Sampras to face Corretja in Davis Cup
April 4, 2002
Pete Sampras will face Alex Corretja on Friday in a Davis Cup quarterfinal between the United States and Spain played on grass courts. Andy Roddick will play Tommy Robredo of Spain in the other singles match that day in the best-of-five series.
In Saturday's doubles, the U.S. team of Todd Martin and James Blake will face Corretja and Juan Balcells.
The selections for play at the Westside Tennis Club were announced at Thursday's draw.
Sampras, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, has a 99-17 career record on grass. Roddick is 5-0 on grass.
The host team selects the surface and U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe chose grass, marking the second time since 1959 a Davis Cup match in the United States will be played on grass. In 1991, the United States defeated Spain 4-1 at Newport, R.I.
Sampras has a 19-8 Davis Cup record, leading the United States to a 5-0 victory over Slovakia in the first round at Oklahoma City.
Spain defeated the United States 5-0 in the semifinals of the 2000 Davis Cup playoffs en route to its only Davis Cup championship. The United States has 31 Davis Cup titles.
The winner of the U.S.-Spain quarterfinal will meet the winner of the France- Czech Republic series in the semifinals.
In the second singles match, seven-time Wimbledon champion Sampras will play two-time Roland Garros finalist Alex Corretja. You can't find anyone around the Westside grounds who believes that Sampras will lose this contest, given how many times Corretja has avoided grass court play in his career and how Sampras has built his career around playing well on it.
Sampras and Corretja have played five times, with Sampras owning a 4-1 edge, including his memorable five-set win at the 1996 U.S. Open where he overcame Corretja in a fifth-set tiebreaker after vomiting a few times on the backstop and on a ball boy. But that was a hard court where Corretja could dictate play on his own serve and you can bet more than few nickels that Sampras will be chip-and-charging a ton on Friday. However, Sampras remains a little wary.
"I think all of us our more anxious than nervous to get going," he said. "Davis Cup is different than any other event. You're representing your country. There a sense of urgency when you play. It's like playing a major, you don't want to let anyone down."
Although Sampras hasn't won a title since he snagged his 13th Grand Slam crown at 2000 Wimbledon and was stunned by Fernando Gonzalez at the Nasdaq-100 in Miami last week, McEnroe is confident that he will find his stride on Friday.
"Pete's been playing well here," McEnroe said. "He played a terrible match in Miami but he feels very comfortable on grass, where he has a better court awareness because he knows he has to serve and volley rather not being sure whether he should be staying back."
Corretja is just 3-6 for his career on grass.
"We just have to believe that we love grass this week," Corretja said. "We have to be positive. Sure, there will be tough moments, but we'll just focus and see if they really are better."
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