's doubles will match Gigi Fernandez of Puerto Rico and Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia against Larisa Savchenko and Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union.

-- The total attendance so far has been 336,114, and with two days to go, that's 33,602 above last year, even though the first week was plagued by rain.

-- The umpires for today's women's final will be Jane Tabor, 34, of Sutton Montis, Somerset in England. Her officiating career began when she was recruited from the crowd at a tournament at Wembley in 1979. In 1988, she umpired the women's singles final at the Seoul Olympics. She umpired the Wimbledon women's doubles final in 1989. In tomorrow's men's final, the umpire will be 36-year-old John Bryson of Essex in England. This is his first Wimbledon singles final after becoming an official in 1980. He is a police officer.

-- Whoever wins the men's singles title will collect a check for 240,000 pounds, but will lose $59,000 to fluctuating conversion rates.

The Association of Tennis Professional's dollar calculation for the winner's prize is based on the average conversion rate for the last six months of last year.

That average of $1.85 to the pound converts the 240,000 pound figure to $445,008. But the current rate here is $1.61 and that works out at only $386,000 should the winner want to cash his check in London.

-- When the tournament is over, Centre Court will get a facelift. The fabled green roof and 26 pillars that support it will be replaced. The pillars are located within the seating area and partially obstruct 3,601 seats. The new stadium roof will be supported by four pillars, only two of which will be within the seating area.

Compiled from Associated Press, Reuters and Scripps-Howard news services, Newsday, Washington Post and Baltimore Sun.