The day after one of the biggest upsets in the history of Grand Slam events was about dodging danger instead of falling victim to it.
Twenty-four hours after the defending men's champion, Lleyton Hewitt, was stunned in the first round by the Croatian qualifier Ivo Karlovic on Center Court, the No. 1-seeded and defending women's champion, Serena Williams, walked onto the same stretch of green on Tuesday and comfortably averted disaster. Not that it did not cross her mind during her 6-3, 6-3 victory over her fellow American Jill Craybas.
"I didn't want to take her for granted at all," Williams said. "I'm sure he didn't take his opponent for granted, but I didn't want to come close, either. I wanted to make sure that I was on my toes. I didn't want to make history by having two No. 1 defending champions go out."
PHOTO: REUTERS
No sooner was Williams finished than second-seeded Andre Agassi did his familiar pigeon-toed shuffle onto Center Court and shrugged off the surprising loss of a set against the 456th-ranked British veteran Jamie Delgado to win his opening-round match, 6-4, 6-0, 5-7, 6-4.
Grand Slam boycott
Having handled that challenge, Agassi was more deft in handling the challenging topic of potential Grand Slam boycotts by the men's players next year for greater percentage of revenues.
"There's no question that discussions are going on," Agassi said, picking his words as carefully as a British lawyer in a powdered, horse-hair wig. "The specifics of it, to be quite honest, for me aren't something that I would prefer to sort of talk about in Wimbledon's backyard. I have too much respect for these championships. I can see the game of tennis benefiting from a lot of changes, to be quite honest."
Though usually guarded with his time and energy on the eve of a Grand Slam event, Agassi sat through an optional ATP players meeting at Wimbledon on Saturday night when the idea of creating alternative charity events to compete with the Grand Slam events was first formalized.
"Quite extraordinary," Paul McNamee, the Australian Open tournament director, said of the ATP's threat to take its players elsewhere. "I think it's going to create some bad blood."
For now, Agassi prefers to keep the distractions to a minimum and the victories to a maximum. From the look of his draw, there could be quite a few ahead, although losing a set to a British journeyman is not the most encouraging sign.
"So little determines a match with grass, let alone a set," Agassi said. "You're always on edge until you have the match put away."
The last time Williams played a match, she was on edge as her Grand Slam winning streak was stopped in the French Open semifinals by the eventual champion, Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium.
During that emotional, controversial encounter, the Roland Garros crowd demonstrated its desire for regime change and its support for the French-speaking Henin-Hardenne by turning on Williams down the stretch. After she questioned a line call, the crowd began cheering her errors and missed serves, and booed her as she walked off the court, atypically, in tears. There were more tears in the postmatch news conference.
The crowd's reaction, at least initially, generated considerable anger and concern from Williams' parents and entourage, and Larry Scott, the new chief executive of the women's tour, was critical of the French crowd and supportive of Williams' reaction. But since arriving at the All England Club, Williams has been doing her best to play down the drama in Paris.
"When I was at home, I was a little upset for a few days, hitting the practice court, you know immediately off the plane," Williams said. She received more correspondence than usual from fans worldwide, including one from a group of British supporters eager to form a fan club and cheer her on at Wimbledon. There were certainly no negative reactions from the crowd on Tuesday: only polite and enthusiastic support.
Asked if her emotional reaction in Paris had humanized her in some way for fans, Williams said: "I think so; I think they saw that. And they as well realized that even though I win a lot and I do a lot of things, it's like I'm human. I'm just a young lady trying to make my way in life, and you can't expect to be perfect at all times."
On other topics, Williams labeled her older sister Venus as "the player to beat" at Wimbledon this year and detailed their plans to travel to Africa to promote tennis either this autumn or next year.
The third-seeded Henin-Hardenne, who could face Serena Williams in a semifinal, was uncertain whether she could play Wimbledon until Monday afternoon. Last Saturday, while playing against Kim Clijsters in the final of a grass-court event in Den Bosch, the Netherlands, she was forced to retire after falling and injuring her left wrist and spraining the middle and index fingers on her left hand.
Lucky break
Luckily for Henin-Hardenne, she plays with her right hand, and though she still felt discomfort on her service toss and in her backhand preparation, she was comfortable enough to defeat the 19-year-old Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko, 7-5, 6-1, and advance to the second round.
Martin Verkerk did not get that privilege. A large, likeable Dutchman, Verkerk won the first Grand Slam match of his career at last month's French Open, then improbably served his way into the final. Though he is four inches shorter than Karlovic, he is still 6 feet 6 inches and has the look of a man who was born to play on grass with his huge serve and his taste for risk.
But Verkerk had never played an official match on grass until this season, and after Tuesday's first-round loss in four sets to the 18-year-old Swedish qualifier Robin Soderling, he has yet to win a match on the slippery stuff.
Tim Henman, Britain's No. 1 player, has enjoyed his greatest success at the All England Club, reaching the semifinals four times. His chances of improving on that this year are slimmer because he is still rounding into form after shoulder surgery, but then did not Goran Ivanisevic improbably win Wimbledon with a sore shoulder in 2001?
For now, Henman will have to settle for a first-round victory over the Czech lucky loser Tomas Zib in four nervy sets.
"Obviously, seeing Hewitt upset yesterday, it really puts you on your guard; a couple of forehand volleys I missed, it crossed my mind," said Henman, who has fallen to No. 29 in the ranking but is still seeded 10th here.
"Not that I needed any more incentive, but it added an incentive to knuckle down and get the job done," he said.
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