No. 1 Players Taking a Back Seat

A few random thoughts, while wondering if Pete Sampras or Marcelo Rios had any second thoughts after Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the Australian Open.

Most impressive performance (men): It may have seemed as though the Russian, Kafelnikov, matured overnight, but how about a fortnight? He got married and had a daughter last year and made a quantum leap by hiring Rios’ former coach, Larry Stefanki.

“When you combine those things, you feel like you can jump over the China Wall without having any difficulties,” Kafelnikov said.

Most impressive performance (women): Amelie Mauresmo. Her three-set victory over world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals was the best women’s match at the Open.

Mauresmo spoke candidly about the positive influence of her new girlfriend, Sylvie Bourdon. She patiently answered questions even after enduring days of tabloid treatment and television stakeouts and, at 19, remained poised during an unfortunate, and silly, storm of controversy.

Best comeback (men): There were several decent choices here. Todd Martin reached the quarterfinals after an opening scare when he lost the first two sets to Fernando Meligeni of Brazil. Then there was the indefatigable Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, who rallied against Karol Kucera of Slovakia, winning, 8-6, in the fifth set in the quarterfinals.

Best comeback (women): Mauresmo fighting off two match points in her first-round match against Corina Morariu.

Biggest disappointment (men): Andre Agassi. The draw was shaping up quite nicely, as top players tumbled out of Melbourne on an hourly basis. More important, Agassi was striking the ball well heading into his fourth-round match against Vince Spadea.

He needed to work the points against Spadea, and so what did Agassi do? He tried to blast Spadea off the court--trying to win quickly, not ugly--and four sets later he was gone too, missing an ideal Grand Slam opportunity.

Biggest disappointment (women): Jana Novotna and Conchita Martinez. Novotna made the long trip for the first time since 1995, and exited in the third round, winning only three games. Martinez, a finalist here last year, left the event quietly, losing to unheralded Emilie Loit of France, also in the third round.

Most painful collapse (men): Thomas Enqvist, quite a pleasant sort, lost nine consecutive games in the final against Kafelnikov and then had to answer questions about his, well, tightness, in the tense moments.

“I’m not the only guy who is losing serve sometimes when you serve for the match,” he said. “I’ve been doing that a long time. Some players against me have been doing that as well. So I am not seeing myself as a choker. I usually play pretty good under pressure.”

Most painful collapse (women): Sandrine Testud was on her way to losing in the third round before Serena Williams quit going for her shots. Williams blew a 5-3 lead in the third set and squandered two match points (one on a controversial overrule, however). Testud rallied and won, 6-2, 2-6, 9-7.

ON TO MARSEILLE

Kafelnikov walked into his postmatch news conference and said something about having to catch a plane. He wasn’t kidding.

“If I don’t leave tonight, I won’t be getting back to Europe on Tuesday,” he said. “It’s not good.”

Amazingly, Kafelnikov was off to play a tournament in Marseille, France. Let’s hope he gets a late start there.

“I’m motivated,” he said, smiling. “I’m ready to go again. I’m ready to go.”

He moved to No. 3 in the world behind Sampras and Alex Corretja of Spain. Kafelnikov may not have talked about challenging Sampras for No. 1 after winning the Open, but Stefanki was already speaking about the next target.

“What is great is that he turned his mentality around, to being that grinder, that stubborn Russian he was when he won the French,” Stefanki said. “That’s what he has to do if he wants to be at the top. It’s painful. That’s a fact.”

Stefanki helped Rios become No. 1 last year for a few weeks, briefly supplanting Sampras, and he previously worked with John McEnroe. He sees some elements of McEnroe in Kafelnikov.

“His metabolism is like Mac’s,” Stefanki said. “Very hyper. He has to be going, ‘OK, I’ll meet you in 42 minutes out there.’

“But he’s more of a grinder, more of a Jimmy Connors type. Mac and Marcelo were more artists. So you coach everyone differently. I saw [Kafelnikov] when he won the French at [22], saw where he came from and I know his background.

“He likes to put it on the line, to test himself. I love that quality in an athlete. He’s not scared. I’ve never been around anyone that played protective and got to the top.”