Stephen Bierley TENNIS
Lleyton Hewitt, the brilliant 19-year-old Australian who so spectacularly defeated Pete Sampras in the Stella Artois final at Queen’s last Sunday, found his Wimbledon path heading back towards the reigning champion this week when the draw was made for the championships beginning next Monday.
Hewitt, the seventh seed, who pulled out of this week’s grass-court tournament in Den Bosch with an ankle injury, not thought to be serious, is due to meet Sampras, the top seed, in the quarterfinals, which could be the toughest challenge the 28-year-old American has faced since he lost to Richard Krajicek at the same stage in 1996, the only defeat Sampras has suffered at Wimbledon in the past seven years.
Sampras, six times Wimbledon champion, is on the verge of beating the record he shares with Australia’s Roy Emerson of 12 grand slam victories.
“Wimbledon is something I don’t have to think about. As long as I am playing the game I can always win,” said Sampras, who in the past two years has ended Tim Henman’s hopes in the semifinals.
It is possible Henman will play him again, in the final, although after this week’s defeat by Jonas Bjorkman and the one by Bob Bryan at Queen’s, Henman’s chances of even making the second week of Wimbledon suddenly appear remote.
He opens against Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan, who on his Wimbledon debut last year went out in the second round after a gutsy four-set struggle with Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
After that Henman’s road is littered with the sharpest of thorns, with a possible second-round meeting against the inconsistent Croat Goran Ivanisevic, three times a beaten finalist but unseeded this year.
If he survives the first week Henman, the eighth seed, faces a possible fourth- round match against Mark Philippoussis, who many believed might have won the title last year had his knee not caved in when leading Sampras in the quarterfinals.
If all this were not enough, Henman is then scheduled to play Andre Agassi, for a place in the semifinals.