In the bowels of Madison Square Garden Ivan Lendl, once the best tennis player in the world, sits in a small, windowless room that, one imagines, the CIA occasionally borrows for interrogations. He's dressed in a smart black suit and white dress shirt. He's tanned from the winter months spent in Florida.  Lendl is in New York to publicize his return to the tennis court. On April 10 at the Caesars Tennis Classic in Atlantic City he will play an exhibition match against former foe Mats Wilander. It will be Lendl's first "competitive" tennis match since he officially retired from the sport in 1994. In talking about the event he seems unemotional, similar to his well-documented demeanor on the court during his playing prime. "The opportunity came around, so I decided to give it a go," he says. He will be paid an undisclosed amount for showing up.  What animates Lendl, instead, is talking about his current obsession: golf. The game has become his abiding passion ever since he left tennis; in the past decade he has had years where he played 250 rounds. By throwing the same determination at golf as he once did with his tennis, he's become exceedingly proficient at the game. "I was a plus two [handicap] in November," he says. "But then it got windy in Florida over the winter and I've slipped back."  He got serious about golf as soon as he retired, mainly because it provided the outlet for his competitive nature. "I get more nervous about my golf matches than I ever did for my tennis," he says. The lessons learned from his tennis career have come in handy. He has remained fit. "It obviously plays a bigger part in tennis, but being in shape does help you swing better," he says. And he still studies up on his opponents, looking to use any competitive advantage and exploit any weakness.  Most of the golf he plays is in a club tournament setting, which means a match play format, the mano a mano of golf. "If I know my opponent is not a good bunker player and he hits it in the bunker on a Par 3, I will play it safe, play for the fat part of the green," he says. Does he still stare his opponents down with that steely gaze? "No, I'm past that, unless they are really good friends," he says.  Lendl, now that he's 50, says he's going to try to play in July's U.S. Senior Open. Qualifying starts in June. "I don't want to play full time on the [Champions] Tour, but I think the Open is the most important event," he says. He tried to play in the regular U.S. Open in 2008 but didn't make it out of the qualifying stages.  But his own goals make up only part of his golf obsession. He also has big dreams for his three daughters who play the game, all at nationally ranked levels (his two other daughters prefer horseback riding). Lendl's two older daughters, Marika and Isabelle, play golf for the University of Florida. His third golfing daughter, Daniela, who goes by the nickname "Crash," is 16 and will be playing at the University of Alabama next year.  He says his girls originally started out playing tennis, but there was too much pressure in following in their father's footsteps. Instead, they turned to golf. "I was playing a lot of golf when they were little," says Lendl. "They would always ride around in the cart with me. Then they started playing, and they were good at it and they liked it."  Lendl says his girls' desire to play on the LPGA Tour is constantly in flux. And he can't answer which one has the best game--that also fluctuates. Marika, a sophomore at Florida, and Isabelle, a freshman, recently tied for first in a college tournament. "And Crash is working very hard on a swing change. She's very close to playing very well," he says.
Former tennis star Ivan Lendl has become obsessed with golf--both his own game and the abilities of his seriously talented daughters.