The United States is in crisis. Says so right here. Not your give-away-the-last-jewel-in-the-empire kind of crisis, but serious nonetheless. Someone named Richey Reneberg has lost in tennis to somebody named Greg Rusedski. That kind of crisis.
A reason, on the day after the Hong Kong handover, to feel good about dear Old Blighty.
Britannia may no longer rule, but England’s own Tim Henman had defending champion Richard Krajicek down two sets to one and muttering to himself in several languages when play was halted on Tuesday.
More to the issue, Pete Sampras is the last remaining Yank in London, man, woman or second baseman.
No reason to know this, but Reneberg is an American, has been one for 31 years. Rusedski, on the other hand, has been a Briton for assorted minutes, whatever time he needs to play tennis.
Otherwise, he is your basic Canadian, by way of California.
“I’m fresh, I’m focused, I’m up for it,” said Rusedski.
Rusedski came to England because he felt he had a better chance to be the top player here than at home, though he has been surpassed by the gimmickless and indigenous Henman.
There are no figures on the number of dual-passport English hockey players who might want to make their mark in Quebec, but my impression is that the emigration is pretty much in the Rusedski direction.
Sampras is, of course, so far in front of every other nationality as a tennis player that the rest could be trail mix for all it matters.
And not only did Andre Agassi pass this thing, but so did last year’s finalist, MaliVai Washington, and the man he beat to get there, Todd Martin.
In fact, only 14 American men entered this year, compared to the usual 50 or so.
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Not that any of this needs to be considered on a day when your Brit by way of Montreal whips the next to last American male, the oldest man in the main draw and, on his best days, a considerable doubles partner.
The obvious conclusion to be drawn is that the old Slazenger has been passed across the pond.
For the last six years, an American has been seeded No. 1 here, an American has made the final during the same time and four of the five years an American has won the title.
So, I suppose a little chortling from the locals is understandable.
Sampras was given the thankless duty of cleaning up at the end of another drippy day and led Petr Korda by a set when things were stopped.
Sampras followed the last American woman, Mary Joe Fernandez, on court after she was outmuscled and muscled out by Jana Novotna, not a hard chore against the frail Fernandez. Novotna probably went into the locker room later and pulled wings off moths.
The condition of American women’s tennis can be summed up with one fact. There are more Indonesians in the quarterfinals than Americans.
“It’s just a bad year for the U.S.,” Fernandez said. “Everything goes in cycles. This is the worst since, what, 1930? That’s a pretty good stretch. One bad year won’t hurt us.”
Bookmaking being not only legal but sensible here, to get any action at all, better odds have been given for the return of Christ than a Brit winning the tournament.
Present odds are 1,000-1 that a Brit will win Wimbledon by the turn of the century, or by Sunday night, whichever comes first.
“I’m sure I’ll have a few more friends if that comes up,” Rusedski said. “If you put 1,000 pounds on it, that’s, uh, it’s almost like winning the lottery.”
Not that it is necessary to be able to multiply by one in your head to be a tennis player, but that would be an even million.
“British tennis is taking the world by storm,” said Boris Becker, bothering to barely disguise his sarcasm. He is one of three Germans in the quarters.
But Becker is correct if the world can be considered three blocks of a southwest London suburb.
And maybe it can.