Oh Say, They Can See Sampras-Courier Final : Tennis: Courier has more trouble with reporter than with Edberg. Sampras slugs his way past Becker.

Fire up the barbecue (can you grill a steak-and-kidney pie?), salute the flag (not the Union Jack) and have a picnic (forget that tea party), the Yanks aren’t merely coming, they’re here, all over the place.

The Wimbledon men’s singles final for the tennis championship of England is going to be an all-American affair between Pete Sampras and Jim Courier, scheduled, appropriately enough, for the Fourth of July.

But the fireworks have already started.

Courier stopped just short of challenging an English reporter to step outside during his news conference after a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 upset of Stefan Edberg.

David Miller, chief sports columnist of the London Times, asked Courier if he thought his parents would be proud of him for shouting obscenities during the match.

Courier: “What do you want me to say? Are you perfect?”

Miller: “By no means.”

Courier: “Then don’t ask any questions. Just keep your mouth shut, all right?”

Miller: “Don’t get abusive.”

Courier: “You’re being abusive to me. . . . I’ve already said I was sorry that I did it. Do you have anything else to say? We can have a one-on-one interview when you like. Let’s do it.”

That exchange, though, was not the best of the day. Sampras, in more conventional--and athletic--fashion, blew past Boris Becker, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-4, in a semifinal matchup of monster serves.

Sampras slammed 12 aces, not an overpowering number, but was consistent enough that Becker never broke his serve.

“Sometimes I thought that he didn’t know the difference between the first and second serves,” Becker said. “He was really hitting them hard and he played an excellent match.”

Becker could not say the same about himself. He had 14 aces, but also 12 double faults.

Becker traced the trouble with his serve to an unexpected source--his legs. Basically, he said, they were worn out by his 4-hour 15-minute quarterfinal match against Michael Stich on Wednesday.

“My match with Stich was too tough, maybe, and my whole draw, every time I had a tough opponent,” Becker said.

Becker’s road to the semifinals included serve-and-volley German countryman Marc Goellner, veteran Jakob Hlasek, another serve-and-volley specialist in Henri Leconte, then Stich.

“I was a step slow today,” Becker said. “My legs . . . were not as strong as they were in the past couple of matches, and that’s why I served so many double faults.”

The double faults were doubly troubling for Becker because they allowed Sampras to win points without having to swing his racket.

In the first game of the second set, Becker double-faulted twice from 0-30, giving Sampras the only break he needed.

In the first game of the third set, Becker double-faulted at break point, giving Sampras another early advantage.

Said Sampras: “He got, I think, maybe a little tight.”

It’s not as if Becker didn’t have any chances. Becker had a break-point chance to get back on serve at 4-4 in the second set, but could only watch in disbelief when Sampras put a backhand volley right on the line.

With Sampras serving at 5-4, he double-faulted to 15-40, but saved both break points with low, slicing volley winners.

Sampras closely guarded his one-break advantage in the third set. He served two aces for 5-3 and served for the match at 5-4.

There were two more chances for Becker, two final opportunities to get back into the match and maybe play for the title he has won three times.

When Becker smoked a first-serve return straight down the line, he had break point. Sampras quickly saved it with a strong first serve that Becker returned long for deuce.

Becker got another good swing at a first serve and knocked a return at Sampras’ feet for another break point. Sampras coolly saved this one with a big first serve, followed by a forehand volley winner that kicked up the dirt at Centre Court.

After that, the end came quickly. Sampras scored with a lunging, stab forehand volley and closed it out with a winning formula, a big first serve and a volley winner.

Sampras shook hands with Becker, then turned to face the crowd and raised both arms above his head.

“I felt great,” Sampras said. “I mean, there is no better feeling than winning a big match like that.”

The next big match comes up Sunday in the final, when the No. 1 ranking will be at stake. If Sampras wins, he keeps it. If Courier wins, it’s his.

The way Courier looks at it, he’s absolutely shocked to be playing in the final. He figured he would be playing something else by now.

“It feels strange,” he said. “I’ve been in the other finals of the other Grand Slams and it never really felt new to me. But this one really feels different, I guess, because I’m just surprised more than anything else. I thought I would be playing golf tomorrow afternoon.”

Instead, Courier gets a chance to win his first Wimbledon title, but so does Sampras.

For Edberg, a two-time Wimbledon winner, it was a particularly galling defeat. He led, 6-4, 2-0, then let Courier back in. He had six aces and eight double faults and lost his serve seven times.

“I just lost it for a while and I never managed to get it back,” Edberg said. “It was just that I didn’t serve well enough today. You can’t do that against a guy like Jim, he’s going to climb all over you.

“He played well, (but) it has got to do a little bit with me, too. . . . I was in charge, no doubt about that. I let it slip away, unfortunately, and I have no one to blame but myself.”

Courier said Edberg was tight. As for playing Sampras, Courier said he will be as loose as he was last week when he took the night off and went to see a concert by the rock group Midnight Oil.

“I feel good,” he said. “I didn’t expect to be here, so it’s all a bonus for me.”

Tennis Notes

There have been seven other all-American Wimbledon men’s finals, the last in 1984, when John McEnroe defeated Jimmy Connors, but only two have been played on July 4. In 1982, Connors defeated McEnroe, and in 1947, Jack Kramer beat Tom P. Brown. . . . Pete Sampras is 7-2 against Jim Courier and 3-0 against Courier in finals. They have never met on a grass court. . . . Courier is being helped by the condition of the courts. Because it hasn’t rained during the tournament, the courts are playing hard and the balls are bouncing high. “The ball’s bouncing up higher, but the grass is very short, obviously, and in some places it’s just almost concrete there,” Courier said. The last time it didn’t rain at Wimbledon during the tournament was in 1976.

* WOMEN’S FINAL

Steffi Graf might be bothered by a sore foot today against Jana Novotna, who is playing in her first grass-court title match. C9