Ivanisevic Puts Clamps on Haarhuis

Just when you thought all the weird moments at the U.S. Open were limited to the strange, moody teenagers on the women’s tour, Goran Ivanisevic walked in the door.

Ivanisevic was smiling, and not just because he defeated Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4, in the third round on Saturday. Typically, he handcuffed Haarhuis with a powerful serve, hitting 21 aces.

Then Ivanisevic talked about his own new set of handcuffs.

That’s right.

His 27th birthday is fast approaching, a week from today, which also happens to be the date of the men’s final. When Ivanisevic spotted a package with his name on it early Saturday morning, before the Haarhuis match, he had to open it even though he was not supposed to before his birthday.

“I was curious to see,” he said.

The package, a gift from a female fan, had a note with instructions, nothing to do with his service motion, as well as a tube of chocolate.

“For the first time in my life, I see handcuffs,” he said. “This is pretty weird stuff, you know.”

So there isn’t anything like that in his native Croatia?

“Yeah, we have probably,” he said. “But those things you hide. You don’t go out and say, ‘Oh, I bought the handcuffs for my wife. We’re going to have a great time tonight.’ ” His friend and defending U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter of Australia--who happens to be Ivanisevic’s opponent on Monday in the round of 16--was in the locker room when the birthday present arrived.

“We’re good mates,” Rafter said. “Just bring it on. He’s ready. He got some funny things in the mail today. We’re all having a good laugh about that today.”

When Ivanisevic reached his third Wimbledon final in July--losing to Pete Sampras in five sets--Richard Krajicek probably had the most telling observation about Ivanisevic, saying: “The only thing predictable about him is he’s unpredictable.”

Certainly you could come to that conclusion after watching Ivanisevic against Todd Martin in a second-round match last week. Ivanisevic got down on his hands and knees and whacked his head on the face of his racket.

“I started to play better,” Ivanisevic said. “Sometimes I am a little bit messed up there [in the head]. I have to bang it, then everything comes together.”

Ivanisevic set the tone for the strange day on the men’s side. Shortly after Ivanisevic made his birthday-present revelation, eighth-seeded Andre Agassi entered the interview room and started talking about the Croatian.

“One of the things I’ve always admired about him is just what a gentleman and what a sweet person he is every single day,” Agassi said. “He’s up and down on the court, you’ve seen throughout his career.

“But one of the things that amazes me more than anything--other than the personalities on the court--is how they are off the court. [Ivan] Lendl would sit around the locker room completely naked with just his shoes on, telling jokes all day. Couldn’t figure out why he’d want to do that. But that’s how he liked to spend his time in there.”

With every hour on Saturday, the notion that men’s tennis is boring started to evaporate. As it turned out, the ATP tour is, at times, wild and crazy. Even when Ivanisevic is not on the scene.

The point was brought home with the biggest upset of the day. Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands defeated sixth-seeded Greg Rusedski of Great Britain, 4-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, in the third round. Rusedski, who lost in the Open final to Rafter last year, saved three match points before Siemerink aced him on the fourth.

Of the top players, Siemerink, 28, is considered one of the three pure serve-and-volleyers on the tour--Rafter and Tim Henman are the others--but that is not his main claim to fame. He is best known for his female impersonations at the annual ATP players’ party at the Monte Carlo tournament.

“We have a very good time. No one else is allowed there. I am not a very good imitator,” he said, blushing. “But that’s true.”

Siemerink’s best Grand Slam performance came this year when he lost to Ivanisevic in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. The 21st-ranked Siemerink will play 12th-seeded Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden in the round of 16.

He realized Rusedski saved two match points in the first round and another in the second.

“The only thing you have in your mind is that he played two best-of-five matches,” Siemerink said. “That’s the only thing you know that might help you in the match. I thought looking at his body language, he was getting tired.”

Said Rusedski: “I put myself in a lot of difficulty by not playing well, and Jan took advantage of it. He picked up his serve. At the end he was all over me. It’s a little bit disappointing, but you can’t do much about that.”