For Now, U.S. Men Are Buddy-Buddy at Wimbledon

Pete Sampras was getting ready for his match on Wednesday and cast an interested eye at the Jim Courier-Carlos Moya second-round confrontation on Centre Court.

What caught his attention during Courier’s five-set victory was the presence of French Open champion Andre Agassi among Courier’s supporters.

Sampras grinned widely.

“There’s a lot of love in the air, huh?” Sampras said, causing laughter in the interview room. “I feel a love. There’s a lot of love in the locker room.”

Not that he’s going to go out and sit in the Friends’ Box for an Agassi or Courier match.

“You mean actually other than the Davis Cup?” Sampras asked. “That’s hard to say, you know.”

A cold-ridden Courier defeated the 12th-seeded Moya of Spain, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-2, and appreciated the support from Agassi.

“Love it,” said Courier, who had not won a match at Wimbledon since 1995 and is now in the third round. “It’s great to feel that support.”

Courier said American players are becoming closer, as much as it is possible in this sport. Sampras called Agassi to congratulate him after the French Open, and the younger U.S. players are fostering a team atmosphere.

“American players are starting to feed off each other, which has been unusual until recently,” Courier said. “I think it’s the best thing that could happen for us, really, for everyone to come on and take on all comers. . . . There’s not a lot of jealousy or envy anymore. We’ve gotten past that part in our lives and honestly root for one another and hope for the best for each other.”

Sampras laughed after he was asked whether Agassi had dropped the phone when he offered congratulations, the first time he had made such a call.

“As competitive as I am, you have to tip your hat to a great effort,” Sampras said. “It’s more out of respect than anything. It’s not like we’re going out to dinner every night together, but there’s the respect that has been there and will grow the older we get.”

All those positive feelings generated positive results for the Americans, young and, well, experienced, on Wednesday. It’s a bit hard to call the 27-year-old Sampras old. The top-seeded Sampras beat Sebastien Lareau of Canada, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3, in the second round.

Stanford graduate Paul Goldstein continued his stellar Wimbledon debut, defeating 16th-seeded Felix Mantilla of Spain, 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (7-5), 6-2. Goldstein, 22, also made the third round at the Australian Open, defeating Greg Rusedski. This was his second victory against a player ranked in the top 20 in a six-month span.

He said college helped him prepare for the emotional demands of the tour.

“I was at school those four years, and I think as an 18-year-old, an immature little brat, losing a few matches, I don’t know if I would have stuck in there that long,” Goldstein said.

Moya and Mantilla were the only seeded players to lose Wednesday. Second-seeded Steffi Graf of Germany lost five of the first six games but recovered to beat Mariaan de Swardt of South Africa, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Graf lost only three points on her own serve in the final set. De Swardt’s problems in the third were, in part, self-inflicted. She double-faulted three times in the first game of the final set.

There was one mild surprise. Jennifer Capriati, who fought impressively to beat Anke Huber in the first round, went out quietly in the second. A 25-year-old qualifier, Seda Noorlander of the Netherlands, defeated Capriati, 6-1, 6-3.

Noorlander, ranked 126th, is as known for her two pet boa constrictors, Anita and Sjannie, as for her tennis. One Dutch journalist joked that reporters are afraid to interview Noorlander at her home because of the pets.

Capriati was levelheaded about the missed opportunity, which would have been a third-round match against last year’s Wimbledon finalist, Nathalie Tauziat of France.

“I guess maybe it took too much out of me against Anke,” she said.

The timing of her loss gave the British press the chance to grill her about the faltering psyche and career of top-seeded Martina Hingis, who was upset, 6-2, 6-0, by 16-year-old qualifier Jelena Dokic on Tuesday in the first round.

Already, the reporters were making all-too-quick comparisons between Hingis and Capriati, who had a troubled teenage existence under the microscope. Naturally, she was not thrilled by the Hingis questions.

“The press makes it out to be a crisis,” Capriati said. “How do you know what she really feels inside? That’s pretty much the same scenario with everything.

“It’s like when they’re on top and everything’s great, it’s great. As soon as there’s one little thing that shows a little imperfection, you know, like vultures [the media] can’t wait to knock them down.”

Graf, who beat Hingis in the controversial French Open final earlier this month, was surprised by the result Tuesday. Hingis also withdrew from the women’s doubles, citing a heel injury.

“Jelena must have been playing a very aggressive and good match,” Graf said. “Sometimes, if somebody plays very fast, [Hingis] doesn’t know how to adjust or how to change things. Maybe that is just what happened.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Today’s Featured Matches

WOMEN

* Lindsay Davenport (3), U.S., vs. Karina Habsudova, Slovakia

* Sylvia Plischke, Austria, vs. Jana Novotna (5), Czech Republic

****

MEN

* Nicolas Kiefer (15), Germany, vs. Boris Becker, Germany

* Guillermo Canas, Argentina, vs. Andre Agassi (4), U.S.

* Todd Martin (8), U.S., vs. Jiri Novak, Czech Republic

* Sandon Stolle, Australia, vs. Goran Ivanisevic (10), Croatia