Ivanisevic Assures Croatia of First Medal

Freedom, for the American male tennis player in Barcelona, meant escaping a cramped, non-air-conditioned apartment in the Olympic village apartment for the luxury hotel down the block.

Suffering was being forced to play best-of-five matches on spongy clay in 95-degree heat.

Sacrifice was spending three rounds in the Olympic tennis tournament for a measly $10 per diem.

Where Goran Ivanisevic comes from, those words carry different definitions. Ivanisevic plays tennis for Croatia, where the war for independence from Yugoslavia has dragged on, bloodily, into the late summer. Ivanisevic plays a game while his countrymen and women struggle daily.

So if Ivanisevic is required to pound away for five sets, round after round after round, and withstand the searing sun for nearly 4 1/2 hours, and rally from two sets down to win his quarterfinal match, 8-6, in the fifth, he reasons that it isn’t asking too much.

“This was a very important match for all of Croatia, not only for me,” Ivanisevic said after spending 4 hours and 22 minutes on Center Court, where he beat France’s Fabrice Santoro on Monday, 6-7 (7-5), 6-7 (7-1), 6-4, 6-4, 8-6. “I said, ‘You have to win this match. You can’t lose this match. You have to win. It doesn’t matter if you have to stay 10 hours on the court.’ ”

With temperatures approaching 110 degrees, Ivanisevic, the last of the top-10-seeded men still in the tournament, labored through his fourth consecutive five-set match--staring down a 5-2 deficit in the fifth and two match points.

Santoro, 19, who upset Boris Becker on Saturday, served for the match at 5-3 and was twice a point away from breaking Ivanisevic at 5-4. Both times, Ivanisevic persevered, drawing inspiration from a Croatian flag being waved in the stands and the chants of “Gor-ahn! Gor-ahn!”

One more minor detail:

Ivanisevic knew that a victory over Santoro would assure him a bronze medal--the first in Croatia’s brief Olympic history.

“I am the first person to win a medal for all these people who are waiting, a new country,” Ivanisevic announced proudly. “When you play for your country, when everybody expects a medal from you, you have to fight. You have to die. It’s such a great thing for all the people there, because the war is still on there. It is motivation for the other people. All those fighters, fighting for the freedom of Croatia--nobody knows how those people feel. Even I don’t. But this is going to give them motivation to keep fighting. This medal is going to pump them up so they’re going to fight more and try to end this war.”

All Olympic tennis semifinalists are guaranteed at least a bronze medal and Ivanisevic earned his the same way he reached the Wimbledon final a month ago--with his serve. Ivanisevic powered 15 aces past Santoro, including the match winner--a blur into the corner at Santoro’s backhand side.

Having given his country the shirt off his back, Ivanisevic immediately did the same for a nearby countryman. Spotting the man who had been waving the Croatian flag the entire match, Ivanisevic whipped off his shirt and fired it 10 rows up--a perfect, sweaty strike.

The white baseball cap he had worn met a similar fate and to a standing ovation, a half-naked Ivanisevic made his way off the court, a beaming grin never vanishing from his face.

Earlier in the tournament, when his five-set total had reached a mere two, Ivanisevic quipped that if he kept playing this way, “I will need a doctor and then go to the hospital.”

Now his five-set streak stands at four, equaling Eliot Teltscher’s open-era record, established at the 1979 French Open.

Mr. Ivanisevic, the doctor will see you now.

“Not yet,” Ivanisevic said with a laugh. “I’ll wait. When I win the gold, then I go to the hospital and rest.”

Having outlasted the U.S. contingent of Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Michael Chang, plus Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, Ivanisevic is now a victory away from the gold-medal match. In his way is unseeded Marc Rosset of Switzerland, who advanced by defeating 12th-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-6 (11-9).

The women’s semifinal field was set Monday, with Mary Joe Fernandez and Jennifer Capriati of the United States both assuring themselves of bronze medals. Fourth-seeded Fernandez, who had to overcome flu and dehydration in the early rounds, beat Switzerland’s Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere in the quarterfinals, 5-7, 6-1, 6-0. Capriati, seeded No. 3, swept past Germany’s Anke Huber, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).

Fernandez will face No. 1 Steffi Graf of Germany in one semifinal and Capriati will oppose No. 2 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain in the other. Graf scored her fourth consecutive straight-set victory, requiring 50 minutes to defeat Sabine Appelmans of Belgium, 6-1, 6-0. Sanchez Vicario advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over compatriot Conchita Martinez.