Rios Not Interested in Polishing Golden Boy Image of Gambill

The rain left the Coachella Valley early Saturday night, followed shortly thereafter by the last American Golden Boy. That left today’s men’s singles tennis final in the Newsweek Champions Cup a matchup between Greg Rusedski of England and Marcelo Rios of Chile.

And an interesting matchup it is, for reasons other than they are both left-handed.

Rusedski is the British bomber, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound serving machine who pushed Austrian Thomas Muster a step closer to the senior tour with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 semifinal thrashing that included the fastest serve recorded on the ATP tour. When Rusedski closed out the 11th game of the first set for a 6-5 lead with a serve that registered 149 mph, it gave proper notice to mothers attending today’s final to make sure their children aren’t seated at the ends of the court.

“It doesn’t matter if it is 149 or 142,” said the 30-year-old Muster, who, injured hip and all, kept chasing that fountain of youth Saturday. “You just can guess and pick a corner, anyway.”

Rios is the Chilean cat, 5-9 and 140, quick, clever and surly, a player and a personality always ready to pounce.

That he did, all over the newest American tennis heartbeat, 20-year-old Jan-Michael Gambill of Spokane, Wash., blond, blue-eyed and probably only weeks from his first TV commercial. Stay tuned, especially if you are teenaged and female.

Gambill, until recently just another name in the back of the press book, was a star as a junior, had promise as a pro, and was attempting to get some notice and ATP points by playing qualifying tournaments where the ballboy’s mom sells hot dogs. There are hundreds of players like that, each seeking a breakthrough.

That’s exactly what Gambill did this week in the desert, despite his 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 defeat at the hands of a more experienced and savvy Rios. Gambill entered the week at No. 126 and exited it somewhere in the 80s, beating no less than Andre Agassi along the way. A ranking in the 80s is good enough to get him into just about any tournament the rest of the year, and certainly good enough to get directly into the main draw of the Grand Slams.

“My goal would be the top 50 right now,” he said. “I’d love to be in the top 30, top 20. I think I’m playing that kind of tennis right now, today, in this tournament.”

There has been talk this week that some tennis insiders are pushing U.S. Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson to use Gambill in the next round--as a player, not merely in a hitting-practice role. And Gambill, who does not have an agent as yet, admitted Saturday night to having had discussions with some.

“Many [people] are saying I’m the new American hope,” he said. ‘I love hearing that.”

Rios, this year’s Australian Open finalist, exposed some of Gambill’s weaknesses and inexperience in a match that was halted by a 2-hour 4-minute rain delay just as Gambill was about to serve the first point of the first-set tiebreaker.

When they came back out to play, Gambill played what he called “not a very smart tiebreaker,” and Rios started stretching him wide on both sides, both on serves and off the ground, capitalizing on Gambill’s limited reach with his two-handed forehand and backhand.

Rios also worked on Gambill’s head. He kept slowing him down on his serve, stopping to change rackets when his strings hadn’t broken, staring him down after tough rallies, and even taking a bathroom break after they had warmed up to start the tiebreaker.

“That’s how he is,” Gambill said. “I mean, some guys do that. I guess it’s not really good sportsmanship, but that’s the way it is.”

After match point, Rios repeated his cartwheel celebration of the previous day when he beat Petr Korda and did the tumbling exercise as a kind of mocking response to Korda’s now-famous celebratory scissors kick. There seemed to be no explanation for doing it after beating Gambill, and, in fact, there was none.

“I just did it today for fun,” Rios said. “I don’t like it.”

Gambill called it “ridiculous.”

In the end, Saturday was an eventful day for all four men’s semifinalists. Today should be too.

Rusedski, No. 6 in the world, will be seeking his first Super Nine title and, perhaps as a sidelight, that ever-elusive 150-mph serve. Rios, No. 7 in the world, will be seeking his second Super Nine title, having won last year at Monte Carlo, and will try a Superman-type feat, returning serves that are faster than a speeding bullet.

Meanwhile, Gambill will be around, signing his name on stuff--autograph books, agent contracts, TV deals . . .

Muster? He’ll be sitting in a whirlpool somewhere.