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 'It's just really sweet' Sampras repeats for record-tying 5th Wimbledon title
Posted: Monday July 06, 1998 12:56 AM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Closing in on one of the mightiest records in tennis, Pete Sampras is the king of Wimbledon again. He won the tournament for the fifth time in six years Sunday with a 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (11-9), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 triumph over Goran Ivanisevic. "It's just really sweet," Sampras said. "I can't believe I've won five of these." When Ivanisevic sailed a backhand long on the first match point, Sampras raised his arms and flashed a big smile. The victory tied Sampras with Bjorn Borg for the most Wimbledon singles titles of the open era. Borg won five straight from 1976-80. Sampras, who received $722,000 for the win, also moved into a second-place tie with Borg and Rod Laver on the list of Grand Slam victories, just one behind the record 12 of Roy Emerson. Ivanisevic took home $361,000. "It's a little overwhelming to think of myself in those terms," Sampras said. "I've tried to stay humble through all of my accomplishments. I've got some years left in me where hopefully I can do this again." By reasserting his grass-court superiority, and extending his Wimbledon record to 44-2 since 1992, Sampras ended a yearlong slump in which he failed to get past the quarterfinals of the last three Grand Slam events. "The year has been a little bit up and down but I know why," he said. "I had a little bit of burnout. But I knew when Wimbledon came around, this is where it is for me and what it's all about." It was the first time Sampras had played a fifth set in a Grand Slam final. "I was very nervous in the fifth set," he said. "I was able to raise my level just a little bit. The next thing I knew I won the match. It was kind of a weird feeling." Sampras looked in big trouble after losing the first set and going into a tiebreaker in the second. But he saved two set points in the tiebreaker to turn the match around. "I got a little lucky out there," he said.
For Ivanisevic, it marked his third defeat in a Wimbledon final. He lost to Andre Agassi in 1992 and Sampras in 1994. "I had a chance," he said. "This was my best chance ever here." Ivanisevic, who had won only one match in his five previous Grand Slam events and was largely overlooked this year, was devastated. "I know people die, but this is the worst ever," he said. "Nobody died yet. I had to get motivated to play tennis again, I don't know how long it's going to take to get over this." Ivanisevic said he would have won the match had he taken the second set. He blamed his fifth-set fade on the marathon 28-game fifth set in his semifinal win over Richard Krajicek. "I was more tired than him," he said. "My legs didn't listen." The match was dominated by big serves and featured few extended rallies, another example of the power tennis that has typified Wimbledon finals in the 1990s. Ivanisevic had 32 aces and Sampras had 12. But the key was Ivanisevic's 20 double faults. The match was settled in the sixth game of the fifth set when Sampras broke for 4-2, ripping a backhand return at Ivanisevic's feet. After Sampras held for 5-2, Ivanisevic buried his head in his towel and muttered to himself during the changeover. Sampras then broke him at love in the next game to end the 2-hour, 52-minute match. Ivanisevic said he was so drained he had little on his serve in the last game -- "no pace, nothing there." Ivanisevic won the first set with a roller-coaster serving show that included 13 aces and nine double faults. Ivanisevic saved six break points, including four double faults in one game, while Sampras saved three. The tiebreaker went Ivanisevic's way when he hit a backhand passing shot for a mini-break and 2-0 lead and increased the lead to 5-2 with a forehand winner. He then followed with an ace and a service winner.
The first service break of the match came in the second game of the second set when Sampras, head to head with Ivanisevic across the net, stabbed a reflex backhand volley to go up 2-0. But Ivanisevic broke right back in the next game. It took four break points before he converted by driving a forehand pass down the line. Sampras didn't serve his first ace until the fifth game of the second set, when he hit three in a row. Only five points went against serve over the next nine games as the two headed into another tiebreaker. Sampras saved two set points, while serving at 5-6 and 7-8, both times Ivanisevic failing to take advantage of second serves and hitting high backhand returns into the net. "The two set points going to my backhand I missed the balls, which is ridiculous," Ivanisevic said. Sampras had two set points with Ivanisevic serving at 6-7 and 8-9, but the Croatian saved both with service winners. The turning point came on the 19th point when an Ivanisevic shot was ruled in but was then changed to out by the lineswoman. Sampras, initially thinking he had lost the point, shouted, "Oh, my God," and held his head in his hands in disbelief. But the point was replayed, and Ivanisevic sailed a sloppy forehand volley way long to give Sampras a third set point, this time on his own serve. He promptly hit a service winner to take the set and even the match. "I felt the match slipping away in the breaker," Sampras said. "I thought this could be Goran's year. Once I won the second set I thought, `Now he's down and I'm up a little bit.'" Sampras needed just one break in the fifth game to win the third set. Ivanisevic played a weak forehand volley into the net at deuce to give Sampras a third break point. Sampras converted by punching a backhand crosscourt return for a winner, then pumped his right fist and screamed, "Yeah!" In the fourth set, Ivanisevic broke at love for a 4-2 lead with four spectacular backcourt passing shots. On the break point, he chased a volley way off the side of the court and slammed a forehand crosscourt winner. Two games later, he served his 30th ace to close the set and send the match into a decisive fifth.
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Pete Sampras celebrates winning the third set 
