It Has Surface Appeal, but Grass Isn’t Always Greener

Pete Sampras playing Alex Corretja, on a grass court, no less, should have been one of the safest Davis Cup bets in recent history.

“Should have been” is the operative phrase.

Tennis fans will remember Corretja, a clay-court specialist from Spain and two-time French Open finalist, somehow mastering the alien grass for one day, mustering the resolve to beat Sampras on that surface in Houston in 2002 in the quarterfinals.

All this means that a healthy dose of caution is advised heading into the Davis Cup quarterfinal between the United States and Chile, starting today at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. U.S. Tennis Assn. officials are expecting a sellout; capacity is close to 4,400.

This will be the first time the U.S. has played a Davis Cup round on grass since 2002. So if a seven-time Wimbledon champion, Sampras, could slip up on grass that day in Houston, practically anyone else can too.

Then, the surface was hand-picked for Sampras and Andy Roddick. This time it was selected not only for the benefit of the struggling Roddick, who openly lobbied for it, but to the detriment of the Chileans.

The Chilean squad, though four in number, is essentially two -- Nicolas Massu, who won gold medals in singles and doubles at the 2004 Olympics, and Fernando Gonzalez, Massu’s partner on the gold-winning doubles team at the Athens Games.

In today’s opening match, starting at 11 a.m., eighth-ranked James Blake will play No. 18 Gonzalez, followed by No. 4 Roddick against No. 37 Massu.

Dean Goldfine, Roddick’s former coach, will be stepping in for U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe, who is with his wife in New York, awaiting the birth of their first child.

Blake is 3-2 against Gonzalez, and Roddick is 0-2 against Massu, though one of the losses was on clay last year.

Saturday’s doubles features twins Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo against Gonzalez and Massu.

In the reverse singles Sunday, Roddick will play Gonzalez, and Blake will play Massu.

Massu’s and Gonzalez’s gold-medal performances in Athens were on hard courts, which also played into the surface selection at Mission Hills. Success has been elusive on grass for Massu, who has reached the third round at Wimbledon only once, in 2001. Gonzalez made the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last year, losing to Roger Federer.

Roddick knows that feeling well, having lost to Federer in the last three Wimbledons, twice in finals and in a semifinal in 2003.

Grass would seem to be the ultimate security blanket for Roddick, though, who has had a widely chronicled subpar year, failing to win a title and suffering perplexing losses to, among others, Julien Benneteau and Igor Andreev.

Blake, not Roddick, is the one on the squad with the singles title in 2006, having won at Las Vegas, then losing in his last two tournaments to Federer, including the final at Indian Wells last month, not far down the road from Mission Hills.