Sampras, Roddick Get U.S. Off to Good Start

Hyper followed mellow. Teen angst was teamed with 30-something doubt. It would be like snowboarders coexisting on the same slope with skiers wearing leather boots.

On Friday, 19-year-old Andy Roddick and 30-year-old Pete Sampras were looking for common ground as Davis Cup teammates. They found it--at least temporarily--both struggling much more than expected against their lightly regarded Slovakian opponents at the Convention Center.

Sampras went first and was two points away from needing to play a fifth set against No. 268-ranked Karol Beck. He has been there before lately. Anyone remember his woes against the likes of Cedric Kaufmann or Barry Cowan last year?

He barely managed to beat those two journeymen and scuffled through against Beck, winning, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 7-5, in 2 hours 25 minutes. Beck had 21 aces to 17 for Sampras.

Roddick’s match was two minutes shorter and it shared the same roller-coaster nature as the first one. He squandered a 5-1 lead in the third-set tiebreaker and needed another tiebreaker to prevent a fifth set, defeating No. 269 Jan Kroslak, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1). The victories gave the United States a 2-0 lead against Slovakia in this best-of-five first-round match.

The U.S. has lost only three times in 154 matches when leading 2-0 in Davis Cup, most recently in 1994 in the semifinals against Sweden. The third point could come today in the doubles-- featuring rookie Mardy Fish and James Blake against Kroslak and Beck. But the U.S. has not won the doubles since defeating Australia in the quarterfinals in 1999, an 0-5 stretch.

They’ve tried many combinations, mostly veterans. Now the kids could complete the delivery into the next round against Spain or Morocco, which are tied, 1-1.

Sampras, who returned to Davis Cup action for the first time in nearly two years, had to smile about Team Cross-Generation.

“It is more of these guys coming out, bouncing off the walls,” Sampras said. “They have got a lot of energy, and, you know, they are watching ‘The Simpsons’ at night. And I am with Todd Martin watching ‘On Golden Pond.’ So they can’t sit still for half an hour. They have dinner. They are up in the room, playing games, and playing pingpong in their underwear. That’s what these guys are doing.”

The ever-hyper Roddick was amused, saying: “I haven’t stripped down in my underwear this week. But it’s not over yet. Maybe I have something to look forward to. I think it’s normal. They are a little, you know, a lot more mature than we are.”

Said U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe: “These are wild young boys, they are young bucks. They have a lot of energy and that’s good for Pete. I think it’s worked well.”

Roddick’s energy spilled over in the tiebreaker and essentially cost him the set. He led, 5-1, and Kroslak won the final six points. A set later, Roddick, who is wearing braces to support his often-injured ankles, did not make the same mistake by celebrating prematurely.

“You get a taste of how quickly he learns,” McEnroe said. “He knew he got a little overexcited in that third set and everybody was jumping up and down and going crazy, including myself and the guys on the bench. He just kept his composure in that fourth set when he got the lead.”

Inexperience ended up playing a larger role in the first match. Beck, 19, realized by the start of the third set he could play with Sampras, repeatedly finishing points with his smooth two-handed backhand. He served for the fourth set, at 5-4, and reached 30-30 but lost it with two unforced errors, a forehand in the net and a forehand long.

“I didn’t feel like I was in trouble in the set,” Sampras said. “I was in trouble in the match. I felt he was having to close it out there and maybe a little inexperience would come into play and it did. He missed a few shots here and there and I managed to capitalize on a couple of his errors. But I was in a little bit of trouble there, but I still felt pretty good for a fifth.”

It never got to that, but taking a couple of sets off the heavily favored Americans was a minor victory for Slovakia, which was missing its two injured stars, Dominik Hrbaty and Karol Kucera.

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Davis Cup

Today’s doubles match: James Blake-Mardy Fish (U.S.) vs. Jan Kroslak-Karol Beck (Slovakia), 1 p.m. ESPN2.

Friday’s results: Pete Sampras (U.S.) def. Karol Beck, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 7-5; Andy Roddick (U.S.) def. Jan Kroslak, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (1).

Standings: United States leads Slovakia, 2-0.