Asagoe of Japan Bows to Defending Champion

By RANDY HARVEY

June 27, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

WIMBLEDON, England —

Scheduled to play in a featured match for the first time at Wimbledon, Japan’s Shinobu Asagoe approached All England Club officials Tuesday morning and asked to practice on Center Court.

Absolutely not, they told her. As former player Pam Shriver, now a commentator for the BBC, said later, “Not even Pete Sampras would be allowed to practice on Center Court.” Not even Prince Charles.

The delicate grass, lush now, is usually so worn and brown by tournament’s end that television networks often superimpose a fresh court over it during the finals for their viewers’ consumption.

What did Asagoe know? When her match ended, she also walked off the court without waiting for her opponent, another breech of Wimbledon protocol.

But if she does not yet know her way around the All England Club, she did prove in between gaffes that she knows her way around a tennis court. Ultimately, that did not enable the world’s 59th-ranked player to prevail over No. 2 Venus Williams, the defending champion, but Asagoe was game throughout, winning 10 of 15 break points against her and twice persevering through service games that lasted almost 10 minutes.

In the end, however, she succumbed in a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Williams’ overwhelming power. Williams’ average serve was 105 mph, twice hitting 116. After losing her serve in the first game of the second set, she won three of her last four serves in love games.

“God gave me the gift of being strong,” Williams said. “I’m going to use it.”

Power appears to be the element today that separates Grand Slam winners from other women. Martina Hingis, although she is still ranked No. 1, doesn’t have much of it, and, thus, has lost the ability she once had to intimidate. She was upset Monday, the second time in three years she has lost in the first round here, complaining this time of a sore back.

Meantime, the other top women have all won in straight sets. Lindsay Davenport sailed through Martina Sucha, 6-3, 6-3, Tuesday, joining the Williams sisters and Jennifer Capriati in the second round.

None of the favored men hasreally been challenged, either, with No. 2 Andre Agassi beating Peter Wessels, 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4, and No. 3 Pat Rafter beating Daniel Vacek, 6-2, 7-6 (7), 6-3, on Tuesday. No. 1 Sampras and No. 4 Marat Safin won Monday, as did No. 6 Tim Henman. No. 5 Lleyton Hewitt beat Magnus Gustafsson, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, Tuesday to set up an intriguing second-round match with another touted young player, Taylor Dent of Newport Beach, who beat Sergei Bruguera, 6-0, 6-1, 6-4.

Agassi’s only potential scare would have come if he had seen the list of visitors Tuesday to the Center Court’s royal box. The name Clinton was near the top.

As it turned out, that was Mrs. Di Clinton. She is deputy principal of a girls’ school north of London in Hartfordshire, not the former president of the United States. That would have been a relief for Agassi. The last time he played in a Grand Slam tournament, at the French Open in May, Bill Clinton entered the stadium after the first set of Agassi’s quarterfinal match against Sebastien Grosjean. Agassi, who had won the first set, 6-1, fell apart, losing the next three sets, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.

Asked about the French Open loss, Agassi said, “I don’t even remember it.”

Other players do.

Asked if he would like to invite anyone to assist him in his second-round match against Agassi, Great Britain’s Jaime Delgado said, “I don’t think Tony Blair [British prime minister] has the same impact. Give it a go, by all means.”

Andrei Medvedev, who lost to Delgado, said he doesn’t believe anyone can beat Agassi here, unless it’s Sampras. They would meet in the final if they continue winning.

“You know, you’ve seen Agassi play,” Medvedev said. “I mean, he’s probably the best tennis player in the world. Him and Sampras, they both share it. To beat them, you have to play better than the best player in the world. There is no way they play a bad match at Wimbledon . . . Probably if they have two broken legs, they will still go on court and fight.”

Perhaps the heat will wear them down. Cooler conditions, even rain, were forecast for Tuesday, but neither materialized as the temperature on Center Court reached 91 at mid-afternoon. Even later in the day, one match was interrupted by a 10-minute heat break.

Asagoe asked the umpire if she could don a cap to protect her from the glare at one point in the second set but was denied because the one she had chosen to wear had a corporate logo on the bill. She already had reached the advertisement limit on her clothes, another Wimbledon rule she knew nothing about. Someone gave her a white cap, which might have helped against the sun but not Williams.

On Monday, Serena Williams said she couldn’t concentrate during her first-round match against Rita Kuti Kis, complaining that her mind kept wandering back to the book she is reading, “The Eye of Ra.” No problem. Williams won, 6-1, 6-0.

Venus didn’t have that luxury. Each time it looked as if she might be in control, either her game would go bad or Asagoe’s would improve. The Japanese player had three break points on Williams’ serve to go up 4-1 in the second set before Williams put her away.

“I really just started going for too much,” Williams said. “I wanted every shot to be great and perfect. Sometimes you have to play 50%, not 100%. I was able to crawl out of it.”

She will have to run before the tournament is over if she is to win again, but it’s still early for all the favorites except Hingis.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Featured Matches

Today at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (Play begins on Center Court and Court 1 at 5 a.m. PDT; all other courts 4 a.m.):

CENTER COURT

* Barbara Rittner, Germany, vs. Serena Williams (5), U.S.

* Thomas Johansson (11), Sweden, vs. Andy Roddick, U.S.

* Martin Lee, Britain, vs. Tim Henman (6), Britain

COURT 1

* Jason Stoltenberg, Australia, vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero (8), Spain

* Jennifer Capriati (4), U.S. vs. Francesca Schiavone, Italy

* Pete Sampras (1), U.S. vs. Barry Cowan, Britain