Defending Champions Seem More Vulnerable

By RANDY HARVEY

June 24, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WIMBLEDON, England —

As Wimbledon’s fortnight--plus one day--ended last year, the prevailing sentiment was that Pete Sampras had perhaps won the last of his many singles championships at the All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and that Venus Williams had won the first of her many.

If that proves true, Sampras’ victory provided an appropriately dramatic, if not quite artistic, closing chapter to his era here.

Over the years, his stoicism has been as much of a weapon--against the world’s best players in the world’s most prestigious tournament amid the world’s most tenacious tabloid press--as his serve.

But last year, fighting through a painful shin injury from the second round on, his emotion got the best of him, even if Australian Pat Rafter couldn’t in a four-set final. The championship was Sampras’ seventh in eight years at Wimbledon and his record-breaking 13th in a Grand Slam tournament.

At the time, Williams’ victory seemed as glorious. In her fourth journey to Wimbledon, one fewer than it took Sampras to win, she charged through a formidable trio of Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals, sister Serena Williams in the semifinals and defending champion Lindsay Davenport in the final. Williams then returned on the tournament’s third Monday, necessitated by rain delays, to win in doubles with Serena.

Now, on the eve of the 2001 Wimbledon Championships, sentiment no longer prevails. It has given way to realities. Someone must still figure out how to beat Sampras on his favored grass surface and, with the emergence of questions about her physical and mental resilience and the reemergence of Jennifer Capriati, Williams’ domination of the women’s game no longer seems inevitable.

Although Sampras is ranked fifth in the world, having not won a tournament since Wimbledon last July, the experts who seed this tournament have designated him No. 1. They believe that he will again be propelled by history, with a chance to equal Bjorn Borg’s open-era record five consecutive Wimbledon titles.

Williams, meantime, has lost her air of invincibility. Her victory last year has--probably unfairly--been questioned because of a tabloid report (this one generated from the United States, not Fleet Street) that her semifinal victory over Serena was mandated by their father, Richard, but injuries have prevented her from overtaking Hingis as the world’s No. 1.

Thus, with women’s seedings corresponding to rankings, Williams is No. 2 this year. Oddsmakers like her, as they do Sampras, but handicappers are advising that No. 4 Capriati, at 4-1, is the smartest bet.

Nothing, of course, is a lock, not even the actions of the All-England Club’s famously inflexible lords. They went crazy this year, expanding the seedings in the men’s and women’s draws from 16 to 32 to appease previously disrespected clay-court specialists (some of whom dropped out, anyway), changing starting times on the Center Court and Court No. 1 from the traditional 2 p.m. to 1 p.m. (except for the finals) and ripping the Boston Ivy from Center Court walls to allow for structural repairs. Members, even though the ivy will be replanted for next year, howled, just as Wrigley Field bleacher bums would if anyone took hedge clippers to their ivy.

That goes to prove that the only things for sure here are death, taxes and Sampras. It’s not that he is as good as ever. With his 30th birthday looming in August, he’s not. But he’s still presumably better at Wimbledon than he is anywhere else, and that might still be good enough.

The question is not so much whether he can win but who can beat him.

Not Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten. The world’s No. 1 is not so fresh off his third French Open title, having withdrawn because of fatigue and a groin injury. The fact that he has been predicting such an injury for a time makes some, including Sampras, wonder if Kuerten isn’t joining the protest of clay-court dissidents Alex Corretja and Albert Costa of Spain.

The logical choice is No. 2 Andre Agassi, but the draw did him no favors. While Sampras opens Monday on Center Court against Francisco Clavet, a clay-court specialist from Spain, Agassi must play Dutchman Peter Wessels, ranked 91st but an upset winner over U.S. Open champion Marat Safin and Rafter on grass in recent weeks.

If he progresses, Agassi faces a potential quarterfinal match against Lleyton Hewitt and a potential semifinal match against either Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov or Australia’s Rafter.

Hewitt, 20, is as unrelenting in his play as John McEnroe was. The popular Rafter, 29, will be a crowd favorite--behind only British hopefuls Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski--because of his impending retirement.

Sampras will probably be more popular this year--his emotional fist-pumping after the final point last year, his tearful embrace of his parents in the stands upon their first Wimbledon appearance and his revealing post-match interview with the BBC having shown fans that he is not as mechanical and boring as he had led them to believe.

That won’t win him any support in a potential quarterfinal match against the sixth-seeded Henman, trying to become the first British man to win since Fred Perry captured his third in a row in 1936 or make the final since Henry Austin in 1938. Sampras’ potential semifinal opponent is Russia’s Safin, who beat the American in three sets in last year’s U.S. Open final but seems lately to be abusing only his own rackets.

“I have always had the ability in my career to turn it on at certain moments,” Sampras said last week. “My ego’s pretty big. I feel I can beat these guys coming up, maybe not week in, week out, but when it matters most.”

That would be now, as it is for Williams. One possible break for her is that, even if she will soon be playing on Center Court, she is not at the center of attention.

That would be, as usual, Anna Kournikova, who is dominating the front pages even though she is not playing. The excuse is the release of her fitness video, ironic timing because she is injured.

Among those playing, most of the attention so far is focused on Capriati, who, with victories in the Australian and French opens, is halfway to a Grand Slam. Already, her police mug shot from a 1994 arrest for marijuana possession has been on the cover of one of the country’s newspaper sports sections, although the story was largely positive about her fairly amazing comeback at age 25.

Davenport has been quoted about the difficulties Capriati might face on another kind of grass, that of the surface at Wimbledon. As for Davenport, she has put an injury behind her and appeared close to the form she showed in winning at Wimbledon in 1999 and finishing as runner-up last year by winning Saturday at Eastbourne, England, in 43 minutes over Spain’s Magui Serna. Davenport is definitely a contender, along with France’s Amelie Mauresmo, Hingis, Capriati and Williams. Either Williams.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WIMBLEDON PREVIEW

Facts

When: Monday-July 8.

Where: All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.

Men’s singles winner prize money: $721,025.

Women’s singles winner prize money: $649,300.

TNT; Channel 4 (beginning next weekend).

Women’s semifinals: July 5, 1 p.m. (delayed).

Women’s final: July 7, 6 a.m.

Men’s semifinals: July 6, noon.

Men’s final: July 8, 6 a.m.

All times Pacific

Seedings

MEN

1. Pete Sampras, U.S.

2. Andre Agassi, U.S.

3. Patrick Rafter, Australia

4. Marat Safin, Russia

5. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia

6. Tim Henman, Britain

7. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russia

8. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain

9. Sebastien Grosjean, France

10. Thomas Enqvist, Sweden

11. Thomas Johansson, Sweden

12. Jan-Michael Gambill, U.S.

13. Arnaud Clement, France

14. Wayne Ferreira, South Africa

15. Roger Federer, Switzerland

16. Vladimir Voltchkov, Belarus

17. Tommy Haas, Germany

18. Magnus Norman, Sweden

19. Nicolas Kiefer, Germany

20. Fabrice Santoro, France

21. Carlos Moya, Spain

22. Dominik Hrbaty, Slovakia

23. Todd Martin, U.S.

24. Nicolas Escude, France

25. Albert Portas, Spain

26. Sjeng Schalken, Netherlands

27. Hicham Arazi, Morocco

28. Franco Squillari, Argentina

29. Guillermo Coria, Argentina

30. Nicolas Lapentti, Ecuador

31. Alberto Martin, Spain

32. Gaston Gaudio, Argentina

WOMEN

1. Martina Hingis, Switzerland

2. Venus Williams, U.S.

3. Lindsay Davenport, U.S.

4. Jennifer Capriati, U.S.

5. Serena Wiliiams, U.S.

6. Amelie Mauresmo, France

7. Kim Clijsters, Belgium

8. Justine Henin, Belgium

9. Nathalie Tauziat, France

10. Elena Dementieva, Russia

11. Amanda Coetzer, S. Africa

12. M. Maleeva, Bulgaria

13. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Spain

14. Jelena Dokic, Yugoslavia

15. Sandrine Testud, France

16. Silvia Farina Elia, Italy

17. Meghann Shaughnessy

18. Anke Huber, Germany

19. Conchita Martinez, Spain

20. Amy Frazier, U.S.

21. Barbara Schett, Austria

22. Paola Suarez, Argentina

23. Magui Serna, Spain

24. Henreita Nagyova, Slovakia

25. Chanda Rubin, U.S.

26. Anne Kremer, Luxembourg

27. Angeles Montolio, Spain

28. Lisa Raymond, U.S.

29. Elena Likhovtseva, Russia

30. Patty Schnyder, Switzerland

31. Tamarine Tanasugarn, Thailand

32. Tatiana Panova, Russia

Recent Champions

MEN

2000 Pete Sampras

1999 Pete Sampras

1998 Pete Sampras

1997 Pete Sampras

1996 Richard Krajicek

1995 Pete Sampras

1994 Pete Sampras

1993 Pete Sampras

1992 Andre Agassi

1991 Michael Stich

1990 Stefan Edberg

WOMEN

2000 Venus Williams

1999 Lindsay Davenport

1998 Jana Novotna

1997 Martina Hingis

1996 Steffi Graf

1995 Steffi Graf

1994 Conchita Martinez

1993 Steffi Graf

1992 Steffi Graf

1991 Steffi Graf

1990 Martina Navratilova

Featured Matches

First-round matches Monday:

Centre Court

Pete Sampras (1), U.S., vs. Francisco Clavet, Spain

Jennifer Capriati (4), U.S., vs. Maria Alejandra Vento, Venezuela

Court 1

Marat Safin (4), Russia, vs. Julian Knowle, Austria

Martina Hingis (1), Switzerland, vs. Virginia Ruano Pascual, Spain

Defending Titles

Last year’s men’s champion Pete Sampras has yet to win a tournament this year while Venus Williams (above) has won two. A look at what they’ve done in 2001:

Pete Sampras

Record: 15-10

Earnings: $377,597 (18th)

2001 Results

Australian Open

Def. by Todd Martin...Round of 16

Memphis

Def. by Chris Woodruff....1st round

Scottsdale

Def. by Andrew Ilie.........1st round

Indian Wells

Def. by Andre Agassi.............Final