Sampras Gets Rare Taste of Humble Pie

In a career that has taken him to the top of the tennis world for a lengthy stay, Pete Sampras has seldom had to visit the state of humility. Friday, he made the trip.

Playing the opening match in a Davis Cup quarterfinal against the Czech Republic, and as a huge favorite over No. 39 Jiri Novak, Sampras wasn’t merely beaten. He was humbled.

“He played great tennis,” Sampras said. “I mean, I just got outplayed, and I haven’t had to say that too often throughout my career. Today, I ran into someone in the zone.”

The 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-2 result occurred before a stunned crowd of 11,206 at the Great Western Forum. Equally stunned was captain John McEnroe, who said, “I never expected Pete to lose, especially not like that.”

” . . . I was telling [McEnroe] on the changeover that I don’t know what to do,” Sampras said. “I’m coming in. I’m trying to stay back. No matter what I’m trying, I didn’t have the answers. He had all the answers.”

Because he has won a record-sharing 12 titles in grand slam events and has a serve that can crack a bullet-proof vest, the assumption is that, when Sampras loses, it is because he has played badly. Not so this time. He simply played somebody playing better.

Novak had 35 winners and only 12 unforced errors. Sampras 32 winners, but 31 errors.

More incredibly, Sampras failed in 11 opportunities to break Novak’s serve. The match was 1 1/2 hours old before Novak even got his first look at a break point against Sampras’ huge serve, but when he did, he converted it immediately, hitting a rocket at Sampras at the net. Sampras yanked it long.

The missed break opportunities were the whole story for Sampras.

“If I could have converted on one of those break points and got the crowd a little bit more involved and the momentum toward my side of the match, maybe it could have come out a little bit different,” he said.

But it didn’t because Novak didn’t let it. He passed Sampras as if he was driving a Porsche and Sampras a Schwinn. It looked choreographed, almost rhythmic. Sampras danced to the net and looked right as the ball went past him. On the next point, he looked left. Novak wasn’t merely good, he was magical. He made many of his passing shots and winners on last-second, acrobatic lunges at balls that looked impossible to reach.

There were two defining moments.

The first occurred with Novak serving at 4-1 of the tiebreaker. Sampras returned, got a short ball and attacked. Novak, running wide to his backhand side, lunged and managed to flip a retort cross-court. It floated and, somehow, cleared the net, where a surprised Sampras squibbed the shot off the end of his racket.

That made it 5-1 and, as McEnroe said, “was pretty much the nail in the coffin for that set.”

The second occurred with Sampras serving at 0-2 of the third set. His chances were running out and one more break of serve would certainly seal it. And Novak quickly went ahead, love-40. But Sampras, perhaps reaching back for the last time, hit three straight aces--114 mph, 110 and 116--to get back to deuce. Were Novak going to fold, this was the time. Instead, he passed Sampras down the line and then, on game point, ran down a volley that looked out of Novak’s reach. But the Czech lunged to his right and flicked a forehand cross-court, past a stunned Sampras.

Sampras had played Novak only once before, in the second round of the 1996 U.S. Open. When asked about that match, won by Sampras in a tough five sets, Sampras said he didn’t remember it.

Novak certainly did, and called it “amazing.”

So was the way he humbled Pete Sampras on Friday.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE BOX SCORE

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NOVAK SAMPRAS Total points won 105 81 Aces 5 15 Double Faults 2 5 Pct. of 1st serves 67 58 Pct. of 1st serve points won 75 76 Pct. of 2nd serve points won 64 39 Service games broken 3 0 Winners (including service) 35 32 Advances to nets/points 19-12 86-46 Time of match 1:48

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