Injuries Abound, but for Once Graf Is Healthy

Greeted by cold, wind and a blowing rain, the world’s top tennis players limo-ed and limped into Roland Garros for today’s opening of the French Open. Most of them did, anyway.

The most important clay-court tournament in the world has been beset by the announcement of injured players pulling out, and injured players still entered but doubtful.

Out are Australian Open champion Boris Becker, who has never won here, and two top-10 women’s players: Gabriela Sabatini and Chanda Rubin.

In, but injured, are defending champion Thomas Muster, who is seeded second, top-seeded Pete Sampras and former champion and co-top-seeded Monica Seles.

In one newsworthy note on the injury front, Steffi Graf, who sat out the early part of the season because of foot surgery and back trouble, is fine.

“I actually have no problems,” Graf said Sunday, smiling at the sound of that statement. The defending women’s champion is well prepared and rested, for the first time in memory and to the delight of tournament organizers.

The men’s champion is fit, as usual, but slightly hobbled. Muster twisted his right ankle during practice last week, but said with his usual toughness that it was hardly swollen and would, in no way, hinder him here.

Muster, who is 96-3 on clay in the last two seasons, is one of the few top-ranked players to have mounted an actual clay court campaign.

More problematic are Sampras and Seles, who, unlike Muster, have played little on clay. Sampras had scheduled two clay court tournaments as preparation, but pulled out of the Italian Open while mourning the death of his coach, Tim Gullikson. Then, in the World Team Cup at Dusseldorf, Germany, Sampras lost to Bohdan Ulihrach and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and complained of a bad back.

In addition to his physical problems, Sampras was also handed a dreadful draw. Sampras well remembers losing in the first round last year and his likely opponents are not engendering confidence. He opens today with Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden, whose ranking of No. 33 disguises the fact that he’s a former Top 10 player coming back from shoulder surgery.

Should he get past Gustafsson, Sampras would play Sergi Bruguera of Spain, the 1993 and 1994 French Open champion and a clay court specialist. Next would be Todd Martin in the third round, and should Sampras survive that, he’ll face two-time champion Jim Courier.

So daunting is the course ahead for Sampras that it prompted tournament director Patrice Clerc to describe it as “Simply Dante-esque.”

Seles, a three-time champion at Roland Garros, has an easier draw, playing Frenchwoman Caroline Dhenin today in the first round. It will be her second match of the season on clay and her second in three years. Seles played one match last week in Madrid, then withdrew from the tournament, citing an injury. The previous time Seles played on clay was at Hamburg in 1993, when she was stabbed in the back during a tournament.

Not only has Seles been a long time away from the surface, she has been away from tournament tennis since Feb. 2. The injury to her left shoulder has been preventing Seles from serving, but she reportedly practiced hard for two hours here on Sunday. As ever, Seles is a mystery.

Third-seeded Andre Agassi opens play today against Jacobo Diaz of Spain, and Jennifer Capriati, ranked No. 106, will play in her first Grand Slam event in three years, opening against Jing-Qian Yi of China.