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Rafter's No. 1, Henman's doomed

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Posted: Tuesday August 03, 1999 01:01 PM

Sports Illustrated staff writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions weekly. Click here to send a question.

A tip of the cap to Patrick Rafter , who today becomes the fifth player this year to inherit the No.1 ranking. It's a tad anticlimactic, given that neither Rafter nor Andre Agassi , the deposed king of the hill, played a match last week. But Rafter is plenty deserving. Without the assistance of a behemoth serve, he might be the best all-court player and all-around athlete on Tour. "Being No. 1 is a goal you always strive for," he says. "It just feels great when you finally achieve it."

A better achievement still will be maintaining his ranking over the next six weeks. After a rocky start, Rafter went on a torrid streak last summer, winning two Super Nines and the U.S. Open. If my math is right, in theory he could win his next two tournaments this summer and then "re-defend" his Open title and still fall a spot in the rankings. Those of us who follow the bouncing ball closely know that it's simply the vagaries of the 52-week ranking system. But it's disconcertingly illogical to the casual fan. All the more reason to embrace the ATP Tour's "points race" that commences next year.

Your chestnuts ...

I found the negative commentary that prevailed throughout the Davis Cup very annoying. Anyone who taped the D.C. in March can hear Patrick McEnroe voice the opinion that if Pete Sampras ever decided to play D.C. again he should play doubles and sub. When he does just that, McEnroe proceeds to trash the entire D.C. Team, undermining the abilities of Courier, Martin, and the integrity of Gullikson. This is not entertainment. Luckily we still had Fred Stolle and some exciting tennis. Because of McEnroe's about-face and relentless criticism there must have been something going on that doesn't meet the eye. What was it?
—M. Neumann, Carol Stream, Ill.

I was at the event and thus didn't hear the television coverage, but your point is well taken. Announcers clamber aboard bandwagons and get swept away in the prevailing winds all the time, though, so I'm not shocked. Whatever side of the Sampras debate you took, the real problem was Gullikson's indecision. I would hope the announcers would have stressed that point.

Anyway, since you asked (peripherally, anyway), my big gripe with the tennis coverage these days is that it's fraught with conflicts of interest. Pat McEnroe is a great guy, but when his brother is publicly campaigning for Gully's job, is he really the most objective source to cover Davis Cup? Similarly -- and again, I'm only assuming here -- was it not awkward to hear Fiery Fred Stolle do color commentary for Sandon Stolle 's potentially decisive doubles match? When Chris Evert is Martina Hingis ' assigned "mentor" on the WTA Tour, do we really expect her to honestly assess her protegee's character failings?

What do you think the future implications are for Tom Gullikson as Davis Cup captain after his poor judgement in not using Sampras for singles? Also, do you think John McEnroe would be a better choice of the two?
—Mark Gabriel, Atlanta, Ga.

Sources tell me -- sounds sexy, doesn't it? -- that the Pooh-Bahs at the USTA aren't so thrilled with Gullikson, but until there is a more palatable option to replace him, he'll remain as captain. It also helps that Pete Sampras pulled a Michael Jordan vis-a-vis Phil Jackson and said he'll only play for Gully.

Love him or hate him, Mac's commitment to Davis Cup was unwavering and there's no question his captaincy would generate plenty of attention. At the same time, he is such a loose cannon that it would be a Faustian bargain to have him aboard the ship. What's more, the Davis Cup captain has duties within the USTA in addition to sitting on the sidelines for four (or two, in this case) weekends a year. Mac would be fine as a "bench coach" but I don't see him taking much interest in the job's peripheral duties.

It was just announced that Tim Henman is going to marry his long-time girlfriend Lucy Heald later this year. Considering that married tennis players tend to not do as well as not-married players for the most part, should us British stop looking forward to him raising the Wimbledon trophy one of these years?
—Samantha Jones, Birmingham, England

Remind me again: how many Grand Slams did Agassi win while he was betrothed? Tim Henman will be lucky to qualify for next year's Wimbledon.

I'm most intrigued by your mention from the previous Mailbag of some animosity existing between Sampras and Rafter. What is/are the reason(s) for these sore feelings?
—Mark Purdue, Toronto, Canada

I think the flames were fanned in Cincinnati last year when Rafter beat Sampras in a third-set tiebreak and Sampras offered no words of congratulations but instead railed incessantly about a botched line call on match point. Rafter's response: don't be such a crybaby. A few weeks later, Sampras is beating Rafter in the semis of the Open when he comes up lame. At the press conference, Sampras, usually plenty gracious in defeat, conspicuously says nothing complimentary about his counterpart. Asked what the difference between he and Rafter was, Sampras snapped: "about 10 Grand Slams." (Of course, by the end of the weekend, it was only nine.)

In the most recent issue of GQ, Rafter is quoted as saying something to the effect of "I've given up trying to say nice things about Pete." I asked a Sampras confidant if this animosity wasn't simply Ali - Liston posturing to generate more interest in their matches. His response: "No, Pete really thinks he's an a------." Similarly I posed to Mark Woodforde , whose loyalties obviously lie toward Rafter. "I think Pete is upset, maybe a bit jealous, that Pat is every bit as popular in this country as he is," said Woodforde.

Do you know why Lindsay Davenport is not playing Fed Cup this weekend? Was she "unavailable" or did BJK not ask her? Although I have admired Mary Jo Fernandez in the past and she has always "been there" for the U.S. in Fed Cup, I believe Lindsay would be a stronger addition to the team.
—Ruth Attacker, Boynton Beach, Fla.

Good question. I'm not aware of any feud with Billie Jean King. Davenport, you'll recall, bagged on the Fed Cup last July and then went to win three hardcourt tournaments and the U.S. Open. So this might just have been a case of leaving well alone, not fixing what ain't broke, not messing with success, or one of those repugnant cliches. The U.S. didn't exactly need her services anyway. With the Williams sisters pounding away on the clay, the U.S. stomped Italy.

Incidentally, I'll be interested to see how Venus Williams acquits herself in Palo Alto this week. After playing six sets of tennis last weekend in Ancona, Italy, it will be understandable if she doesn't bring her A-game to the Bank of the West Classic.

After suffering through another weekend of Reader's Digest -quality television coverage of the Davis cup courtesy of ESPN I wondered if we will ever see a Tennis channel. As you might know, there is a golf channel -- at least on the satellite networks -- and it offers complete tournament coverage, instruction, discussions about equipment etc. What do you think ... are we doomed forever to joining the action sometime in the second set?
—Bill Stone, Bath, Maine

The short answer is yes. You'd think that with the sport's well-heeled demographic, some network would try to capitalize and devise a tennis-only channel. Whenever I've raised this question here, within the Time Warner empire, I'm told that the numbers simply don't smell good. Part of the problem is simply logistics, part of the problem is that there are some weeks with events, part of the problem is the various outstanding television rights for events that already exist.

A quick aside, you guys know that for some events the ESPN crew announces matches from the studios in Connecticut and is not in fact on-site. In addition to being more than a tad deceptive, let's hope there's never, say, a player injury that requires on-court coverage.

Is it possible for Steffi Graf and John McEnroe to play mixed doubles again, perhaps at the U.S. Open?
—Annabelle S, Gouzin, Manila, Philippines

Andre Agassi lands an endorsement deal with Paul Mitchell styling gel before Mac-Graf renew their partnership.

Send a question to Jon Wertheim, and check back the beginning of each week to read more of his answers.

 

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