Open Favourite Sampras Blown Away by Kuerten
January 15, 1998 - 0:0
MELBOURNE - Pete Sampras was installed Wednesday as top seed and hot favourite for the Australian open, but repaid the vote of confidence by being blown off court by French open Champion Gustavo Kuerten. Sampras is top seed for the opening grand slam of the year, which starts Monday, ahead of home favourite Pat Rafter and fellow-American Michael Chang. Switzerland's Martina Hingis is top women's seed, followed by Lindsay Davenport of the United States and Amanda Coetzer of South Africa. Within an hour of the seeds being announced, Sampras was beaten 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 by Brazilian Kuerten at the Kooyong Classic, the traditional acclimatisation event before the heat of the Australian open.
The 26-year-old world number one dismissed the importance of the upset, however, saying the Blustery conditions were some of the worst he had ever played in. It was unbelievable. It was not meant for playing tennis out there, it was more for flying a kite, Sampras said. It was impossible to play the wind was so strong. Sampras said he did not know if the ball would go high or low.
The ball boys spent their time scurrying after papers blown around the court in the tennis gale. The 21-year-old Kuerten, who has risen to 14th in the world since his surprise French open win last June, was overjoyed with his win in his first meeting with Sampras. It always gives me a bit of confidence and a good feeling to get a win like that.
He is a tough player to beat, even in practice. Sampras is still upbeat about his chances at the open after coming back from intensive training for a muscle tear suffered in the Davis Cup Final in December which ruined his hopes of getting a quiet end-of-season break. He said he had been very frustrated, very upset to have undergo treatment when he would rather have been playing golf or going away on holiday.
But I was in treatment twice a day for three weeks which was not a lot of fun. Now I feel pretty fresh. I feel the motivation is there. If I wasn't motivated for this then I wouldn't be playing. I am going to be there and I still feel I am playing well. Tennis Australia (TA) stuck to the world rankings for the open seeds.
TA President Geoff Pollard said: The rankings have served us well in the past and we see no reason to vary them. In world number two Rafter and Mark Philippoussis at 15, Australia have two men's seeds for the first time since 1989. Third-seed Chang, who pulled out of the Kooyong Classic because of a stomach muscle injury, said he is confident he will be ready for next week.
Sampras is rated 5-4 favourite for the men's title with Rafter second at 11-2, according to Australia's National Sportsbet. The bookies do not agree with the women's seeds, where Venus Williams looms as a growing danger in a contest where there will be no Steffi Graf, who is injured, and Monica Seles, who has pulled out for personal reasons. National Sportsbet has Venus Williams, who beat Hingis 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in Sydney on Tuesday, as third favouite at 8-1 behind Hingis (15-8) and Mary Pierce of France (7-1).
The 17-year-old Williams missed out on one of the 16 women's seedings with her ranking at number 32. But she inflicted only the fourth defeat in more than a year on Hingis, who knows Williams and others are out to end her reign as world number one. Conditions at Melbourne Park again loom as a point of contention for the players, who have already expressed concern at plans to close the centre court roof if temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius as they did last year.
According to Andre Agassi, the courts are 38 percent faster than when he was last here in 1996. Agassi, now fighting to get back into the top 100, hinted this could give an unfair advantage to big hitting Australian players Rafter and Philippoussis.
The 26-year-old world number one dismissed the importance of the upset, however, saying the Blustery conditions were some of the worst he had ever played in. It was unbelievable. It was not meant for playing tennis out there, it was more for flying a kite, Sampras said. It was impossible to play the wind was so strong. Sampras said he did not know if the ball would go high or low.
The ball boys spent their time scurrying after papers blown around the court in the tennis gale. The 21-year-old Kuerten, who has risen to 14th in the world since his surprise French open win last June, was overjoyed with his win in his first meeting with Sampras. It always gives me a bit of confidence and a good feeling to get a win like that.
He is a tough player to beat, even in practice. Sampras is still upbeat about his chances at the open after coming back from intensive training for a muscle tear suffered in the Davis Cup Final in December which ruined his hopes of getting a quiet end-of-season break. He said he had been very frustrated, very upset to have undergo treatment when he would rather have been playing golf or going away on holiday.
But I was in treatment twice a day for three weeks which was not a lot of fun. Now I feel pretty fresh. I feel the motivation is there. If I wasn't motivated for this then I wouldn't be playing. I am going to be there and I still feel I am playing well. Tennis Australia (TA) stuck to the world rankings for the open seeds.
TA President Geoff Pollard said: The rankings have served us well in the past and we see no reason to vary them. In world number two Rafter and Mark Philippoussis at 15, Australia have two men's seeds for the first time since 1989. Third-seed Chang, who pulled out of the Kooyong Classic because of a stomach muscle injury, said he is confident he will be ready for next week.
Sampras is rated 5-4 favourite for the men's title with Rafter second at 11-2, according to Australia's National Sportsbet. The bookies do not agree with the women's seeds, where Venus Williams looms as a growing danger in a contest where there will be no Steffi Graf, who is injured, and Monica Seles, who has pulled out for personal reasons. National Sportsbet has Venus Williams, who beat Hingis 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in Sydney on Tuesday, as third favouite at 8-1 behind Hingis (15-8) and Mary Pierce of France (7-1).
The 17-year-old Williams missed out on one of the 16 women's seedings with her ranking at number 32. But she inflicted only the fourth defeat in more than a year on Hingis, who knows Williams and others are out to end her reign as world number one. Conditions at Melbourne Park again loom as a point of contention for the players, who have already expressed concern at plans to close the centre court roof if temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius as they did last year.
According to Andre Agassi, the courts are 38 percent faster than when he was last here in 1996. Agassi, now fighting to get back into the top 100, hinted this could give an unfair advantage to big hitting Australian players Rafter and Philippoussis.