It’s Justin Time, but Sampras Recovers

On the middle Saturday at Wimbledon, Centre Court and the Royal Box were full of tennis royalty and other eye-catching individuals.

Here was Pete Sampras, the six-time champion who could not find his first serve, or second, for that matter, in front of Bjorn, Boris and Rod. That’s Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker and Rod Laver. Sampras double-faulted four times in his opening service game and, though injured, was feeling less than legendary in front of these legends on hand for the Champions’ Parade.

“When I was playing the first set, I wasn’t too proud they were watching,” he said. “At one point I wanted to throw my racket up there. They could play for me.”

His opponent, Justin Gimelstob, had been checking out someone else in the box.

” I saw Borg with a really hot girl in the front row,” Gimelstob said. “I was looking at her. I thought, ‘OK, if I play here, maybe I have a shot.’ Then I saw Borg and I’m like, ‘Probably not going to happen.’ At the end, I saw Laver.

“That was it: the hot girl, Borg, then Laver.”

And, at the end it was Sampras.

Still ailing from an inflamed left shin, Sampras managed to prevail at less than full strength, beating Gimelstob, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2, in the third round. The match had been postponed because of rain Friday, giving Sampras an extra day for recovery, rest and rehabilitation.

“The two days off definitely helped,” said Sampras, who will play Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden in the fourth round Monday. “Yesterday I was praying for some rain and got it, which was nice. But it’s sore and it will probably continue to be sore. I just need to find a way to play and play on it.

“The adrenaline definitely kicks in. Today I was really out of sorts in the beginning. First time I picked up my racket in 2 1/2 days. I didn’t play very well. . . . My racket felt like a foreign object, which doesn’t happen that often.”

Pete Lite is better than most players at full power, however.

“Even when I’m 80%, I think I still move better than maybe a lot of guys on grass,” Sampras said.

Gimelstob had a couple of questions of his own.

“Do you ever remember him losing injured?” he asked. “What’s his record injured? Have you ever seen him lose when he stepped on the court?

“If you have to think about it, that’s pretty good. As I said, he seems to thrive on playing injured. It doesn’t matter if you hit serves on the side of the lines every time.”

Other seeded players advancing to the fourth round were second-seeded Andre Agassi, eighth-seeded Tim Henman of Great Britain, 10th-seeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia and 12th-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia, who has not lost a set in three matches.

French Open champion and fourth-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, ailing from a severe cold, lost to Alexander Popp of Germany, 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-1.

The primary focus was on Sampras and how he would respond to the renewed adversity in his quest for a seventh Wimbledon title and record 13th Grand Slam championship. After hobbling off the court against Karol Kucera on Wednesday, he has iced the leg constantly, every two hours for 20 minutes. He also made it to Wimbledon twice a day for treatment.

“I’m here to complete the tournament, win or lose,” said Sampras, who also implied he is questionable for the Davis Cup semifinals at Spain this month.

“Guys know that I’m a little bit hurt. I’m sure they’re going to feel a little bit of pressure for whatever reason.”

Gimelstob didn’t start feeling the heat until the second set. Sampras served two aces in his opening service game, giving notice he could still lift his level a notch. They stayed on serve until 4-4 and Sampras broke with a backhand passing shot.

Sampras served out the set and started rolling in the third and fourth. Gimelstob started falling on the grass, and even fell over the net once. He also didn’t like the way the ball girl was throwing him the ball. “Just me being anal,” he said.

He was also quite hilarious, especially when he started talking about Sampras. They sometimes have practiced together at UCLA.

“Well, probably when he came out of his mother’s womb, God spent a little time on his right shoulder, just kind of went and touched it, so that helps,” Gimelstob said of Sampras’ serve.

Sampras was amused, saying: “I don’t want to hear the rest.”

The right shoulder is fine, now how about that left leg?

“You deal with it,” he said. “If it’s Kobe Bryant in the NBA finals, I use him as my inspiration. Playing hurt, this is Wimbledon, this is what I play for all year. I’m going to do all I can to play.”

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Wimbledon at a Glance

What happened Saturday on the sixth day of the Wimbledon Championships:

* Weather: A cloudy start followed by sun. High temperature of 70.

* Attendance: 37,073. Last year on the sixth day it was 37,960.

* Stat of the day: Mark Philippoussis and Sjeng Schalken played for 5 hours 1 minute--11 minutes short of the longest match in Wimbledon history. The final set (20-18) took 2 hours 15 minutes.

* Quote of the day: “When I looked and saw Borg and the Rocket [Rod Laver] when I was playing the first set, I wasn’t too proud that they were watching. At one point I wanted to throw my racket up there. They could play for me.” -- Pete Sampras

* MARATHON MEN

Mark Philippoussis outlasts Sjeng Schalken in a third-round match that lasts more than five hours. Page 7