Tournament promises stars, excitement
By Daily Bruin Staff
July 22, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Russian tennis star
Marat Safin completes a backhand during his July
22 practice for the Mercedes-Benz tennis tournament. Safin faces
Andy Roddick in the first round of the tournament Monday.
By Will Whitehorn
Daily Bruin Reporter
It’s a pretty common formula in these parts: an all-star
cast, a multi-million dollar production, and the frenzied buzz of
media and fans alike.
However, unlike most of Westwood’s big premieres, the star
gazing at this week’s 75th Mercedes-Benz Cup will come via
the concrete rather than the red carpet.
And apart from most of Hollywood’s finished products, this
sequel promises to be better than the last.
The star-studded list at this year’s tournament features
two of the ATP’s top five ranked players in the world, No. 1
Andre Agassi and No. 3 Gustavo Kuerten. Fellow top 25 mainstays
Jan-Michael Gambill and Marat Safin, as well as teenage sensation
Andy Roddick will also participate.
Also noteworthy are the returns of Sampras, whose 13 Grand Slam
titles are the most ever by a single person, and defending champion
Michael Chang, who defeated Gambill in last year’s final.
Both Sampras and Chang will attempt to snag their third
Mercedes-Benz Cup crown this week.
“Obviously it’s a very tough draw, with Agassi,
Sampras, Kuerten and Safin,” Chang said. “There’s
a lot of dangerous players out there. It’s going to be a
tough tournament for anybody to win. It’d be great to be able
to do well here, and even better to defend my title.”
Last year’s tournament lost some of its luster when
several big names, including crowd-pleasers Agassi and Sampras,
were forced to withdraw due to injury, and several more top players
suffered early round eliminations.
This year, the ailments seem to have been remedied.
“Everyone is healthy,” said Dr. George Fareed, head
physician at this year’s tournament. “Sampras had an
ankle injury that forced him out last year, and almost forced him
out of Wimbledon. (This year) Sampras is in very good health.
Agassi and Chang are in very good health as well.”
An intact ensemble at this week’s tournament guarantees
fans will be getting the most bang for their buck.
“This is much better, wonderful,” said Jackie Hein,
a tennis fan disappointed by last year’s string of dropouts.
“It was a shame not to find the top people there. (This year)
the top players are here, and the good young ones are here. We
expect quality matches.”
The fans aren’t the only ones expecting a different
tournament.
“Last year it was very disappointing that I couldn’t
play here,” Agassi said. “I played so well the year
before and had such a great tournament, in the finals against
(Sampras). I’m looking forward to coming back here and
finding my hard-court game. I always enjoy playing here.”
Other notable talent on hand includes Taylor Dent, a wild card
whose serve has been clocked at over 140 mph and local product
Cecil Mamiit, a former NCAA singles champion while a freshman at
USC.
One of the most anticipated first round matchups will pit Safin,
the defending U.S. Open champ, against Roddick, who recently became
the first teenager to win an ATP singles event since Chang in
1992.
While the competition level of the match promises to be intense,
the match also guarantees that one star will go home early, which
has some fans miffed.
“Safin and Roddick play the first one, and they’re
so good. I’m disappointed,” Hein said.
“We’d like to see them farther up. One of them is going
to have to lose (early).”
At least with this year’s deep talent pool, early
elimination from the tournament is a luxury the Mercedes-Benz Cup
can afford.
