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What comeback? Rafter's win over Agassi shows he's back to full strength
Posted: Friday July 07, 2000 02:41 PM
Patrick Rafter is in his first Wimbledon final and deservedly so. He played incredible tennis out there; he hasn't played that well that I've seen since coming back from his shoulder surgery last fall. He earned every point, Andre made him dig out volley after volley, and Rafter was moving as well as he has in his career. He says he's not in as good a shape longevity-wise as he'd like to be, but he is clearly moving very well point-to-point. That was just great tennis. Certainly, it was disappointing for Andre, but he can take consolation in the fact that, in my opinion, that was the best tennis these Championships have seen so far. As for the other semifinal -- Cinderella is dead. Pete Sampras had a very workmanlike three-set victory out there. He was just on cruise control -- it must be nice to be able to cruise into the finals at Wimbledon, even while hobbling on that bad leg. That sets up an interesting matchup in the final. Before Sampras won the last match between these two, Rafter had won the last three, so apparently Pat knows what to do against Pete out there. I expect Pete to be moving better than he has throughout the Championships, because he doesn't have to save anything, he can let it all fly.
Former world No. 1 Jim Courier is the men's tennis analyst for TNT and CNN/Sports Illustrated's coverage of the 2000 Wimbledon Championships.
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