TENNIS; Sampras and Graf Seek Grandeur at Wimbledon - The New York Times
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Sports |TENNIS; Sampras and Graf Seek Grandeur at Wimbledon
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The wrought-iron gates are polished, the bloom is on the roses twining through the courtside trellises and the grass will never be greener. The last Wimbledon of the 20th century is open for business, and the mood is a combination of elegiac and electric.
Some players are making an imprint here for the first time, and some, like Boris Becker, for the last, but they are united in their prayers for sustained sunshine and in their awe of the event that treats them all like royalty and offers the best of them the chance to rule their sport's most cherished castle, Center Court, in two weeks.
''If you took a census of all the players, I think Wimbledon is the greatest tournament to win,'' said Andre Agassi, the fourth-seeded player, whose recent French Open championship put his name again in the history books, this time as the first man since Rod Laver to win all four Grand Slam tournaments and the only man to win his Grand Slams on three different surfaces.
While grass is a surface that used to bemuse Agassi, the Las Vegan became enamored of Wimbledon in 1992 when he won his first major here. Since then, he has been a convert, and this year he is eager to improve on recent poor play here: a first-round loss in 1996, an injury no-show in 1997 and a second-round exit last year.
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''What makes Wimbledon so enjoyable is not necessarily the quality of the play,'' said the 29-year-old Agassi, who contends that grass offers all the reliability of a banana peel underfoot, ''but what you're witnessing. You're part of a sporting event. It's quite awesome.''
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As usual, there is history to be made here, and as usual, Pete Sampras, Wimbledon's defending champion and its titleholder for five of the past six years, is the man poised to make it.
''My form is there, my rhythm is there and my confidence is back,'' said Sampras, whose game and attitude seem to respond to Wimbledon the way a patch of parched turf responds to a dose of fertilizer and water.
Sampras expressed little apprehension about Scott Draper, his opponent when he inaugurates Center Court on Monday. ''I raise the bar whenever I come here,'' he said. ''Knowing you've won before -- done it five times -- gives you a good feeling about being able to go out and do it again. For me at Wimbledon, it's all about expectation, not pressure.''
The top-ranked Sampras, who won the Queen's grass title nine days ago in London, is seeking his third consecutive Wimbledon victory and sixth over all, a coup that would make him the first man in 110 years to rule these lawns with such prolonged authority. Should he succeed, Sampras, who is 39-1 over the last six seasons here, will break his second-place tie with Bjorn Borg and Laver and share Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam championships.
Just as fond of this place, and as decorated by it, as Sampras is Steffi Graf. She tiptoes across the grounds of the All England Club like a prima ballerina and is one of the few women players refusing to berate this Grand Slam for paying the women $1.2 million less in prize money than the men.
Now she will try to insure that her campaign for an eighth Wimbledon title is not anticlimactic to her sixth French Open title, which she won two weeks ago.
Still ''drunk with success'' after capturing her 22d Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros, a milestone she gilded by announcing her retirement from that Grand Slam, the second-seeded Graf said she isn't sure whether a title here would inspire a similar declaration.
At 30, Graf's body continues to be as fine-tuned as a Ferrari, but beneath the sleek facade there is a chronically sore spine that continues to test her pain threshold. Since Graf does not emulate Sampras's reverence for records, the fact that she is just two Grand Slam victories short of tying Margaret Court's record is not a motivating force for continuing -- or quitting -- tennis.
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''If I win, I'm not ruling out anything,'' Graf said on Saturday as she roamed the hallways beneath Center Court after her final full-scale practice session for Monday's opener against Slovakia's Ludmilla Cervanova, the 99th-ranked player. Graf used the French Open as her practice session for Wimbledon and came away with a title she thought she was far too tired to win. Here her expectations, and her energy level, are higher.
''Just because I won in Paris doesn't mean I'll win here, too, but I feel more confident without a doubt,'' said Graf, who, just in case this is her last Wimbledon, has coaxed John McEnroe back onto a mixed doubles court for the first time in 20 years. ''I'm in it now for the special moments, not planning that this or that may be my last match, but just letting things happen.''
One player with big plans for Wimbledon is top-ranked Martina Hingis, who disgraced herself with her teen-age temper tantrum during the French Open final against Graf.
Not exactly penitent, but aware that her behavior -- which Graf characterized as unconscionable for any player, champion or not -- has burned some bridges between her and her public, Hingis predicted a more businesslike approach to Wimbledon.
''I think you will see a different Martina at Wimbledon, a happier Martina,'' said Hingis, who won here in 1997. Hingis opens against 16-year-old Elena Dokic, the Australian qualifier whose father, Damir, was ejected nearly two weeks ago from an event at Birmingham, England, for drunken and disorderly conduct.
In other notable opening-day encounters, sixth-seeded Venus Williams, whose 10th-seeded sister, Serena, withdrew because of the flu, takes on Miriam Oremans, and 17th-ranked Anna Kournikova tackles Barbara Schwartz, the Austrian qualifier who upset Venus Williams at Roland Garros.