Posted on: September 09th, 2002
Fifth title earns Sampras an Open embrace
- petepage[September 9, 2002 (SF Chronicle) Scott Ostler]
PETE SAMPRAS set us up.
After he won Wimbledon in 2000 for his record-setting 13th Grand Slam title, Sampras must have thought: "They're taking me for granted, those fans.
They say I'm so good that I ruin the game, and that I'm a boring guy." So he purposely (so goes my theory) stopped winning, sunk like a rock in the rankings and started laboring around the court, his aura having left
the building.
When Sampras started swinging his way through the pack at the U.S. Open, he had paid his hard-time dues, and the fans and media were able to accord him all the admiration and affection we withheld when he dominated the game with his boring excellence.
How else to explain Sampras' amazing comeback from Palookaville to the penthouse, capped by Sunday's dramatic yet decisive 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Andre Agassi? How else to explain that Sampras had lost 33 straight tournaments, then showed up at the U.S. Open with that old lightning-bolt serve and matador volley?
Thirty-three aces Sunday against the man who invented the return of serve? Twelve aces in the first set? That's just frightening. For the first hour out there, Agassi must have felt like he was swinging a chopstick against Roger Clemens.
Sampras' 14th Slam was authoritative, and gutsy.
"This one might take the cake," Sampras said, mentally placing the 2002 silver cup onto his groaning shelf of Grand Slam hardware.
"The goods," that's what Sampras told us earlier in the week that he still had. The goods: A package that includes the serve, the volley and the guts to come back when you're sucking wind in the fourth set, the points are stretching out like a bad hamstring and you're facing a world-class battler who has just caught a whiff of opportunity. In the third set, Sampras was serving at 5-6 and Agassi came back from 40-love to break and turn a rout into a match.
The zip on Sampras' serve seemed to be fading, and memories were stirred of the last two Open finals, when Sampras twice showed the strain of the two-week battle by falling to younger foes in straight sets.
This time Sampras worked through the fatigue. In the fourth game of the fourth set, Agassi was starting to look like Rocky, fighting off five Sampras chances to close out the game. But Sampras used his serve and
volley to win the 20-point, seven-deuce classic.
"I was feeling (fatigue), I was definitely feeling a little bit of fatigue, " Sampras said. "I just hung in there the best that I could at the end and got it done."
With the crowd roaring and rooting hard for an Agassi comeback to prolong the drama between their two favorite players, Sampras seized the moment. "I had it in my hands to serve it out," Sampras said. "And 30-love, second serve up the middle (at 119 mph), I hit an ace. That felt really good."
Who'd-a thunk it, besides Sampras? He was seeded 17th here. He has been saying for weeks now, "I know I've got one more in me," but until a few rounds into the serious action, it sounded like he was referring to kidney stones.
Does Sampras now have another one in him? He didn't say Sunday evening, and even left the door slightly open for retirement. He almost surely won't, but if Sampras does walk away now, check out those career bookends! It all started for Pete right here at the Open in '90, when he won it as a 19-year-old nobody. Sunday he won his fifth Open title as a 31- year-old, re-inventing legend and becoming the tournament's oldest winner since 1970.
He said this is the best one, and that might be because of the love and admiration he has finally pried out of the fans as he evolved from boring young fogy to exciting senior citizen. Like Agassi, Sampras learned that there is nothing like growing old and overcoming adversity to win the fans.
And, realizing that the fans can be his allies, Sampras has reached out, let us get to know him. After the semis Saturday, he said he planned to relax that night, have a beer. Several veteran tennis writers dropped their notebooks. Hey, even if it was a nonalcoholic brewski, it's the thought that counts.
Sunday, no doubt nursing the world's tiniest hangover, Sampras came out smoking. Credit an assist to Agassi. Not only did the presence of Pete's foremost foe ratchet up the excitement of the afternoon, but Agassi is a
big part of the reason Sampras is still here. "He's made me a better player," Sampras said. "He's brought moments to my career that are like (Bjorn) Borg and (John) McEnroe. Those guys needed each other. I've needed Andre over the course of my career. He's pushed me. You know, he's forced me to add things to my game. He's the only guy that was able to do that. He's the best I've played.
" So . . . same time next year?
CHART: ALL-TIME MAJOR TITLES -- MEN
14 -- Pete Sampras
12 -- Roy Emerson
11 -- Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver
10 -- Bill Tilden
8 -- Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry, Ken Rosewall
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