Grand finale

As he bows out, it's time to acknowledge Sampras as the best ever

Let's make this week's Player of the Week Award an emeritus honor and give it to Pete Sampras, who officially retired last week and will be feted Monday night at the National Tennis Center on the first day of the U.S. Open. Though someone so distrustful of glitz and schmaltz has to be uneasy about being honored in a ceremony that includes the cast of a Broadway musical, we commend Sampras for agreeing to attend the grand sendoff he so thoroughly deserves. Returning to the site of the first and last Grand Slam titles he won -- bookends bracketing a dozen other Majors -- and commanding attention for the first night of the Open is a pitch-perfect ending. For more on Sampras see below. ...

As for the POW runners-up: Jennifer Capriati seems to be getting her groove back at just the right time. The Capster looked Mach3-sharp, winning the Pilot Pen event in New Haven (known colloquially as the Vaughan Turekian Invitational). Though her last two wins of the tournament were bittersweet, as both Amelie Mauresmo and Lindsay Davenport withdrew with injuries, the USS J-Cap is sailing smoothly. ... On the men's side, Paradorn Srichaphan defended his title at the TD Waterhouse event on Lawn Guyland, beating James (Hugo Boss shirt $324, styling by Giancarlo of SoHo) Blake in the final. We're still nervous about that first-round match-up against Cyril Saunier in Flushing, but if Paradorn (the Interruption) can keep his wits about him, he has the game to do some serious damage at the Open. (Plus, if he wins, we already have the headline for Sports Illustrated story on him: The Queens and I). ... For our readers in Tora Bora, Venus Williams pulled out of the Open with the same strained abdominal muscle that has hampered her for much of the year. (Translation: If Capriati or Davenport doesn't reach the women's final, the hemlock vendor near the CBS headquarters will do a brisk business). ... The Delaware Smash beat the Sacramento Recall to win the World Team Tennis championship. ...

Lost amid the news about Sampras officially hanging 'em up, Venus pulling out and Andy Roddick drawing Tim Henman in the first round, the following item went under the proverbial radar last week: Pat McEnroe did the right thing and added the Bryan Brothers to the next U.S. Davis Cup team. ... Back to the Roddick-Henman pairing. An interesting side note: Henman was originally only two spots away from being seeded; and then one spot after Marat Safin withdrew. Had another seed gone Funny Cide on us -- say Al (Roller) Costa, whom sources tell the 'Bag was on the fence -- Henman would have snagged just the 32nd seed and his spot in the draw would have been reconfigured. ... What with the Andy Roddick story in the current People, the Andre Agassi Q&A in the same issue, the recent Roddick spread in W, and the James Blake fashion layout in Sunday's New York Times magazine (along with a terrific accompanying essay written by FOB Horatio Silva) someone behind the scenes has been doing ace PR work for tennis. ... Speaking of media, George Vescey's column on the appeal of international players in last weeks' New York Times should be required reading for anyone heading out to the Open ... The proverbial mad props for American Express on another memorably creative ad campaign centered around both the U.S. Open and the sport of tennis. Wish they were all like that. ... Speaking of ad campaigns, Chris Evert, Monica Seles and Mary Joe Fernandez (where'd they get that unlikely trifecta?) all Got Milk. What they don't all got is their names spelled correctly. If you happen to see the ad, try to find the error. (Maybe they could use some of that milk moustache as White-out). ... Irony of the Week Award: Anna Kournikova -- perhaps the single least-media-friendly athlete this side of Barry Bonds -- has, curiously enough, been hired as an entertainment reporter for USA Network's coverage of the Open. Sources tell us that none of Kournikova's segments will be aired live. ... Then again, as my esteemed colleague Richard Deitsch wittily noted last week, Kournikova's considerable shelf life at least quiets those who complain that society places too much emphasis on winning. ... J. Wayne Richmond, an executive V.P. with the ATP, will be leaving his post after the Open. He is one of tennis' good guys and will be missed. ...To many of us, the Sunday before the Open can seem like Christmas Eve. But even at this happy time, keep Leander Paes, one of the most decent people you'll ever meet (and not a bad doubles player, to boot) in your thoughts while he recovers from a brain lesion. Or better yet, send him a get-well card:

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando
Guest Services -- Leander Paes
1400 South Orange Avenue
Orlando, FL 32806

I'm told that you can also e-mail him through this Web site.

A handful of questions before the games begin:

Now that he is "officially" retired, where do you think Pete Sampras stands in history? How much does not winning the French Open affect his all-time status? Can we now say that he is the best ever? --David Friedman, Great Neck, N.Y.

To answer your question, in reverse order we say: yes; some, but not as much as you'd think; at the top. We hate comparing players from different eras. And we should respectfully pay homage to Rod Laver. But let's stop kidding ourselves. Sampras should be anointed as the best ever. His record 14 Slams is only the half of it. How about Sampras finishing at No.1 for six straight years -- a terminally underrated statistic -- which speaks to his focus, his intensity, his commitment to the inherent excellence of his game, and serves as a fierce rebuttal to questions about his health and fitness? How about Sampras' 14-4 record in Grand Slam finals, a testament to his neurological gifts and ability to elevate his game when the stakes were highest? How about the fact that he won Wimbledon -- rightly or wrongly considered the sport's premiere event --seven times? How about his unparalleled athleticism? As a press room crony once said in making the case that the Pete was the best ever, "God bless Laver, but he didn't hit too many slam dunk overheads or have the serve to ace Agassi 20 times in a match." How about Sampras' 2002 U.S. Open title, which not only bespoke an ability to overcome a slump but, in a weird way, humanized him and made him more sympathetic.

Sampras will always have his detractors. "He didn't win the French," they will say. Though they are right, the event is played on the surface of least significance to Sampras. And he did reach the semis one year and win a Masters Series event on dirt. But, more important, in the face of his other achievements it is a relatively small mark against him. "His Davis Cup commitment was half-hearted," they will say, forgetting that he once single-handedly won the Cup for the U.S. -- on clay, no less. "He was uninspiring," they will complain, never stopping to think 14 Slams ought to be more inspiring than snappy soundbites, loud outfits, look-at-me hairstyles and a manicured image.

Some athletes are regarded as kings while they play and are quickly forgotten once they retire. Sampras will meet the opposite fate. Just as he became more popular as he became more vulnerable, garnering what he was never accorded when he deserved it most, his appeal will grow with time. As men's tennis remains a sea of parity -- the likelihood of any current player winning more than four or five Slams in his career awfully faint -- as even a comprehensively dominating player the likes of Serena Williams can't finish two straight years at No.1, and as player after player retreats at 4-4 in the fifth set, Sampras' star will only shine brighter. Just you wait.

For the sake of argument, and in keeping with the arguments being made about Kim Clijsters' No. 1 ranking not making a lot of sense since she has never won a Grand Slam event, how can Andy Roddick, who has never won a Grand Slam event, be ranked No. 1 in the Champions Race? (He has never even made the final of a slam.)
--Julie Watt, Los Angeles

Roddick's pole position in the race is owed partially to aberrant results by other top players. Agassi won in Australia, but he has played a reduced schedule this year and hasn't gotten past the quarters at the other two Slams. Juan Carlos Ferrero was lights-out in the City of Light. But on surfaces other than clay he has only been mediocre. Roger Federer was terrific at Wimbledon but average in Australia and putrid in Paris.

But Roddick's status also bespeaks the importance (at least empirically) of the Masters Series events. When a player "only" reaches Grand semifinals but bags two Super Nines, to use the passe nomenclature, he is in rarefied air. (Similarly, you'll recall that last year Agassi was Slam-less but was gangbusters at Masters Series events and went to Shanghai in position to finish the year at No. 1.) While the women have Tier I events, they don't really have a Masters Series equivalent, a 64-draw event where you rest assured that, say, 90 percent of the top 50 will be present. Perhaps if they did -- and had Clijsters won the equivalents of Montreal and Cincinnati -- her top spot would be subject to less scrutiny.

Just a quick (but late) grass-court question. Why isn't there a grass Masters Series event? True, the season is by far the shortest, but a Grand Slam is played on grass, so why not recognize that? If time is an issue, what are you thoughts on making the Queens Club tournament into a Master Series event? --Mindy, Kansas

Good question. And it's one that many folks in high places are asking. In a perfect world, there ought to be a Masters Series event on grass. But if there are only two weeks separating the French and Wimbledon, adding a tournament would be a tough sell. You wouldn't want a big-ticket event to fall the week after the clay-court Slam; nor would you want to immediately precede the grass Slam. Adding a third week in between the French and Wimbledon -- which, mark my word, will happen soon -- would help. You'd play the grass Masters Series in the middle week. The next question is -- where? Queens Club is the obvious choice but, I gather, there are all sorts of arcane and archaic club rules that would have to be circumvented. Knowing how seamlessly the ITF, LTA and the ATP work together, the matter will be resolved within the next few years.

Clarissa Fernandez, Ashley Harkleroad, Daniela Hantuchova, etc., are women who teased us with the promise of a breakthrough year but then failed to deliver. Who does look like the next breakthrough player in the women's game? --Randy Mayes, Cleveland, Miss.

First off, Randy, don't give up so easily on the aforementioned players. Fernandez is the oldest of the bunch and she turns 22 later this week. But if I'm on safari, looking for up-and-comers these next few weeks, my eyes are fixed on Carly Gullickson, Maria Sharapova and Maria Kirilenko, who had to qualify to earn her main-draw spot.

I noticed that Anastasia Myskina and Vera Zvonareva played their first-round matches at the Pilot Pen last Sunday, the same day as the Final of the Toronto tournament they both played in last week. What if one of them had reached the Finals in Toronto? Would they have had to skip the Pilot Pen, or just reschedule their first-round matches? What is the general WTA policy on situations such as these? --Rocky Lucas, Ashland, Ky.

You picked a quirky tournament for your case study. Because of its proximity (temporal, not geographic) to the U.S. Open, the New Haven tournament starts on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday. But even with traditional Monday-Sunday events, what happens when a player is in, say L.A., for a Sunday match and is expected to be in Toronto the following day? Both tours are making scheduling allowances and extending every effort to accommodate players. When, say, Roddick played in the Sunday final in Montreal, he knew he wouldn't draw a Monday start the following day in Cincy. I'm sure when the New Haven schedulers were doing their thing, they were fully aware that some of the players in the draw were still in Toronto. Conversely, there was no doubt that other players had been in Central Connecticut and were eager to get on the court.

I've watched Elena Dementieva play a lot at the Rogers AT&T Cup in Toronto. I noticed that she has one of the worst second-serves I have ever seen. Her toss is very close to 3 o'clock and she just slices it, only to hit a double fault or have the opponent hit a powerful return. So I wondered: Which players have the worst second-serve on the WTA tour? --Chris N., Montreal

Since you brought up Dementieva, here's a quick story: the mother of a friend of mine caught some of the New Haven action the other day. I ran into her over the weekend and, in addition to enthusing about the state of Capriati's game, she said, "Do you know that Russian girl Dementia or something like that? Her serve is no more powerful than mine."

Anyway, who has the weakest second serves among, say, the top 50 players? Dementieva's at the head of the list, as are Spaniards Magui Serna and Conchita Martinez, who has a negligible toss and slices her second ball in the manner of a club pro reluctantly playing a set against an intermediate player. Amanda Coetzer isn't hitting second-serve aces. Neither is Anna (Smashnova) Pistolesi.

What's the deal with players blowing on their fingers during matches? I have seen Jelena Dokic do it almost nonstop at times, and have also noticed that Mardy Fish does it a lot, as well. I play tennis and I don't see the point behind it. Do you have any insight on what gives? --Paul, Northfield, Minn.

Hey when you're on a hot streak like Dokic is, you need to do something to cool off. Unless said gesture is being done with some irony, it doesn't make much sense to me, either. Maybe tennis needs to take a cue from bowling and provide players with those air blowers that I always manage to push accidentally when I mean to hit the reset button.

A few years ago, a reader asked you for tips on attending his first U.S. Open. This week, I'm going to the tournament for the first time and I could use those recommendations. Can you please reprint the list? --Robert Harth, Philadelphia

We aim to please here. I deleted a few of the dated entries, but most still hold:

Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers tennis for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.