Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 10, 1995 TAG: 9509120034
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
That one disputed call, on the line or a fraction of an inch from it, made all the difference Saturday between Seles winning the first Grand Slam tournament in her inspired comeback and an emotionally drained Steffi Graf capturing her third of the year.
It was a call that snatched a tiebreaker away from Seles and lingered on her mind too long, a call that changed her from a straight-sets winner to a three-sets runner-up in a dramatic final, 7-6 (8-6), 0-6, 6-3.
``I was reminiscing so much about that one serve,'' Seles said. ``But, oh boy, there were so many emotions out there today.''
In the end, they embraced and kissed across the net, two women who needed each other more than they knew, who gave the nearly 20,000 fans in the stadium a match of elegance and courage and brute power.
It was a show that highlighted a truly Super Saturday, a nine-hour day and evening of tennis that began with Pete Sampras beating Jim Courier 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, and ended with defending champion Andre Agassi beating Boris Becker 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 6-4.
``Pete, if you're watching, I'm coming,'' Agassi said, looking forward to a renewal of their rivalry as the top two men in tennis.
Graf and Seles will still share the No.1 ranking even after the German's victory, and that is especially appropriate after seeing how little separates them on court.
Away from the court, Seles was still smiling, taking in stride her first defeat in a dozen matches and putting behind her the stabbing by a Graf fan in Hamburg, Germany, nearly 2 1/2 years ago.
``It has been very exciting to me playing again, and just being out there feeling everything once again - what was such a routine before,'' Seles said, giggling as always. ``As long as I keep having fun, that is what is going to matter to me the most.''
Graf couldn't have been happier about overcoming her physical and emotional problems to add the U.S. Open championship to the Wimbledon and French Open titles she won earlier this summer.
``This is the biggest one I have ever achieved,'' Graf said. ``Nothing can ever come close to this one. I had a lot of obstacles to climb over. Every time something else was coming up. I just didn't expect it.''
She has a painful bone spur in her back and a sore foot, but nothing has worn her down like the imprisonment of her father.
Graf, who won $575,000 to push her career earnings to $16.6 million, sobbed uncontrollably when asked about her father and manager, Peter, in a German prison on tax fraud charges. She said her prospects of seeing him are ``very slight,'' because prosecutors want to keep them apart during the ongoing investigation.
``I haven't talked to my lawyers or his lawyers in the last few weeks, so I am going to have to do a lot of catching up on that issue,'' Graf said.
After one more question about her father, she broke down in tears, her chest heaving. She covered her eyes a moment, then bolted away to compose herself for interviews in German. On a day like this, after winning an 18th Grand Slam the way she did, Graf couldn't stand being reminded of her family's problems.
For her, and for the crowd, the drama of the match was enough.
Serving for the set at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, Seles drilled an apparent ace down the middle and capered off the court certain she'd won it. But the linesman called it wide and the umpire declined to overrule. Seles shouted her objections to no avail.
Angry and shaken, Seles plopped a slow second serve that Graf ran around to drill a forehand winner crosscourt and even the tiebreaker at 6-6. As they switched sides after that point, Seles kept arguing with the umpire, and the distraction still was on her mind when she hit forehand errors on the next two points to drop the set - the first in her comeback.
Seles, whose whole game is built around her mental fortitude more than her physical strength, responded to that moment of frustration by crushing Graf in the second set - the first time Graf ever lost a set at love in 12 years at the U.S. Open. Graf hadn't lost a set at love in any Grand Slam event since the 1992 French Open semis against Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.
A bone bruise on Graf's left foot bothered her throughout that set. She went to a hospital Friday night for an MRI exam, but tests showed she did not have a stress fracture as she feared. After the fifth game of the second set, she called over a trainer, whom she sent in search of a new pair of socks.
Graf left the court to put on the socks and have the bandage removed after the first game of the third set, and suddenly appeared more comfortable and confident again. Seles, meanwhile, looked increasingly tired in only her second tournament back.
They were both running breathlessly from side to side, baseline to net, chasing angled groundstrokes and drop shots. It was a match of women very close to the height of their game, trying to out-think and out-slug each other.
Graf broke her to 3-1 when Seles double-faulted and hit three unforced errors, the only time she lost her service in the match. It was the opening Graf needed, but it never was easy for her down to the end.
Seles, as tired as she was, stubbornly refused to yield and made Graf earn the victory on her own serve. Even in the final game, the two exchanged hard-hitting rallies, the last point coming when Seles punched a forehand into the net.
Throughout the final games, sensing her imminent defeat but admiring her resolve to hang in, the crowd roared for Seles, a 21-year-old who became an American last year.
``It's been a great two weeks, from the first time I walked out there Monday night,'' Seles told the crowd. ``It was amazing, the electricity. That's one of the reasons why I came back - to feel this excitement. I definitely felt it.''
She paused and added, ``Thank you.''
This was the ninth consecutive year that either Graf or Seles played in the Open final, and their first time together. Graf won six of their previous 10 matches, but Seles won two of their other three in Grand Slam finals - the 1993 Australian Open and 1992 French Open, both in three sets. Graf won in straight sets when they played for the 1992 Wimbledon title.
Graf's 18th Grand Slam singles title tied her with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Margaret Smith Court leads with 24, and Helen Wills Moody had 19.
In the end, brutality yielded to civility, the sick act of a knife-wielding assailant giving way to the resumption of a great sports rivalry in the only proper way - on the court.
When Guenter Parche stabbed Seles, he did it because he couldn't bear anyone but his beloved Graf as No. 1. He stole that ranking from Seles for more than two years, put her through incredible physical pain and emotional anguish that she finally overcame but will never forget.
Keywords:
TENNIS
by CNB