“Boro at Foro”

By Scott Borowiak

Sampras and Agassi Lose on Wet Courts

Wet courts and heavy balls have created tough conditions in Rome at Foro Italico. Nineteen of the worlds top twenty players are entered in this Masters Series draw of 64.

Dunlop balls were used during for last months Monte Carlo Masters event also played on red clay in inclement weather. The Penn ball used here in Rome is heavier and slower and according to many of the players there is a big difference.

Third seeded Andre Agassi and 4th seeded Pete Sampras were eliminated in first round matches they would have most likely won on dryer courts with faster conditions. Both players had 1-0 records against their respective opponents Alex Calatrava and Harel Levy.

At Pete's age and stage of his career, I doubt if he will ever return to play here again.

Sampras, who usually struggles with his backhand on the clay actually hit it very well but could not find his timing on the forehand. He seemed way out in front of the ball as a number of his famous running forehands sailed over the baseline. Light rain fell during most of the first and second sets and Sampras seemed to get “stuck in the mud” trying to run down short angles and drop shots.

Pete is still a great player, even on the red clay under sloppy conditions. He won the Italian Open in 1994 but that was seven years ago. At his age and stage of his career, I doubt if he will ever return to play here again.

The Agassi - Calatrava match was later in the day under slightly dryer conditions. Andre refused to play a “clay court game” as he continually tried to hit flat forehand winners and several risky down the line backhands to no avail. He was able to run Calatrava side to side and had him in trouble a number of times only to miss the final shot - always flat.

Agassi, who rarely takes little extra time between points or first and second serves, seemed unusually “wired” impatient, and unwilling to slow down. After one frustrating point he walked over to his coach Brad Gilbert and said, “I’m so close to kicking his ass but I just can’t quite do it”. After the match Agassi said he felt comfortable on the court but needed more time to get used to the clay. “Its always different hitting on the red brick. I’ve been hitting the ball well but not playing on the red clay and there’s nowhere to prepare for that except over here”.

Agassi seemed unusually “wired” impatient, and unwilling to slow down.

Agassi can still win major tournaments, but his chances of ever winning again on red clay somewhere like Rome or Monte Carlo are slim. It is not an enough of a priority. He may have an outside chance at the French Open but really is a best a dark horse to win that event again.

Other Matches

In other interesting matches defending champion Magnus Norman, was out maneuvered by Italian wild card entrant and clay court expert Vincenzo Santopadre. With vocal support from the home crowd, Santopadre took full advantage of the slow conditions with a brilliant display of drop shots and off pace shots followed by big forehands. It was hard to believe that this was the same Norman who dominated the event last year.

The best match of the day was between Fabrice Santoro and Adrian Voinea. The match was played on an outside court under a heavy drizzle, Santoro had lost to Voinea in two previous tries. This time he played a masterful match hitting spins, chops, cuts, from all positions of the court.

His two handed forehand slice was landing on the damp clay near the service line hardly coming up more than a couple of inches. Voinea was continually sucked in to “no man’s land” with nothing to hit. Santoro was then able to dictate the point and run him run him around with lobs and a “baseball bat” style two handed backhand, often followed up by a drop shot.

Voinea was hitting powerful forehands, which often had Santoro fifteen to twenty feet off the court. Just when it looked like the shorter Santoro was dead, he let go of his left hand on the two handed forehand and hit incredible one handed lobs from impossible positions. Voinea won less than fifty percent of points when he had to hit overheads. There is no official stat on percentage of points won of overheads but on slow wet clay courts with heavy balls it would be interesting to keep track.

Last Updated 5/15/01. To contact us, please email to: webmaster@tennisone.com

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