Anonymous Open
Men's semifinal draw not exactly a who's who
Posted: Wednesday January 27, 1999 09:07 PM
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Yevgeny Kafelnikov (No. 10) is the only men's semifinalist who was seeded coming in AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Meet the men of the Anonymous Open.
The Australian semifinalists hail from Ecuador, Russia, Sweden and Germany, and even in those countries they are not household names.
The baby-faced kid from Ecuador, Nicolas Lapentti, is ranked No. 91, and the closest he ever came to a Grand Slam trophy is gazing at one in the house of his neighbor and hero in Guayaquil, 1990 French Open champ Andres Gomez.
Lapentti, 22, plays Thomas Enqvist, a 24-year-old Swedish journeyman who will never be confused with Stefan Edberg, Mats Wilander or Bjorn Borg. In seven years on the tour, Enqvist lost in the first round of majors seven times, the second round five times and the third round four times.
The Russian is Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the only player with a Grand Slam credential -- on the French red clay in 1996 -- and the only semifinalist who was seeded, coming in at No. 10.
The title, he figures, is his for the taking, though he knows as well as anyone that the men's draw and the prestige of the championship were diminished the moment Pete Sampras announced he was too tired to come.
"It hurt not only the tournament but the fans that Pete Sampras was not able to play," Kafelnikov said Wednesday night after dispatching the last American man, an injured No. 15 Todd Martin, 6-2, 7-6 (1), 6-2.
"Everybody knew that [Sampras] would be the favorite. As soon as I found out, I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to win the slam. Once the best player in the world is not competing, it really opened up the field for everybody."
And so, it seemed, everybody who showed up had a chance.
Kafelnikov will play Tommy Haas, a 20-year-old German who has spent half his life in Florida, slugging balls under the tutelage of coach Nick Bollettieri.
Haas was a special project for Bollettieri, who wanted to prove he could develop a champion with an all-court game -- not just a baseliner like Andre Agassi, Jim Courier or Monica Seles.
But Haas is hardly of that caliber yet, and in seven previous majors has fallen in the first round three times, and the second and third rounds twice each. Suddenly, in Australia, he's in the semis.
Kafelnikov would appear to have the road clear to a second major title. A superstitious fellow, he has not shaved since the tournament began, and he makes sure he gets in a round of golf on days off "just to stay away from the tennis center, because sometimes it drives you crazy."
Kafelnikov had an easy time against Martin, whose serve was restricted by an abdominal muscle strain that he called "painful and inhibiting."
It was a lost cause from the start for Martin, but he tried his best and took the loss lightly and with a sense of humor.
Trailing 0-2 in the third set, Martin saw Kafelnikov looking up into the crowd.
"A mobile phone was ringing. I thought he was looking up at the statistics [on the scoreboard], at all my backhand errors," said Martin, who ended with 24.
"He said there a guy was wearing sunglasses at night."
Then as Martin served at 15-30, he hit what he thought was an ace but was called a fault. Martin turned in a praying gesture to the umpire, then asked Kafelnikov: "At two sets to love, would you give me that?"
"Second serve," said the umpire.
"I would rather have just had the point," Martin joked, though Kafelnikov did oblige him by slapping the serve long.
"He's a very friendly fellow," Martin said. "I don't feel bad about asking him for a call once in a while."
All the levity was too much for one spectator.
"This is not a comedy show," a voice from the crowd called.
Maybe not. But the way this tournament has gone for the men, it's awfully close.
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