abruptly grumpy and yelling in exasperation On Sunday evening, the eve of Wimbledon, Steffi Graf ceased to appear like a lock to win the championship.
Graf played as nimbly and as quickly in practice as she had when winning Wimbledon six times, for thirty minutes. Graf hobbled through the remaining minutes of the hour-long session, screaming as she fired shots outside the lines, but then her left kneecap, which she had injured a week earlier, started to flare up.Graf had to withdraw from the tune-up tournament in Eastbourne because to an injury she had acquired during an exhibition. Before traveling to Wimbledon for the weekend, she went back to Germany to receive daily therapy for the swelling tendon.
Halfway through Sunday’s practice, she appeared to be more focused on soccer than tennis, calling out to a friend to find out the result of the Germany-Croatia match in Euro ’96, the greatest sporting event taking place in England this week. Graf appeared happy than she had all day when she was informed that Germany was finishing off a 2-1 victory to advance to the semifinals.
Graf’s plea to move her first game to Wednesday was turned down. Not even the top-seeded woman who is expected to win her 20th Grand Slam championship by the conclusion of the next two weeks tampers with history at Wimbledon.
As per tradition, Pete Sampras, the three-time defending men’s champion, will take on Richey Reneberg in the opening match on Centre Court on Monday at 2 p.m. Like all previous women’s winners, Graf will play her opening match on Tuesday at 2 p.m. on Centre Court against Ludmila Richterova.
Graf is by no means the only injured player. The No. 2 seed, Monica Seles, who has a sore shoulder, takes against Ann Grossman in her first Wimbledon match in four years on Monday. All of Seles’ grievances regarding discomfort throughout her service or Despite her lack of fitness due to multiple injuries, she is entering the competition having just won her first grass court championship at Eastbourne.
“I never really felt I had a chance to get in form, to put in the amount of hours that I want to practice because I kept getting injured,” said Seles, who lost to Graf in the Wimbledon final in 1992.
“I’m in constant discomfort. Even though it aches when I wake up every day, this year is unique and there are unique situations.”
She performed well enough to defeat Mary Joe Fernandez in the Eastbourne final despite the agony, giving the impression that she was a serious candidate for Wimbledon.
“It felt familiar to me,” Fernandez remarked. It felt like old times, since I’ve lost many opening sets 6-0 to her.
“Her chances at Wimbledon seem good to me. She can serve the grass really well with her lefty. You’re not going to be able to stop her from tagging the ball, though. Graf, in my opinion, has the best chance of defeating her in some capacity. Apart from that, I believe she could manage just about anyone.”
Stefan Edberg, who used to be able to defeat anyone on grass, takes on Guy Forget in his 14th and last Wimbledon encounter. Edberg finished second in 1989 and went on to win Wimbledon in 1988 and 1990. But for the last two years, he was eliminated in the second round and, who has won half of their 12 meetings, may find it difficult to overcome Forget’s strong serves.
Opening day’s highlights also include the three-time winner Boris Becker taking on Jean-Philippe Fleurian at No. 2 and 1992 champion Andre Agassi facing Doug Flach at No. 3.
Reaching the semifinals of the French Open, Sampras triumphed in three five-set matches before “hitting the wall” and falling to eventual champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov in straight sets.
Sampras took a plane home to recover after withdrawing from the Queen’s Club competition. Even though he hadn’t practiced on a grass court, Sampras declared himself to be “champing at the bit and ready to go.”