He Knew Mark Was Out of His Hands

By JERRY CROWE

Aug. 27, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK —

If you didn’t know better, you might think Roy Emerson was at home in Newport Beach watching on television last month when Pete Sampras broke the Australian’s record for Grand Slam tournament singles championships.

Moments after Sampras wrapped up his seventh Wimbledon title with a victory over Patrick Rafter, giving the Palos Verdes Estates native his 13th Grand Slam event title, NBC cut to an image of Emerson.

Clutching an old wooden racket, a forlorn Emerson sat on a sofa and looked into the camera.

“Pete,” he began, “congratulations on breaking the all-time Grand Slam record. For 32 years, I held that record. Of course, that life for me is over.

“Pride? Gone.

“Reason to live? Gone.

“Some say if I had your graphite racket and fancy shoes I’d have kicked your butt. Still, there is one thing that gets me out of bed in the morning: When you hit the senior circuit--you’re mine!”

It was all in fun, of course, but it wasn’t as spontaneous as it seemed.

The 30-second Nike commercial was shot in January at a home in Los Angeles while Sampras played in the Australian Open, where he lost to eventual champion Andre Agassi in the semifinals.

Emerson, 63, didn’t watch the Wimbledon final.

He was flying from Switzerland, where he had conducted a tennis camp the previous week, to London, where he was scheduled to make a public appearance at Queen’s Club the next day.

Once on the ground, he listened to a radio broadcast as Sampras put the finishing touches on a dramatic 6-7 (10), 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-2 victory in the fading daylight.

“It was pretty exciting,” said Emerson, who won six Australian championships and two titles each at Wimbledon, the French and the U.S. nationals in the 1960s before the open era allowed professionals to play the majors.

Emerson, though, never saw highlights of the match, nor of the emotional aftermath when Sampras walked into the stands to hug his parents, Sam and Georgia.

Emerson said he saw no reason to be at Wimbledon--”You’re interested to see how it goes,” he said, “but I didn’t really need to be there”--and has not spoken to Sampras since the record fell.

“I tried to call him the next morning,” said Emerson, who had the record to himself from 1967 to 1999, “but it was hard to get through to him because it was hard to track down where he was, and then he’d already left and I was back in Switzerland again.

“I left some messages congratulating him and so forth, and then I thought, ‘OK, the [commercial] will be enough.’ ”

Nothing against Sampras--whose pursuit of the record “brought me out of the woodwork,” Emerson said of his newfound recognition--but he clearly did not want his record broken. Nor did some of the longtime residents of his hometown of Blackbutt, Australia, who claimed that “The Curse of Blackbutt” had stopped other challengers from catching Emerson.

After Emerson won the Australian Open in 1967 for his 11th Grand Slam event title, taking the record from Bill Tilden, and then added the French title later that year for title No. 12, Bjorn Born and Rod Laver stalled at 11.

Emerson sensed that Sampras would pass him.

“I anticipated it a long time ago,” he said.

But after pulling even with Emerson by winning at Wimbledon last year, Sampras withdrew from the U.S. Open last summer because of a back injury, then lost to Agassi at the Australian Open and was a first-round loser to Mark Phillippoussis at the French Open in May.

But at Wimbledon, Sampras has been nearly unbeatable, winning seven titles in eight years.

“I knew it was quite obvious he was going to win Wimbledon,” Emerson said, “so I sort of knew it was going to happen.

“You’re a little disappointed for a few minutes, but records are made to be broken and Pete’s a terrific ambassador for the game. I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have break it. . . .

“You’re wishing that he won’t do it, obviously, and you’re a little sad as soon as it happens, but after it’s over you say, ‘Well, it was mine for a long time,’ and ‘Good luck.’ And I hope he wins many more.”

Emerson expects Sampras, 29, to put the record out of reach, perhaps starting with the U.S. Open, which begins Monday at the National Tennis Center.

“I think he’s going to take his time during the years ahead to really prime himself for the majors,” Emerson said of Sampras, whose resume of Grand Slam tournament victories includes four U.S. Open championships and two Australian Open titles. “And I think he’s going to probably set a record that will never be broken. . . .

“By all reports, he said he’s going to play another four or five years. If he does that, obviously, there could be another four or five Wimbledon [titles] because he is so superior on the grass that he’s a pretty sure bet. . . .

“I can see him probably adding another half a dozen major titles in the next four or five years.”

Emerson said Sampras wouldn’t have been any less a threat in the ‘60s, when Australians such as Emerson, Laver, Fred Stolle and Ken Rosewall ruled the courts, with Emerson adding to his singles success by combining with five partners to win 16 Grand Slam event doubles titles for a record total of 28 major championships.

“He would have done awfully well with that serve,” Emerson said. “With wooden rackets, it probably would have slowed down a little bit, but he’s got a pretty good all-court game, and I don’t think any of us would have liked to have faced that serve.

“You know, at Wimbledon he has only lost one match in eight years. And he has lost only four service games [in the finals] in eight years. Hell, I do that sometimes in one set.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE FACTS

* When: Monday through Aug. 10.

* Where: USTA National Tennis Center, New York.

* TV: Beginning Monday on USA; later rounds on Channel 2.

* Top prize money: Men’s singles winner: $750,000, runner-up: $420,000; Women’s singles winner: $700,000, runner-up: $400,000.

TOP SEEDS

* Men: 1. Andre Agassi, U.S.; 2. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil; 3. Magnus Norman, Sweden; 4. Pete Sampras, U.S.; 5. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russia; 6. Marat Safin, Russia; 7. Thomas Enqvist, Sweden; 8. Alex Corretja, Spain.

* Women: 1. Martina Hingis, Switzerland; 2. Lindsay Davenport, U.S.; 3. Venus Williams, U.S.; 4. Mary Pierce, France; 5. Serena Williams, U.S.; 6. Monica Seles, U.S.; 7. Conchita Martinez, Spain; 8. Nathalie Tauziat, Spain.

TOP FIRST-ROUND MATCHES

Men’s singles; q--qualifier; wc--wild card.

* Andre Agassi (1), vs. wc-Alex Kim.

* Nicolas Lapentti (16), Ecuador, vs. wc-Bob Bryan.

* Pete Sampras (4), vs. Martin Damm, Czech Republic.

* Magnus Norman (3), Sweden, vs. Paul Goldstein.

* Todd Martin vs. Vince Spadea.

* Gustavo Kuerten (2), Brazil, vs. q-Wayne Arthurs, Australia.

Women’s singles:

* Martina Hingis (1), Switzerland, vs. Alina Jidkova, Russia.

* Monica Seles (6) vs. wc-Tracy Almeda-Singian.

* Venus Williams (3) vs. Anne-Gaelle Sidot, France.