Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 10, 1995 TAG: 9507100123
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: New York Times
DATELINE: WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND LENGTH: Long
He was unusually motivated: Sampras dearly wanted to use this championship as a get-well gift for his ailing coach, Tim Gullikson, who is back home in Chicago undergoing chemotherapy in an attempt to battle brain cancer.
And he was unusually accurate from the service line: Sampras was, in fact, so deadly perfect with his delivery that Becker never managed to sneak in a break point against the defending champion's serve, much less convert one.
All of this led to an unusual accomplishment Sunday for the 23-year-old Californian with the classic strokes and classy temperament. He not only won Wimbledon again, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, he thoroughly outclassed Becker, the 27-year-old German who made history here exactly 10 years ago when he rose from the unsung ranks of the unseeded and captured the first of his three Wimbledon titles.
``Unfortunately, he owns the Center Court now,'' Becker said after being rendered a runner-up for the fourth time in seven Wimbledon finals. ``I used to own it a few years back.''
Already Wimbledon's two-time defending champion, Sampras transformed himself into this Grand Slam tournament's first three-time defending champion in 15 years.
``To make this a three-peat is something I'm pretty proud of,'' said Sampras, who raced off to a telephone to celebrate long distance with Gullikson after receiving the silver chalice from the Duke and Duchess of Kent and sending a brief bow in the direction of Princess Diana.
``People don't really care who comes in second, and to be able to be the first American to win three in a row, I mean, this was a big, big moment for me,'' Sampras said.
Not since Bjorn Borg reigned on these lawns from 1976-80 has any player so dominated at Wimbledon, the crown jewel of the four Grand Slams and the event for which this unassuming high school dropout was groomed since he was 9 years old.
As Sampras tossed his shirt, a glass of water, and then, to help dry the fans he had drenched, a towel into the stands, Becker was urged to take a non-victory lap by his fans and, since the princess was prominent among them, acquiesced.
``Of all the four finals I lost, this was probably the best feeling I ever had here after a loss,'' said Becker, who insisted that he will be around, and remain a threat, at least until he's 30.
During the match, Becker stopped feeling good as soon as Sampras tightened up his swing on his return games and beefed up his serves, which reached 129 mph.
``Once I broke him in the second set, my game kind of elevated to a new level,'' Sampras said of the inspired performance that earned him a sixth career Grand Slam title.
The second-seeded Sampras smoked 23 aces past Becker, who later repeated the disparaging statistics he heard from his coach, Nick Bollettieri, regarding his inability to put a dent in the winner's serve.
``I think I won just 20 points against his serve, and seven of them came from double faults, so you can imagine how many chances I had to actually hit a few tennis balls out there,'' said the bearded Becker, who called Sampras a fearsome front-runner. ``Once he's up in the second set, he hits those bombs and you hope for rain.''
Becker wound up with 15 double faults, most of them because he was overhitting his second serve in an attempt to undermine Sampras' ever-improving returns.
Flushed from the heat, which reached 110 degrees on the court, Becker plopped a white cap on his head after falling behind by 4-1 in the second set. But the extra touch of shade failed to rejuvenate his playmaking. A bulldog when the match began, he was clearly the underdog the longer it wore on. Meanwhile, a shade of a Mona Lisa grin began to brighten the normally impassive features of Sampras.
``I just started to connect on my returns,'' Sampras said, ``and my serve didn't let me down, and I could tell he was more tired, and put it all together and I felt pretty great about my game out there.''
The American's three previous Grand Slam events had been a disappointment to him. A foot injury had prevented him from making an adequate defense of his 1993 U.S.Open title, he fell to Andre Agassi in the Australian Open final, and last month at the French Open, he folded in the first round.
He ended the second set with an ace, and in the third set embarked on a four-game service tear in which he didn't yield a single point against his serve. The third set ended just as the second had, with an ace; the only difference was that this time he used a second-serve ace to reach set point.
Once Becker double-faulted at break point in the fourth set's opening game, Sampras had his opening; ahead, 5-2, after breaking Becker again in the seventh game, Sampras used an ace to set the stage for his match point, which Becker converted for him with a floppy return that veered wide.
In keeping with his image, there were no additional theatrics from the champion: He raised his arms, sprinted across the frazzled lawn to console Becker, and then slumped into his chair.
``It just felt good to get the job done,'' said Sampras, who has beaten Jim Courier, Goran Ivanisevic, and now, in Becker, the three-time champion who ruled this regal roost before he arrived.
``Winning here is what it's all about,'' Sampras said. ``It's the biggest thing we've got in our sport. It's all a blur right now, but I know I'm feeling pretty relieved about everything.''
Keywords:
TENNIS
by CNB