Sampras’ Run Doesn’t Have Enough Legs

For Pete Sampras, the full-on tennis nightmare returned. A 20-year-old dark-haired Russian turned into a 20-year-old fair-haired Australian. The devastating weapon, the serve of Marat Safin, transformed into the punishing two-handed backhand of Lleyton Hewitt in the U.S. Open final.

Same time, next year.

Hewitt, who won his first ATP title at age 16, had his Grand Slam breakthrough four years later, taking out the four-time champion and administering the most one-sided defeat in the U.S. Open final in a decade. The fourth-seeded Hewitt beat No. 10 Sampras, 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1, in 1 hour 54 minutes on Sunday. In 1991, Stefan Edberg crushed Jim Courier, losing six games.

Beforehand, there were comparisons between this final and the 1974 Wimbledon final between Jimmy Connors and Ken Rosewall. Almost 18 years separated Connors and Rosewall. There are nearly 10 years between Hewitt and the 30-year-old Sampras.

Who would have thought this would turn into 1974? With Hewitt looking like a young Connors, Sampras started resembling the aging Rosewall, who was 39 when he was demolished in that Wimbledon final, winning six games.

“It’s tough to put into words how I feel,” Sampras said. “I’m sure as time goes by, I’ll reflect and feel good about what I did here. But only one name gets on that trophy and it’s not mine. So that’s the harsh reality of it.”

After Sampras emerged from the Group of Death, a most difficult quarter of the draw in which he beat former champions Patrick Rafter and Andre Agassi, he completed the hat trick of turning back former champions by winning the rematch with Safin in the semifinals.

If anyone thought the heavy lifting was over, well, Hewitt turned those thoughts into fantasy. He played a clean, efficient match. He had 13 unforced errors--three in the final two sets--and broke Sampras six times, including the first game.

Television commentators John McEnroe and Mary Carillo seemed stunned. “[Sampras] is going down like a sack of spuds,” Carillo said.

Hewitt had something to do with the takedown. The youngster kept running, kept retrieving and never stopped until he finished the match with a backhand passing shot. He finally quit moving and dropped on his back to celebrate. After shaking Sampras’ hand, Hewitt went over to his corner, and hugged his coach and kissed his girlfriend, French Open finalist Kim Clijsters.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “I’ve dreamed of this moment, being out here and playing out here. It hasn’t sunk in. I don’t know, what can I say? I got a bit lucky out there.”

Hewitt was being kind. He lost 12 games in the final two rounds after needing to go five sets in the second round against James Blake and in the quarterfinals against Andy Roddick. The Roddick match had a controversial ending, an overrule in the final game, and in the Blake match Hewitt made comments that were interpreted to have racial overtones.

“It wasn’t a good situation,” Hewitt said. “It wasn’t a good situation to put myself into during a Grand Slam tournament, either. It’s something that is going to be one of the toughest things that I had to block out during a tennis event. . . . I didn’t mean anything bad by it at all, and it all got blown up.”

If anything, Hewitt seemed to hold his emotions in check Sunday. The crowd tried to boost the weary Sampras. Fans shouted encouragement and his wife, actress Bridgette Wilson, moved several rows closer late in the match, attempting to provide moral support from the friends box.

There was no stopping Hewitt. He took ownership of Arthur Ashe Stadium and the U.S. Open from the aging legend. For a 20-year-old, he is supremely confident and used to big-match conditions. He has relished and prospered in hostile Davis Cup territory, and this year nearly single-handedly carried Australia to victory in Brazil, defeating Gustavo Kuerten on clay.

Before the final, he spoke to Rafter, who told him to enjoy the experience. The nerves were there even if Hewitt hardly showed it.

“I was nervous,” he said. “You’re not human if you’re not going to be nervous going into your first Grand Slam final.”

Hewitt’s agent, Tom Ross, compared the victory to one by another client, Michael Chang, in the 1989 French Open.

“I told someone once he beat Roddick in the quarterfinals, he would win,” Ross said. “The same thing happened with Michael after the quarterfinals.”

Said Hewitt: “The sort of shock of winning a Grand Slam sort of sent me on my back, on the floor. You sort of realize, ‘I’ve got to go and shake Pete’s hand.’ ”

The disappointment was evident on the face of Sampras. He sluggishly labored on the court, and found himself with another one-sided loss in the Open final. Despite the encouraging wins against Rafter, Agassi and Safin, he has gone 18 tournaments without a title and this is his first year without a major since 1992.

He felt this loss was more difficult than the 2000 final against Safin. It was Sampras’ most lopsided defeat here since he won eight games against Jay Berger in the fourth round in 1989.

“This is probably more so because I worked so hard to get here, got through some tough matches and played some great tennis,” he said. “Last year, I just got overpowered in a way. Today, I just got outplayed.”

The great matches seemed already in the past for Sampras. After Sunday, the present and future is a tenacious kid wearing a backward baseball cap.

“Four years ago, I was here playing juniors,” Hewitt said. “My badge, I still have the junior photo on the front of my badge. No one was out there watching. I was playing Taylor Dent out here a few years ago, and no one could care less.

“Now, in front of everyone, I have the world’s TV cameras on me, in front of me. I went and told Kim, ‘I’m not going to wake up, this isn’t going to happen.’ ”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

2001 OPEN CHAMPIONS

MEN’S SINGLES

Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)

*

WOMEN’S SINGLES

Venus Williams (U.S.)

*

MEN’S DOUBLES

Wayne Black andKevin Ullyett (Zimbabwe)

*

WOMEN’S DOUBLES

Lisa Raymond (U.S.) and Rennae Stubbs (Australia)

*

MIXED DOUBLES

Rennae Stubbs and Todd Woodbridge (Australia)