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 Fighting a slump Can the green grass of Wimbledon revive Sampras?
Posted: Monday June 22, 1998 09:41 AM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- He's in a slump. He lacks motivation. He's burned out. Pete Sampras has heard it all and admits that much of it is true. But there's one antidote that can bring Sampras back to life: the green lawns of Wimbledon. "There's just something about Wimbledon -- the history, the grass, an intensity that seems to bring out the best in me," he said. "When I get onto Center Court, I'm pumped, and I think the other guys still fear me." Sampras gets a chance to halt his slide today when he begins defense of his Wimbledon title against Slovakia's Dominic Hrbaty in the opening match of the fortnight on Center Court. A solid showing should give some indication whether Sampras is poised to win his fifth championship in six years. "I feel come 2 o'clock Monday, it's kind of like coming back home," he said. "It hasn't been a great year by any means, but this is kind of where I kicked it in last year. I feel like I can obviously do it again." In a change from last year's rainy weather, sunny skies and warm temperatures greeted the players as the 112th edition of the championships began Monday. The first seeded player to advance was women's No. 9 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, who beat Kerry-Anne Guse of Australia 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour. With only two other former champions -- Andre Agassi and Richard Krajicek -- in the field and a shortage of strong grass-court players in the game, Sampras remains the favorite. But the American has lost his aura of invincibility since trouncing Cedric Pioline in straight sets in last year's final. He lost in the fourth round in the 1997 U.S. Open, the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the second round of the French Open. Sampras briefly lost his No. 1 ranking to Marcelo Rios, regained it and now holds it almost by default. In the Wimbledon warmup tournament at Queen's Club, Sampras lost in the third round to Australian doubles specialist Mark Woodforde. "Everyone is aware that, motivation-wise, he's not there," Woodforde said. Sampras agrees that motivation has been a problem, complaining that the season is too long and he never had time to rest and recover at the end of last year. "It's not easy getting motivated each week I play," he said. "But at this point, I know I'm getting motivated for what's coming up. I have no doubt in my mind that I'm going to get out of it. I can't think of a better place to do it than here." Nothing motivates Sampras more than Grand Slams, and with 10 Slam titles to his credit, he needs just two more to equal Roy Emerson's record of 12. Players who could stop him include Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Agassi, Krajicek, Petr Korda, Patrick Rafter and the two Brits -- Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman. The exceptionally wide-open nature of the men's tournament is underlined by this fact: there have been 10 different players in the last five Grand Slam finals. Agassi, the 1992 champion who has zoomed back up the rankings since dropping to 141st last November, was matched today against Spain's Alex Calatrava. In other featured men's matches, Kafelnikov faced big-serving Mark Philippoussis, Henman was up against Jiri Novak and Korda played Javier Sanchez. Much of the focus this year will fall on the women's tournament, where a fascinating mix of the new and the old will vie for the title. Martina Hingis, the defending champion and top seed, doesn't play until Tuesday. Fellow 17-year-olds Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova, recovering from a thumb injury, also are off until Tuesday. The highest women's seed in action on the opening day was No. 2 Lindsay Davenport, matched against Florencia Labat of Argentina. But the spotlight today fell on seven-time champion Steffi Graf, who was scheduled on Center Court against Spain's Gala Leon Garcia. The fourth-seeded German is playing her 13th Wimbledon. But it's her first in two years and her first Grand Slam tournament since undergoing major knee surgery a year ago. Graf's comeback has been slowed by a series of other injuries, but she looked back on track last week at the Eastbourne tournament, where she lost to Kournikova in a tight three-setter. Another leader of the old guard, Monica Seles, was scheduled to play today against Maria Sanchez Lorenzo. Seles, whose career was disrupted by a stabbing in 1993, made an inspiring run to the French Open final earlier this month, just three weeks after the death of her father Karolj.
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Pete Sampras says opponents still fear him at Wimbledon 