So Tim Henman yesterday earned the right to be the first player to have a slug at the man who felled the heavyweight champion. Roger Federer, the Swiss 19-year-old and the player who knocked off the Sampras crown, awaits Henman in the quarter-finals following the Briton's Heman's five-set victory over the American Redwood Todd Martin.
The 6-7, 7-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win allows the English sixth seed battle clamour for the vacant crown against a talented player who was gloriously unheralded before his Sampras stunt.
The match against Martin carried over to Centre Court yesterday following its postponement on Monday night due to bad light. Had Henman been in the least bit superstitious that could have had a critical bearing, as he has lost here for the last four years on July 3rd.
Carrying tabloid-sized expectations on his shoulders - 65 years of the nation's unfulfilled Wimbledon aspirations - few have been under more pressure. Trailing 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 overnight, however, he came out fresh and clearly in better shape than his towering opponent, winning briskly 6-3, 6-2.
Federer, still adjusting to his elevated status, was yesterday ambling around the Wimbledon malls virtually unrecognised. He was asked for just one autograph over several hours.
"It's a hell of a result for Federer to beat Sampras with the Sampras record that we all know and understand," said Henman. "So if he has just beaten him, he's obviously playing pretty well.
"I've never beaten Sampras on grass. I'd be stupid to think that this is going to be some type of easy match for me, because he's probably playing as well, if not better, than anyone else."
A well-made point, except that Goran Ivanisevic and Andre Agassi are both playing like they, along with Federer, most acutely understand the word "opportunity."
Ivanisevic meets Marat Safin before the Henman match on Centre Court, and it is expected to be like his two previous two high-velocity rounds. Safin has said little and Goran has joked much. Who's going to win this one? Well, what is the universe, what is the meaning of life? Get a pin, close your eyes . . .
Agassi, as he so often does lately, goes out and skins his opponent, talks a lot of sense and disappears. The bad news for his opposition, Nicolas Escude, is that this is the first time the American has reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals without dropping a set and only the fifth time ever in 45 Grand Slams. The Frenchman's chances are slight, and he knows it, unless Agassi has a no-brainer as he did at the "Clinton French Open." Prevailing wisdom points to Escude's elevated grass position as a function of Lleyton Hewitt's high-octane, two-week run after which he arrived at Wimbledon perhaps over-cooked. Escude got him at a good time and now gets his reward.
The winner of the match will meet either the least affected player on the tour, Pat Rafter, or Thomas Enquist. People's favourite Rafter, who lost to Sampras in last year's final, has beaten Enquist six times in their eight meetings. More importantly, Rafter won the last grass meeting at Wimbledon in 1999 and showing an ability to keep his head in pressure occasions, Rafter has never lost a Wimbledon quarter-final, or indeed, any Grand Slam quarter-final. in which he has played. Remember it was also Rafter who beat Agassi last year for a place in the final. A semi-final match against Agassi looks like a likely outcome.
