American
Heroes
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The
old masters
return!
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With
a combined age of 63, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi featured
in the oldest US Open ever.
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Twelve months
on from September 11, the city of New York is regenerated by a massive
injection of patriotic pride, thanks to Pete, Andre, Serena and
Venus.
Almost exactly
a year after the attack on the World Trade Center, the US Open
Tennis Championships produced an affirmation of America's strength
and solidarity. With two All-American singles finals and an extraordinary
performance by Pete Sampras, the unquenchable spirit of the nation
- and the city of New York in particular - was celebrated by 23,000
patriotic spectators packed into Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Right from
the start, this year's US Open was all about the resurgence of
Uncle Sam as the world's leading tennis power. The domination
of women's tennis by the Williams sisters continued as expected,
but on the men's side, the memory of Wimbledon, where no American
reached the last 16 for the first time in nearly a century, was
erased.
However, whereas
the home country was looking to new young stars like Andy Roddick,
James Blake and Taylor Dent to carry the Stars and Stripes into
the later rounds, the Old Masters proved it was too soon to write
them off. Sampras and Andre Agassi both flopped so dismally at
Wimbledon that they were viewed by most pundits as has-beens.
Sampras, particularly, had been having a dismal run. Since his
last tournament victory at Wimbledon in 2000 he had failed to
win a title in 33 starts. This year he had managed just one final
(Houston) and one semi-final (Indian Wells).
Yet it was
these two great champions who came through to play each other
for the fifth time in a Grand Slam final and for the 34th time
overall in a rivalry stretching back to 1989. It was a final few
would have predicted but most were delighted to see.
Sampras, who
won 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in a match which produced some exciting
moments but did not surpass their marvelloous 2001 quarter-final,
had always maintained that he had "one more Grand Slam"
left in him. But his recent succession of early round exits, and
the repeated image of him trudging off court, shoulders sagging,
after yet another humiliation, had made the fulfilment of this
claim unlikely.
"This
one might take the cake," said the 31-year-old Californian
when asked to compare his triumph with his 13 previous Grand Slam
titles. "I never thought anything would surpass what happened
at Wimbledon a couple of years ago, but the way I've been going
this year, to come through this and play the way I did today,
it was awesome."
Earlier in
the tournament there was little to suggest that the most prolific
winner of major titles would add one more to his haul. He was
barely troubled in the first two rounds, but against Greg Rusedski
in the third he was fortunate to survive. In a match spread over
two days because of rain, the British No. 2 wasted four chances
to win the first set. The American eventually scraped through
6-4 in the fifth, and Rusedski responded by saying: "He's
a great player from the past. I'll be surprised if he wins his
next match."
Sampras, riled
by suggestions that he was "a step and a half slower"
than in his heyday, went on to prove Rusedski wrong. He ground
out a four set victory over third see Tommy Haas and completely
outplayed Roddick in the quarter-finals. Another straight set
demolition, this time against Sjeng Schalken, put him into the
US Open final for the eighth time.
" |
To beat
a rival like Andre in a major tournament like the US Open,
a storybook ending, it might be nice to stop." |
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-Pete Sampras
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Meanwhile, Agassi
was scorching through the other half of the draw. He didn't drop
a set until the net-rushing Max Mirnyi prised the first on a tiebreak
in their quarterfinal, then in a pulsating semi he dethroned the
reigning champion, Lleyton Hewitt. Agassi, all bustling energy and
business looked the likelier winner when it came down to the final.
However, with
their combined ages (63) making this the oldest Grand Slam final
in the open era, Sampras was the fresher. His semi-final had been
easier, and he had more time to recover. So when he took the first
two sets, his ironclad serve-and-volley routine completely dominating
his opponent, his fifth US Open title beckoned.
But Agassi
fought back, clinched a 12-game third set and looked the stronger
in the fourth, with Sampras visibly tiring and throwing in an
alarming succession of double faults. Sampras needed to summon
one last effort to prevent it going to a fifth set. He struck,
broke serve in the ninth game and confidently served out in the
tenth. "I guess I'm back," he declared, with satisfying
understatement.
Asked
if this might be the moment to bring down the curtain on his stupendous
career, he admitted: "I'm going to have to weigh it up in
the next couple of months. I still want to play. I love to play.
But to beat a rival like Andre in a major tournament at the US
Open, a storybook ending, it might be nice to stop."
While Sampras
and Agassi, who first played each other in the US Open final in
1990, were extending all their yesterdays, Serena and Venus Williams
continued to increase the distance between themselves and the
rest of the field.
Their consecutive
Grand Slam final was threatened only by Chanda Rubin and Amelie
Mauresmo, both of whom made Venus fight all the way, respectively
in the last 16 and semi-finals. The progress of Serena, whose
figure hugging catsuit caused more of a stir than the high quality
of her tennis - stuttered only when Lindsay Davenport led her
5-2 in the second set of their semi-final. Otherwise, the Williamses
merely underlined their superiority.
However, Serena
has now established her own eminence over Venus. In a hard-hitting
and competitive final, which both sisters were equally desperate
to win, Venus's double faults were her downfall, as they were
when she lost to Serena at Paris and Wimbledon. "I did make
a lot of errors, and it makes it tough to win the match,"
said Venus, who beat Serena in last year's final. Now she needs
to find a way to reassert herself against her younger sister,
who is focussing on winning the Australian Open in January to
complete what she calls "a Serena Slam". "It's
been a long time since 1999," said Serena, whose previous
US Open title was won as a 17-year-old. "The difference between
then and now is that I'm a bit more mature, more relaxed and a
better player." It could be that Serena, still only 20, might
become the greatest of all time.
Sampras' place in history
With
14 Grand Slam titles, Pete Sampras has won more than any other
man in tennis history. But arguments will continue to rage as
to whether he deserves to be regarded as the greatest of all time.
Sampras has
never won the French Open - unlike Rod Laver, whom most experts
regard as the one man whose record surpasses his own. Laver twice
won the Grand Slam - all four majors in the same year - a feat
no other player of either sex has achieved. But it must be pointed
out that in Laver's day three of the Slams were played on grass,
and the overall quality of the fields was nowhere near as strong
as it is now.
Whilst Sampras
(14), Roy Emerson (12) Laver and Bjorn Borg (11 each) lead the
all-time Grand Slam table, three other players are ahead of Sampras
in the open era title stakes. Jimmy Connors is top with 109, followed
by Ivan Lendl (94), John McEnroe(77) and Sampras (64).