 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CENTERS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
 |
Agassi, Sampras renew rivalry
By Richard Deitsch, Sports Illustrated The press conference room was now just steps away and Pete Sampras, shuffling through the bowels of Arthur Ashe Stadium in a crisp white T-shirt, surfer-style shorts and blue flip-flops following his impressive win over Patrick Rafter in the fourth round, bounced with the swagger of a fighter who had just defended his title. His escort, an affable fellow from the ATP Tour named Miki Singh, was explaining to the four-time Open champion that CBS would need him after he chatted with the print media. Sampras smiled and returned a razor-sharp volley that was as fast as one of his serves minutes earlier. "Really," he told Singh, the sarcasm as heavy as one of his first serves. "Is that how this thing works?" That's how it has worked this week: Sampras walking into a packed media room like a conquering king. After being written off following a 17-tournament title drought, Sampras is now coming off his two best matches of 2001, including a four-set win Tuesday over Rafter, the pick of many to win this tournament. What seemed incredulous last month now seems entirely possible: Pete Sampras may win the U.S. Open. Styles, of course, make fights, and the dueling styles of Andre Agassi, the quintessential return man, and Sampras, the serve-and-volley stud, should make for something special Wednesday night under the klieg lights of Arthur Ashe. For the 32nd time in their careers,Agassi and Sampras will meet on a tennis court (Sampras currently leads the series, 17-14). The pair have faced off in 15 finals (Sampras leads 8-7), seven Grand Slam events (Sampras leads 4-3) and twice in 2001 -- the last time on July 29 in Los Angeles, when Agassi further dashed Sampras' fragile confidence with a 6-4, 6-2 victory. It was Agassi's third straight win in the series. "Another heavyweight," said Sampras, when asked Monday about facing Agassi this week. The first of these heavyweight battles took place on a patch of red clay in Rome on May 17, 1989, when a 19-year-old Agassi easily defeated the 17-year-old Sampras 6-2, 6-1. The two have only squared off twice at the Open. The first meeting took place during at Sampras' coming-out party in 1990, when the callow 19-year-old with a serve as hot as a pistol stunned the field, and Agassi in the final, on the way to his first Grand Slam singles title. Five years later Sampras defeated Agassi in the U.S. Open final again for his seventh Slam. The sport's greatest rivals, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, faced each other 80 times over two decades, with Navratilova ending up ahead, 43-37. Still playing after all these years, Navratilova was on the court Tuesday in doubles, falling with partner Aranxta Sánchez-Vicario in three sets to Sandrine Testud and Roberta Vinci. "Sometimes you could overthink things against Chris," Navratilova said of their rivalry. "But overall, it was very easy emotionally to get up for it. She was a champion. We usually played each other in the finals. It was a no-brainer. Bring it on. Let's do it again." Sampras and Agassi will do it again Wednesday night in the quarterfinals and, as always, the matchup is easy to handicap. Agassi will try to dictate tempo from the baseline; Sampras will try to serve him off the court. The man who imposes his will on the other wins the battle. Both players looked sharp in their last matches, with Sampras hitting 60 winners to just 14 unforced errors against Rafter and Agassi taking out Roger Federer in 1 hour, 23 minutes. It should be terrific stuff. The pick here is Agassi in four.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
