Pete Sampras came to the French Open less concerned about the
fuss over the one Grand Slam event he has never won than, he
said, "about my Lakers getting swept." His nonchalance was
ill-timed, for Sampras and every other American man found
themselves on the business end of a broom in the opening days at
Roland Garros. Andre Agassi was ushered out by Marat Safin of
Russia, an 18-year-old qualifier. Two-time French champion Jim
Courier was a straight-set loser to anonymous Jens Knippschild
of Germany. Then Sampras himself saw a 4-1 lead in the first set
get soiled in a rain delay and lost to No. 97 Ramon Delgado of
Paraguay in straight sets. Of the dozen U.S. men in the draw,
only Michael Chang got past the second round. "We're still in
doubles, aren't we?" Chang said, after beating John Van Lottum
of the Netherlands, in a tone tentative enough to foreshadow his
loss a round later to Spain's Francisco Clavet.
Against the 97th-ranked Delgado, Sampras went from
Pistol Pete to pistol-whipped.
(Laurent Rebours/AP)
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It makes sense that the premier clay-court test would become the
first Grand Slam event in the Open era in which no U.S. man
reached the round of 16. After learning the game primarily on
faster hard courts, Americans find themselves facing patient
players willing to build points with painstaking care. Early
rains slowed the clay more, leaving the Yanks frustrated at not
being able to put away shots that would have been hard-court
winners. "It's like trying to swat a fly and missing it all the
time," said Jan-Michael Gambill, one of the U.S. losers.
As for Sampras, he has failed nine times to add a French title
to a portfolio that includes championships in four Wimbledons,
four U.S. Opens and two Australians. Against Delgado, he seemed
distracted, almost uninterested, although he insisted, "The
motivation's still there." If so, he might consider taking on a
clay-court guru like Jose Higueras, who helped Courier to his
two titles, or going to Europe in early spring to get in two
months of work on dirt tracks. Tony Roche, who worked with Ivan
Lendl during Lendl's unavailing quest to win Wimbledon, believes
Sampras can win in Paris, but suggests he would have to turn
doing so into a paramount goal. Sampras demurs. "Lendl and
Wimbledon, that was an obsession," he says. "I can't be
obsessed. It's not my personality."
The question is whether there's sufficient patience in that
personality. "Patience is a necessity on any surface, even in
life," says Chang. That he was the American whose Parisian stay
lasted the longest is not a surprise.
Issue date: June 8, 1998
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