Quantcast
nodot nodot
Between The Lines
October 2, 1998 Article

Contact Ray Bowers

Latest Between The Lines Article

Between The Lines Archives:
2003 - 2015
August 1998 - 2003
1995 - May 1998

Tennis Server
HOME PAGE

Do You Want To Be A Better Tennis Player?

Then Sign Up For A Free Subscription to the Tennis Server INTERACTIVE
E-mail Newsletter!

Tom Veneziano You will join 13,000 other subscribers in receiving news of updates to the Tennis Server along with monthly tennis tips from tennis pro Tom Veneziano.
 
Best of all, it is free!

Tennis Features Icon TENNIS FEATURES:

TENNIS ANYONE? - USPTA Pro John Mills' quick player tip.
 
TENNIS WARRIOR - Tom Veneziano's Tennis Warrior archive.
 
TURBO TENNIS - Ron Waite turbocharges your tennis game with tennis tips, strategic considerations, training and practice regimens, and mental mindsets and exercises.
 
WILD CARDS - Each month a guest column by a new writer.
 
BETWEEN THE LINES - Ray Bowers takes an analytical and sometimes controversial look at the ATP/WTA professional tour.
 
PRO TENNIS SHOWCASE - Tennis match reports and photography from around the world.
 
TENNIS SET - Jani Macari Pallis, Ph.D. looks at tennis science, engineering and technology.
 
MORTAL TENNIS - Greg Moran's tennis archive on how regular humans can play better tennis.
 
HARDSCRABBLE SCRAMBLE - USPTA pro Mike Whittington's player tip archive.
 
TENNIS EQUIPMENT TIPS.

Tennis Community Icon TENNIS COMMUNITY:


Tennis Book, DVD, and Video Index
 
Tennis Server Match Reports
 
Editor's Letter
 
Become a Tennis Server Sponsor

Explore The Tennis Net Icon EXPLORE THE TENNIS NET:

Tennis News and Live Tennis Scores
 
Tennis Links on the Web
 
nodot
Between The Lines By Ray Bowers
 
Green Dot
 
Tennis Warehouse Logo
 
Green Dot

 
nodot
The Home Stretch for 1998

Ray Bowers Photo
Ray Bowers

The four Slams are now history, along with seven of the Super Nines and seven Tier Ones among the women. Spain has won Fed Cup, and the Davis Cup awaits only the final rubber. But although this splendid year in pro tennis is almost over, the races to determine the year's champions in men's and women's singles, especially the men's, are still wide open.

THE MEN'S SINGLES RACE

As 1997 ended, people had good reason for saying that Pete Sampras might be the greatest player in tennis history. Sampras had finished atop the official ATP tour rankings for a fifth straight year, having captured the 1997 Australian Open and Wimbledon and closed out the year strongly. Though Sampras was felled by a calf injury during the Davis Cup final at year's end, it was almost unthinkable that his reign might be ending.

But year 1998 would not follow the expected script. Four different players would win the four 1998 Slams and, even more remarkably, four other players would be the Slam runner-ups. It was only the second time this had happened since the start of the Open era in 1968. (It happened in 1982-1983, when the Australian Open was played in December 1982.) Meanwhile, the Super Nines were a bit more orderly--Rios took three, Rafter two, Moya and Corretja one each.

Thus the leaders in 1998 official points looked like this after the U.S. Open. (Note that points earned in late 1997 are not included here, though they count in the published twelve-month ATP tour rankings, where Sampras leads.)

Rafter, 3,260 points
Rios, 3,173
Sampras, 2,881
Moya, 2,707
Agassi, 2,527
Corretja, 2,479
Kucera, 2,288
Korda, 2,070

Along with a dozen or so lesser tournaments, three principal events remain, all in Europe indoors. Two of them are Super Nines--the Eurocard in Stuttgart in late October and the Paris Open soon afterwards. They will be followed by the ATP Tour World Championship, in Hannover, Germany, 23-29 November. The points to be won in these events depend somewhat on the rankings of each player's victims, but usually a Super Nine produces roughly the following:

winner, 500 points
runner-up, 340
losing semi-finalist, 200
losing quarter-finalist, 120

The ATP World should yield slightly higher rewards, the winner last year having earned 630 points. (Lesser events usually yield about half the points of Super Nines, Slams about double.)

It thus appears that three and perhaps four players are close enough to claim the lead from Rafter by winning two or three of the principal remaining events.

Indoor play raises several considerations. Big servers typically do well indoors, unhindered in their delivery by wind or sun. Indoor-carpet surfaces, used at Stuttgart and Paris, are usually moderately slow but not slow enough to swing the advantage to the baseliner. Inveterate net rushers like Rafter like the freedom from wind and sun indoors and also the excellent foot traction offered by carpet. Sampras says he likes a moderately paced surface (such as certain indoor carpet), which helps him hammer shots accurately from the baseline. His own serves and volleys are powerful enough not to require help from a very fast court. Rafter's serve, less powerful than Sampras', should gain a higher bounce than at Flushing Meadows, to Rafter's advantage.

Who will prevail? Until late September, it seemed likely that significant clues would come from the Grand Slam Cup, held in Munich starting the last week of September, where ATP points are not awarded. But three of the top four--Sampras, Rafter, and Moya--did not compete at Munich. Rios won at Munich, defeating Agassi in five.

We can also seek clues from last year's fall indoor circuit. Here, the message comes through strongly--Pete Sampras clearly will be the man to beat. Sampras in 1997 won Grand Slam Cup, Paris, and Hannover. Rafter, on the other hand, struggled after his 1997 U.S. Open win, losing to Korda at Stuttgart, to Krajicek early in Paris, and to Sampras at Grand Slam Cup and in the early round-robin at Hannover. Further doubts as to Rafter's chances this year stem from a swollen knee, which hampered him in September Davis Cup play and kept him out of this year's Grand Slam Cup. Meanwhile the other leaders, Rios and Moya, also posted weak results in last year's fall indoor events, and Andre Agassi did not play. On the other hand, Petr Korda won Stuttgart, and Jonas Bjorkman was a semi-finalist or better at Paris, Stuttgart, and Hannover.

Apparently because of differences between the ATP Tour and the ITF (International Tennis Federation), individual Grand Slam Cup and Davis Cup achievements do not count in the official ATP point standings. To me, there can be no defensible logic in excluding Grand Slam Cup results. And, since many of the greatest matches in tennis history took place in Davis Cup competition, in my opinion Davis Cup play too should count in deciding the year's champion. Another weakness widely sensed in the ATP tour rankings is that Slam championships are not given enough weight. Winning a Slam is worth substantially less in the computer's rankings than being runner-up in two Slams, for example, and barely equals winning two Super Nines. I agree that the official ATP tour standings are excellent in providing a running ranking of the hundreds of touring pros, for use governing tournament entries and seedings. But in my opinion they may not necessarily produce the year's true champion.

The individual fan is thus left to pick the year's champion as he or she sees fit.

I have a hunch that if Sampras can overcome the muscle strain that occurred at Flushing Meadows and remain injury-free, he will again prevail in the late-year events sufficient to win both the official ATP tour championship for 1998 as well as first place in my own rankings. What seems even more certain is that we are in for some titanic battles this fall involving Rafter, Sampras, Rios, and perhaps Agassi.

THE WOMEN'S SINGLES

As 1998 began, Martina Hingis seemed alone at the top, having at age 16 won three of the four 1997 Slams, losing only at the French when returning from an injury. Although several other teen-agers seemed also ready to pass the older stars, Hingis's astonishing success seemed to indicate years of dominance ahead.

But again, 1998 would not cooperate. Hingis indeed won in Australia, but the Older Guard fought back when Sanchez Vicario won at Roland Garros, Novotna at Wimbledon, and Davenport, 22, at Flushing Meadows. It was the first time since 1990 that the four Slams went to four different women. Things were not totally chaotic, however, as the top rank was quite tightly defined, consisting of just six players--the four Slam winners plus Venus Williams and Monica Seles. All six reached at least the quarters of all four Slams (except that Novotna and Seles did not play in Australia).

These six led in the official rankings in mid-September, with Hingis and Davenport almost together at the top. Novotna was third, Sanchez Vicario fourth.

Three tournaments stand out in the forthcoming indoor season. Two Tier Ones are scheduled in October--the European championships in Zurich and the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Mid-November will bring the Chase Championships in New York, which will assemble the sixteen top point-gatherers in the women's equivalent of the ATP World.

Hingis and Davenport are the clear favorites to finish the year on top. Both, along with Jana Novotna, bring excellent indoor credentials. Novotna won Moscow last year, as well as the 1997 Chase. Davenport won at Zurich in 1997 and defeated Hingis to win the Pan Pacific indoors at Tokyo in early 1998. Hingis won the Paris indoors in 1997 and defeated Davenport in a third-set tiebreak to win Philadelphia, just a week before the 1997 Chase. Two years ago Hingis, then barely 16, reached the Chase final, where she lost to Steffi Graf in five after leading 2-1 in sets.

The other three leaders--Venus Williams, Sanchez Vicario, and Seles--cannot be disregarded in any of these events, although even a sweep by one of them would probably be too little to pass both Hingis and Davenport. Especially to be watched is Williams, whose power and mobility should overcome her limited experience indoors. Her victory in this year's Grand Slam Cup, where women competed for the first time, reinforce her credentials. A strong outsider will be Mary Pierce, runner-up in last year's Chase and winner of the Paris indoors this spring over Novotna.

I believe Lindsay Davenport will claim the year's official championship by winning at least one and probably two of the principal events. But even if this happens, there is a good chance that Hingis's Fed Cup exploits will lift her ahead of Davenport in my own rankings.

Green DotGreen DotGreen Dot

Between The Lines Archives:
1995 - May 1998 | August 1998 - 2003 | 2004 - 2015


If you have not already signed up to receive our free e-mail newsletter Tennis Server INTERACTIVE, you can sign up here. You will receive notification each month of changes at the Tennis Server and news of new columns posted on our site.

This column is copyrighted by Ray Bowers, all rights reserved.

Following interesting military and civilian careers, Ray became a regular competitor in the senior divisions, reaching official rank of #1 in the 75 singles in the Mid-Atlantic Section for 2002. He was boys' tennis coach for four years at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia, where the team three times reached the state Final Four. He was named Washington Post All-Metropolitan Coach of the Year in 2003. He is now researching a history of the early pro tennis wars, working mainly at U.S. Library of Congress. A tentative chapter, which appeared on Tennis Server, won a second-place award from U.S. Tennis Writers Association.

Questions and comments about these columns can be directed to Ray by using this form.


 

nodot
nodot
Google
Web tennisserver.com
nodot nodot
The Tennis Server
Ticket Exchange

Your Source for tickets to professional tennis & golf events.
 
Terra Wortmann Open - Halle, Germany Tickets
 
Wimbledon Tickets
 
Infosys Hall of Fame Open Tickets
 
Atlanta Open Tickets
 
Hamburg Open Tickets
 
Mubadala Citi Open Tennis Tournament Tickets
 
National Bank Open Women's Tennis Canada Tickets
 
National Bank Open Men's Tennis Canada Tickets
 
Cincinnati Open Tickets
 
Winston-Salem Open Tickets
 
Tennis In The Land Tickets
 
UTS - Tennis Like Never Before Tickets
 
US Open Tennis Championship Tickets
 
Laver Cup Berlin Tickets
 
Erste Bank Open - Vienna, Austria Tickets
 
Dallas Open Tickets
 
BNP Paribas Open Tickets
 
Miami Open Tickets
 
Laver Cup San Francisco Tickets
 

 

Popular Tennis books:
 
Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis-Lessons from a Master by Brad Gilbert, Steve Jamison
 
The Best Tennis of Your Life: 50 Mental Strategies for Fearless Performance by Jeff Greenwald
 
The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
 
Most Recent Articles:
 
October 2022 Tennis Anyone: Patterns in Doubles by John Mills.
 
September 2022 Tennis Anyone: Short Court by John Mills.
 

 

 

 

"Tennis Server" is a registered trademark and "Tennis Server INTERACTIVE" is a trademark of Tennis Server. All original material and graphics on the Tennis Server are copyrighted 1994 - by Tennis Server and its sponsors and contributors. Please do not reproduce without permission.

The Tennis Server receives a commission on all items sold through links to Amazon.com.

 

Tennis Server
Cliff Kurtzman
Editor-in-chief
791 Price Street #144
Pismo Beach, CA 93449
Phone: (281) 480-6300
Online Contact Form
How to support Tennis Server as a Sponsor/Advertiser
Tennis Server Privacy Policy