Columnist Victoria Sun: Players in bottom of Open draw catch break

Victoria Sun

Friday, Aug. 25, 2000 | 9:28 a.m.

Victoria Sun's tennis column appears Friday. Reach her at 259-4078 or victoria@lasvegassun.com.

Four-time U.S. Open champion John McEnroe won't say it, but I will.

The 64 players in the bottom half of the draw at the U.S. Open, which starts Monday in Flushing, N.Y., have to be breathing easier knowing Las Vegan Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras are in the top half.

McEnroe, lead men's analyst for USA Network, uncharacteristically hemmed and hawed Thursday when asked about the mind-set of the fortunate 64 who enter the tournament knowing they won't have a potential match against Agassi, the defending champ, or Sampras until the finals.

"I don't think you can generalize about that," McEnroe said. "Whoever wins may be so confident that he will run through the final guy."

It's hard to believe that McEnroe, known for being a straight shooter, honestly thinks that second-seeded Gustavo Kuerten, third-seeded Magnus Norman, last year's finalist Todd Martin and the others in the bottom half don't come into this Open more optimistic. And tougher to believe he thinks the guy who reaches the final against Agassi or Sampras will whup up on either of them, injured or not.

Should the seeds hold true to form, Andre and Pete will face each other in one semifinal played on "Super Saturday" (Sept. 9). Both men's semifinals and the women's final are played on that day.

Kuerten, a clay court specialist who had his best showing at the U.S. Open last year, getting to the quarterfinals, has lost four of his last five matches against Andre and is 0-2 against Sampras. He recently won the first hard court tournament of his career. Norman (1-3 against Sampras and 1-2 against Agassi) lost in the fourth round of the Open last year while Martin is 2-17 against Sampras and 5-12 against Agassi.

Other possible candidates to emerge from the bottom half of the draw include Australia's Mark Philippoussis, Patrick Rafter or Russian Marat Safin, though there are a number of others.

But should Agassi or Sampras reach the final, I wouldn't bet on any one else.

Tracy Austin, women's lead analyst for USA Network, which will be broadcasting more than 92 hours of the tournament, explained why although both have been beset by injuries, they still must be considered the favorites.

"The men's side is tough (to predict) because usually I love to go with Agassi or Sampras," Austin said. "But they haven't done that well during the summer.

"But to me, they're champions. It's U.S. Open time. I think they're able to get up and go into another gear. It's tough, but if you're going to force me to say somebody, I'll say Pete."

McEnroe would not commit when asked to pick a winner on either the men or women's sides.

"To me, let's see, Agassi won the Australian, and Kuerten (the French) and Sampras (Wimbledon)," he said. "I would have to go with one of those guys if I had to pick someone.

"But to be honest, I'm not sure how the court is playing and that's a factor. If it's fast, I would push more towards Agassi or Sampras or a big hitter more than the guys that can really play on the slower stuff, so I prefer to reserve judgment a little bit.

"On the women's side I would pick one of the Williams (Venus or Serena) sisters or (Martina) Hingis and (Lindsay) Davenport, is, like Tracy said earlier, a bit of an unknown because of her injuries."

Between Agassi and Sampras, McEnroe thinks Agassi has the better draw. Sampras has a possible quarterfinal match against Yevgeny Kafelnikov while Agassi would play Thomas Enqvist in another quarterfinal.

"I think that's a great draw for him," McEnroe said of Agassi. "I think even though he struggled with (Arnaud) Clement (Agassi's probable second round opponent) a year ago, that's about as good as you could ask for.

"I think it's conceivable that Lleyton Hewitt or Enqvist could pose a problem.

"I personally think he's going to have a good run there."

Agassi, who has been hampered by a bad back that was further injured when he was rear-ended in a car collision after Wimbledon, has had a mediocre summer season as a result of his injuries. He lost in the first round of Toronto, pulled out of the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles and retired in the second round at Cincinnati before making some progress last week at the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C. There he reached both the doubles and singles finals.

"He seems like he's OK," McEnroe said. "From what I hear, the court was playing slow, he looked impatient and wasn't playing that well, but I don't think it was a physical thing, I think mentally he wasn't quite there yet.

"But I think it was a good run for him. I think that gave him some confidence even though he lost that match. To me he looked physically OK."