Big Serve Just Enough to Keep Sampras on His Feet

How often has one of the best players in history looked so vulnerable on the court?

This time, there were no tears or sickness Wednesday at Wimbledon. Six-time champion Pete Sampras was fighting yet another injury, limping through his Grand Slam record chase, fighting the darkness spreading over Centre Court and an often elusive and crafty opponent, Karol Kucera of Slovakia, in the second round.

Yes, Kucera. Remember him?

Andre Agassi does. Kucera beat a limping, blister-laden Agassi in the second round at the French Open, and about a month later on a different surface, he nearly took out the top-seeded Sampras.

The compelling conditions were almost surreal. Sampras would hit an ace, and then hobble on the next point. Somehow, Sampras survived the swirling emotions, defeating Kucera, 7-6 (9), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, in 2 hours 55 minutes, finishing just before nightfall.

He waved to an appreciative crowd and promptly went to the hospital for a MRI scan of his inflamed left foot. The MRI was negative, Sampras’ representatives in Los Angeles told The Times. They said the foot was sore and stiff but indicated he probably would be able to play his next match against Justin Gimelstob in the third round. Still, there are questions about his ability to endure five more matches, let alone one.

Sampras, who was not available for comment after the Kucera match, had talked about his fitness after his first-round victory over Jiri Vanek on Monday.

“It’s not the back,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of other niggling things around the leg area. I’ve had a few tight spots. But I’m fine. It’s nothing serious.”

It became clear there was problem late in the first set of Wednesday’s match, during the tiebreaker. Kucera made it worse, returning marvelously and winning the second set. Sampras eventually needed treatment for his left foot and leg from trainer Doug Spreen, who wrapped his foot and ankle in the third set.

Sampras was leading, 5-2, and hung on in the third. The fourth featured classic shot-making from both sides with Sampras trying to force the issue as quickly as possible.

He was bothered by some questionable line calls and grew more emotional than usual, at one point, sarcastically clapping his racket and encouraging the crowd to clap.

The final game was a wild one. Sampras served four aces and double-faulted three times, squandering three match points and fighting off a break point.

Finally, it was over after a service winner on his fourth match point and Sampras survived another injury-marred epic. This year, at the Australian Open, he lost to Agassi in a five-set semifinal, hampered by a hip injury. Then, at the Davis Cup in the quarterfinals, he was injured in the fifth and decisive match but still managed to beat Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic.

The Sampras-Kucera match seemed to be a fitting conclusion to a bizarre Day 3 at Wimbledon, in which three seeded players on the men’s side lost: No. 3 Magnus Norman of Sweden, No. 6 Cedric Pioline of France and No. 11 Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands.

The strangest incident involved second-round winner Anna Smashnova of Israel, who was almost defaulted from her match against Katalin Marosi-Aracama of Hungary when she knocked a ball into the fence. The ball bounced into the stands and grazed a female spectator in the head.

A sobbing Smashnova, who said she was angry with her opponent’s husband, was saved from an early exit by the spectator’s intervention as well as referee Alan Mills. “There is not a hard and fast rule that a player is automatically defaulted if they hit a ball that strikes an on-court official or spectator,” said Mills, adding that Smashnova will be fined for ball abuse.

Then there was the all-Stanford alum controversy. Manhattan Beach’s Jeff Tarango, who gained notoriety for a 1995 incident and one-year ban from Wimbledon, had harsh words for youngster Paul Goldstein after their second-round match. Goldstein defeated Tarango, 3-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 12-10, in 4 hours 11 minutes.

Afterward, Tarango refused to shake hands with Goldstein and yelled at him. He was upset when Goldstein, who was cramping, called the trainer at 10-9 in the fifth and again at 11-10. Both times were on the changeover before Tarango’s serve.

“I just thought it was a little bush league,” Tarango said. “I figured he should be calling the trainer before his own serve if he was so seriously hurt. I know he runs like a deer, so he couldn’t have been that hurt. I don’t think it’s right for a guy to get a massage in the middle of the match.”

Tarango was asked if Goldstein was pulling a fast one.

“Of course he was faking the injury,” he said. “He was fine.”

Goldstein looked shaken by the attack on his character.

“We were in the fourth hour of the match,” he said. “The last thing on my mind is trying to do anything in any way unethical or unsportsmanlike, trying to get an unfair advantage. That’s why the trainers are there.”

He felt the incident marred his victory.

“It does a little, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t. Again, with the reinforcement I’ve gotten, I don’t feel like I did anything unethical.”