TENNIS/Wimbledon championships: The sun shone. Seven-times Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras complained of a rib injury after shifting position on the massage table (where is his public relations savvy?) then mercilessly hit England's Martin Lee off the court. A whole squadron of British players departed. Andre Agassi chased around the Centre Court like a pup on a scent while Mark Philippoussis and Greg Rusedski hit a lot of aces. Groundhog Day in SW19.
Philippoussis, particularly, had cause for concern going into his first round match against the unfancied Julien Boutter. The young Australian has undergone knee surgery three times and last time spent two months in a wheelchair, a period of his life that caused the most unreflective 25-year-old to think a little.
Fond of his Ferrari and the party lifestyle of Miami, the 1999 Wimbledon finalist arrived in London with a new attitude and rather new knees. Every six months he requires injections of synthetic cartilage into his joints.
A nervous start where he dropped the second set, having won the first 6-3, and Philippoussis swept up the match in a whirlwind, winning the final two 6-1 6-2. "I think a few years ago I would have taken a lot of things in my life for granted. When I was on court I was young and never thought anything would go wrong. I was having fun, I thought."
Not having had a lot of tennis this year, Philippoussis remains one of the most dangerous floaters in the draw and like last year's champion Goran Ivanisevic, got into the competition on a wild-card invitation.
"It is going to take a while (to get back to peak condition). It is definitely going to take the whole of this year. After the Australian Open I tried to work on my legs and get my legs really strong and I injured myself again."
Sampras, resorting to a tie-break in the second set, smoothly advanced against Lee, 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 6-3, and revived memories of when he last won here two years ago. Then the American morosely declared that creeping old age and a foot injury were keeping him from producing his best tennis.
Second best then was clearly good enough. More scary for the rest of the draw, he felt yesterday that his serving on Centre Court was close to the standard he had always been able to deliver.
"My serving. You know there were times today that I felt that my serving was unhittable. I didn't maintain it too long but I felt it was a pretty good rhythm today," said Sampras, who had been denied a Tuesday start by the organisers after the draw had been made.
Also safely through is second seed Marat Safin at the expense of Frenchman Cedric Pioline. Safin, like Ivanisevic, has the dark days as well as the bright and is routinely asked about his head as much as his body. Both are fine.
"Everybody can beat everybody on any surface," he said. "It's difficult to say if I can win Wimbledon . . . yeah, why not. But the first rounds are most important. The next stage is to get to the second week."
Safin, who has a doctor glued to his side because of a back injury, disposed of Pioline with disquieting ease.
Andy Roddick also had an easy first match when his opponent Bohdan Ulihrach was forced to retire. Roddick was tipped two years ago to be snapping at the heels of Agassi and Sampras as the next US player to carry the Stars and Stripes at the pinnacle of the game. That has been put on hold with the teenager suffering a few injuries and streaks of impatience. His game, however, is big and on grass will be shadowed closely by the rest of the field. Watch him.
Rusedski at 28 is running out of years to capture the crown so a gentle landing into round two should please. He opted this year to put all of his eggs into the grass court basket and yesterday it paid off against Austria's Jurgen Melzer. While Tim Henman holds British hopes and plays in the second match today, Rusedski plays without much of the pressure.
"I think I've had a difficult three years," said Rusedski. "Physically I'm stronger right now. Mentally I'm stronger. That's what you need to bring to these championships. Every year I've lost to someone who has usually gone on to win the championships or gotten very deep into the finals of the tournament."
