BY MICHAEL PERRY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Marcelo Rios has not played since July 25 and hasn't won a tennis tournament since St. Poelten, Austria, almost three months ago.
But when the new ATP Tour rankings come out Monday, Rios will replace Pete Sampras as No. 1 in the world for the second time this year.
Sampras was knocked out of the top spot after a 7-6, 1-6, 2-6 loss to Andre Agassi in Toronto that ended early Saturday morning. Both were playing their second match of the day, and Sampras was too fatigued to compete with his red-hot U.S. rival.
The two could meet again in the quarterfinals of the Great American Insurance ATP Championship this week.
How exactly does Rios fit into this?
Well, here is why Sampras is going to be No. 2:
The ATP Tour rankings are determined on a points system based on the players' best 14 results from the previous 52 weeks (don't even ask how the points are awarded; there is a two-page explanation in the ATP Tour Player Guide).
Because the ATP Championship is being held a week later this year than in 1997, Sampras -- the defending champion here -- had 502 points on the line this week. When he lost to Agassi, he lost those points. He will gain some from Toronto, but not enough to stay ahead of Rios.
Rios, who was No. 1 for four weeks in the spring, was only 106 points behind Sampras when the Aug. 3 rankings came out. Since Wimbledon, Rios has been a semifinalist in Gstaad, Switzerland, and Stuttgart, Germany, in his only tournaments.
" . . . Marcelo has been a little bit more consistent than I have this year, and you know, each week a new guy can be No. 1," Sampras said after his Toronto loss. "I'm always looking at the big picture. My goal's to get there by December, and hopefully I can do it."
Sampras has been No. 1 at the end of the year five consecutive times.
The ATP Tour realizes how confusing its ranking system can be, and starting in the year 2000 it will change.
Players will start from scratch each season. They will be required to play Grand Slam and Mercedes Super 9 events -- of which Cincinnati is one -- and receive more points for those than other tournaments. A player who misses one of the major events will receive no points.
However, the ATP Tour will still keep its own 52-week ranking to help seed players and determine who gets into events.
"We're just trying to make it simple for the fans," said J. Wayne Richmond, the ATP Tour's executive vice president of the Americas. "Fans understand a race, and at the end of the year when everything is over somebody will be No. 1."
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