At one stage it looked like a scene from the television show ER. Mark Philippoussis, a deep furrow running across his dark brow, winced as the medic swivelled his leg at the knee joint in the second set of his quarter-final clash with Pete Sampras.
A few minutes later over on Centre Court, Cedric Pioline was similarly having his joint assessed by a different physio during his match with Tim Henman. Philippoussis's injury was serious, the Frenchman's looked that way. Sampras ultimately had the easier run into the semi-finals as the Australian defaulted and headed off to the nearest hospital for a scan, but Henman's four set tussle with Pioline was never a thriller.
Indeed, Henman's quarter-final was probably the easiest of the four with the unseeded Pioline drifting in and out of the Centre Court match. Ten Pioline aces compared with Henman's 19 and 17 double faults from Pioline compared to Henman's six was the story of the match. It could have been easier for Henman had he showed more of a killer instinct. It may be his downfall today against Sampras.
It was, however, Philippoussis who was left licking his wounds. "When I landed I sort of fell awkwardly," he said. "I heard a click and I grabbed it. I thought nothing of it until he hit a serve and when I jumped forward my knee just gave way and I heard a hugh click." "I was extremely worried. It just got stiffer and stiffer and when the doctor came out I thought there was no chance. I'm disappointed because I was hitting the ball well."
The Australian was forced to default a set up, the first taken off Sampras in the competition, and was 2-1 down in the second.
"Do you feel you dodged a bullet today?" Sampras was asked afterwards.
"Kind of, sort of," he said. "There was no question he was outplaying me. He was coming up with some big, big serves. I double faulted three times because I haven't really practised much. I feel like I'm pretty fortunate to be alive in this tournament."
Henman was not as lucky to be alive, but may worry about his consistency. He took the first two sets 6-4 6-2, lost the third 4-6 and then pulled it together again to take the match 6-3. "I knew that in that fourth set I had to make sure that I wasn't getting a little sloppy," Henman said. "The first couple of games were crucial and you know, he throws in a couple of 95 mph kick serves - they're not quite as easy as they look." Henman's golf partner and hitting mate Sampras now stands between him and the final, the American seeking his sixth title, the Englishman seeking his first "I appreciate it's not going to be an easy match," said Henman. "Underdogs have won on plenty of occasions in plenty of different sports and I hope I can prove that. I want to continue the way I've been playing and I don't think I've anything to lose."
Andre Agassi also advanced to the semi-finals with impressive certainty against Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten, winning 6-3 6-4 6-4. Hoping to "do a Borg" by winning both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year, the American's remarkable run continues.
"What Andre has done, where he came from to win the French Open and his play now is an amazing miracle," commented John McEnroe after he advanced to the mixed doubles semi-finals with Steffi Graf.
"I feel good about my game," said Agassi. "It's hard to be in tennis these days and not feel good about your game, it really is."
Agassi, the best returner of serve in the game, faces second seed Pat Rafter, another player who had doubles commitments until he dropped out of the competition yesterday.
Predictably his match against eighth seed Todd Martin was a close affair, the match decided on a series of tie-breaks.
Rafter took the first set 6-3 as the players settled before Martin won the tie-break in the second set 7-5. Another tie-break, this time to Rafter 7-5, gave the Australian the edge before he finished the match in the fourth set, this time 7-3 in the tie-break.
