More Rain Clears Air of Finality

You go to see tennis and a three-day test match breaks out. What Tim Henman and Goran Ivanisevic couldn’t finish Friday at Wimbledon, they couldn’t finish Saturday, either, because of intermittent rain.

The semifinal match on Center Court was finally postponed for a second time at 7:50 p.m. London time, but at least Henman and Ivanisevic were closer to the finish--if not necessarily closer to determining a winner to face Pat Rafter in the final.

When they quit Friday, Henman was leading, 2-1, in sets and 2-1 in games and Ivanisevic was serving at 40-30. After 52 minutes of play on increasingly slippery grass Saturday, they were tied in sets, 2-2, Ivanisevic was leading in games, 3-2, and Henman was serving at 30-15 when the referee, Alan Mills, suspended play.

Women’s finalists Venus Williams and Justine Henin, scheduled to meet Saturday, never made it to Center Court. Their match was postponed until today, when they again are scheduled to play after the conclusion of the Henman-Ivanisevic match.

Mills announced late Saturday, after consulting with Henman, Ivanisevic and Rafter, that the men’s final will be played Monday. Mills gave them the option of playing after the women’s final today but said Henman and Ivanisevic preferred to wait and Rafter concurred.

That gives Rafter still another 24 hours to recover from his five-set semifinal victory over Andre Agassi before the rain started Friday. Rafter spent Saturday watching on television as Australia’s rugby team, the Wallabies, beat the British Lions and Australia’s cricket team extended its lead over England in the third day of a five-day test match. Those would be good omens for Australia’s Rafter if he were to play England’s Henman in the final.

The last time a men’s final was played on Monday was in 1988.

“You know, it’s England; it has to rain sometimes,” former President Clinton said from his seat in the royal box during an interview with the BBC. The interview was broadcast live over the public address system to entertain the Center Court crowd during the rain delay. Other entertainment included a Welsh Guard band playing “Copacabana.”

Clinton, who also attended one day of the French Open in June, used this occasion to deny culpability in Agassi’s quarterfinal loss in Paris to Sebastien Grosjean.

Agassi won the first set, 6-1, then collapsed when Clinton arrived inside the stadium. Agassi says he doesn’t remember the match, but it has been speculated in the media that he was rattled by Clinton’s entrance.

“Well, I think that’s a little unfair,” Clinton said. “That young man Grosjean played the best tennis I’ve ever seen in years and years. He flew across the court; he made impossible shots; everything he hit went in. I don’t think anybody on the planet could have defeated him in those last two sets.”

Clinton didn’t try to conceal that he is cheering for Williams against the Belgian Henin.

“She’s quite an amazing athlete,” he said of Williams. “And her mind for the game appears to be about to catch up with her breathtaking athletic skills.”

Playing to the crowd, he also indicated that he is in Henman’s corner.

” . . . We all have to pull for England to win one,” he said. “It’s your turn, I think.”

The crowd cheered wildly, as much of England has been doing in recent days as Henman advanced toward becoming the country’s first men’s Wimbledon finalist since Bunny Austin in 1938 and first men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936.

“FINISH HIM, TIM,” London’s Sun said in an end-of-the-world front-page headline Saturday.

But finishing is exactly the thing Henman has had difficulty doing during his career. He clearly had the momentum when play was halted Friday. But that didn’t carry over to Saturday, although there was still nothing daunting about Ivanisevic’s game other than his first serve.

He was persistent, however, hitting one backhand winner in the fourth set from his knees after slipping.

Henman had a mini-break and a 3-1 lead in the fourth-set tiebreaker but couldn’t hold it. He said last week that his matches should come with a health warning for his fans. One of the tabloids suggested in a front-page headline, crudely, that he should, in effect, increase his testosterone level.

“Henman, you’ve been a pussycat all your life,” read the accompanying editorial. “Today is the day to show us your fangs and roar like a British Lion.”

Then the British Lions lost in Australia, Henman couldn’t finish off Ivanisevic and, for English sports fans, the mood was as dreary as the weather.

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Today’s Schedule

Play begins at 5 a.m. PDT

(TV: 6 a.m., Ch. 4)

* Men’s singles semifinal: Tim Henman (6), Britain, vs. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, completion of Friday’s suspended match

* Women’s singles championship: Venus Williams (2), United States, vs. Justine Henin (8), Belgium

* Men’s doubles championship: Jiri Novak and David Rikl (3), Czech Republic, vs. Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer (4), U.S.