Sampras Just Hurts So Good

Jonas Bjorkman’s weak handshake told Pete Sampras something.

The buzz around the grounds and locker room at the All England Club sent the same message to Paul Annacone, Sampras’ longtime coach.

Sampras figured the best defense was a good offense. So after crushing the Swede, Bjorkman, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5, in the fourth round Monday, he got word out before the whispers could grow louder and make it into print.

Sampras said that he was sure there were “cynical players” questioning the severity of his left shin injury, implying that Bjorkman had been one of them.

Annacone said he also had picked up those sentiments in the locker room.

“You always hear rumblings,” Annacone said. “But that’s fine. It is what it is. Pete has had a rough nine months. If you want to, go ask the doctor to look at the MRI [scan]. How I see him walk around the house, it’s not 100%.”

The media didn’t raise the issue. Nor did any other player. Sampras, the six-time Wimbledon champion, brought it up himself, after the decisive victory over Bjorkman, in which he served 17 aces and faced only one break point.

“I’m sure there are players,” Sampras said. “I can tell the way Jonas shook my hand today that, you know, he was thinking whatever he thinks. For the first time, the pressure is kind of on my opponent a little bit. They know I’m a little bit injured. The pressure is on them. They’re not liking it.”

Did he think Bjorkman didn’t believe he was hurt?

“Well, I’m sure. I’m sure a lot of players, whatever, think whatever they think. You can just tell. That’s fine,” Sampras said.

Said Bjorkman: “It’s not only him who wants to win this event. That’s why I was very disappointed after my match.”

Sampras joked about people questioning him, even in the famous Alex Corretja match at the 1996 U.S. Open when he threw up on the court.

“Usually, when it’s a tough moment, I kind of carry it in my pocket, the vomit. I explode it, it comes out,” Sampras said, laughing.

Patrick Rafter, Bjorkman’s buddy and doubles partner last year, played and defeated Sampras in the 1998 U.S. Open when Sampras injured himself in their semifinal match.

“There’s been comments passed in the locker room about it,” Rafter said. “But I think all in all, Pete’s pretty genuine. It is funny in the locker room. There’s a few comments that fly by. At the end of the day, you’ve got to trust the guy and how he’s feeling.

” . . . It’s just sometimes you see him run for balls. You think, ‘Is he injured or not?’ I guess everyone is thinking, ‘What’s he doing? Is he injured? Is he not injured?’ I think Pete probably only saves himself and runs only when he needs to, on the big points.”

Sampras hardly looked like the player who had hobbled through his second-round victory over Karol Kucera and started slowly against Justin Gimelstob on Saturday. Against Bjorkman, his first serve was averaging 120 mph, and his second 112.

Annacone also had something to do with Sampras’ improved court demeanor.

“I think my body language against Justin was pretty poor,” Sampras said. “I was dropping my head even more than usual.”

Added Annacone: “I wanted him to somehow go out there and just find a way to find something positive about being on Centre Court. I wanted him to help the crowd get into it. To do whatever he could, within reason, something that would make him feel good about being out there.

“I told him, ‘The other day, even when you were ahead, it looked like you didn’t want to be there.’ ”

Meanwhile, second-seeded Andre Agassi, who defeated qualifier David Prinosil of Germany, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, was having none of the talk that Sampras might not be available for the Davis Cup semifinals at Santander, Spain. He expects to see Sampras there July 21-23.

“Did you watch him play Bjorkman today?” Agassi said. “Don’t start talking about him not playing.”

Sampras will be playing a probable Davis Cup teammate, Jan-Michael Gambill, in the quarterfinals here. Gambill, who had 33 aces, defeated ninth-seeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“I’d say I’m one of the luckiest people on Earth,” Gambill said. “I get to go out there in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, play on Centre Court, play Pete Sampras, the king of Wimbledon.”

The three Americans were joined by two Australians in the quarterfinals. The 12th-seeded Rafter lost his first set in four matches, defeating Thomas Johansson of Sweden, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1, in 2 hours 28 minutes. Mark Philippoussis, seeded 10th, sent the British fans into a collective depression after dispatching No. 8 Tim Henman, 6-1, 5-7, 6-7 (9), 6-3, 6-4, in 3 hours 14 minutes.

The remaining quarterfinalists are unlikely ones--qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus, Alexander Popp of Germany and Byron Black of Zimbabwe. Voltchkov beat Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (0). Black defeated Gianluca Pozzi of Italy, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-4. Popp ousted Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1.

The best known of those three winners, Black, a former USC player, never had advanced past the third round at Wimbledon and his wife is due to give birth to their first child soon.

Voltchkov’s best showing was reaching the third round in 1998, and Popp is making his Wimbledon debut. His father, Rainer, is an English and Latin teacher and missed his son’s match because he had to return to teach class in Germany.