The longest rally of the match lasted seven shots and his opponent played one point–and won it–with a broken racket. Pete Sampras struggled sometimes to control his volleys at a time in the fourth set when it seemed Sampras was ready to do some crushing.
But when it counted most, in the tiebreaker of the second set and in the fifth set, when the muscles can tighten at the oddest times, Sampras played his most riveting tennis, He offered volleys that skittered under the racket of Goran Ivanisevic and service returns of cruel angles and unsurpassing power.
When it counted the most, top seed and defending champion Sampras was sturdy, while No. 14 seed Ivanisevic wobbled. So Sampras, 26 and certain he has four or five more good years of tennis in him, won his fifth Wimbledon title in six years and his 11th Grand Slam title with a 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (11-9), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 win over the disconsolate Ivanisevic.
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Sampras has now tied Bjorn Borg for most Wimbledon titles in the Open era and put himself two behind W.C. Renshaw, who won seven titles in the late 1800s. Sampras also tied Borg and Rod Laver in total Slams and is now one behind all-time leader Roy Emerson. Sampras has said almost from the time that he won his first Slam at the 1990 U.S. Open that he wanted to play for history, to mark himself as permanently great, and it may be hard to argue much longer that Sampras isn’t the greatest ever on the grass of Wimbledon.
“It’s going to take some time for it to sink in,” Sampras said. “But it is a little bit overwhelming to have won five here and be a couple from the record. It’s a little overwhelming to think of myself in those terms. Borg’s five, I thought, would never be broken. And, you know, I think I’ve got some years left in me.”
After the final point, an Ivanisevic backhand that drifted long, Sampras reacted with contentment more than exuberance. He raised his arms briefly and smiled widely, but Sampras is not an outwardly demonstrative man, and he did not leap into the players box to kiss his girlfriend, actress Kimberly Williams, or smother his coach, Paul Annacone, in hugs. He just walked back to his chair and toweled off.
It was Ivanisevic, the 26-year-old Croatian who had talked for two weeks of feeding off the success of his country’s Cinderella soccer team and who had been cheered on Sunday by fans wearing Croatian flag shirts and hats, who nearly collapsed with emotion.
Ivanisevic, who lost his third Wimbledon final and his second to Sampras, wept into his towel and muttered angry words to himself. “It feels bad,” Ivanisevic said. “It’s the worst moment in my life.”
Maybe some day Ivanisevic will be able to take consolation in this fact: For the first time in his 11 Grand Slam championship matches, Sampras was pushed to a fifth set.
“Compared to all the finals I’ve played,” Sampras said, “this is by far the toughest. I didn’t think I was quite in control of the match, and Goran was playing huge.”
When he was asked if he would go to France now to cheer on the Croatian soccer team, which plays France Wednesday in the World Cup semifinals, Ivanisevic shook his head slowly. “I cannot cheer anybody now. I can only kill myself. Now, I’m not good for anybody.”
But Ivanisevic was being too hard on himself. Sampras is the best player of his generation, perhaps the best ever, and Ivanisevic had pushed Sampras harder than anyone. And Sampras also had this to say: “He’s going to win this event I feel.”
But that seems impossible. For Sampras plans to come back as well.