Saturday, August 15, 1998
Miyuki Masuda, who lives in Fukuroi, Japan, was planning a trip to the United States, and she wanted to include a stop to see some of the best tennis players in the world. After studying tournaments on the Internet, she picked the ATP Championship.
She is not alone.
Drawing more than 170,000 fans, the ATP has the best attendance of any men's-only event in the world. People who bought tickets for this year came from 42 states, Puerto Rico and seven countries (United States, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Germany, the Bahamas and Ireland).
The biggest draw is, of course, from Ohio (81 percent).
Kafelnikov loves Yankees
Yevgeny Kafelnikov began following baseball in 1994. Apparently, he picked the right team to follow.
"The Yankees are playing great," he said Friday afternoon, beaming. "Eight (victories) in a row."
Kafelnikov proclaims himself an avid Yankee fan. He figures that their success this season might make for good karma.
"The year they won the World Series last (in 1996), I won my first Grand Slam event (the French Open)," he said. "So maybe they win again, and I win the U.S. Open."
He hasn't yet attended a Yankees game, though he plans to during or after the Open. He hasn't yet met any players. Shyly, he confessed to being starstruck.
"At this stage, I'm embarrassed," he said, blushing.
He's in charge
Daniel Vacek is three years older than Kafelnikov. But both players freely admit that in their doubles partnership, Kafelnikov is the leader.
Friday, hours before taking the court together in a doubles quarterfinal, the duo had to face each other in the singles quarterfinals. Kafelnikov cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 victory in a matchup that wasn't so awkward as one might guess.
"Another day in the office," Kafelnikov said. "Even after the (singles) match, when I came to the locker room, we talk about the match, where he made mistakes, where I was more focused, on which points. We had a nice talk."
Kafelnikov leads the series with Vacek 10-3. Friday was his sixth consecutive victory in the series.
The duo defeated Americans Justin Gimelstob and Todd Martin 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals.
How Swede it is
In the past 16 years, only twice has there not been at least one player from Sweden in the semifinals of the ATP Championship. That would be 1997 and 1991. This year, it's Magnus Larsson.
In 1988, '86 and '84, there were three Swedes in the final four of the event. It was an all-Swedish final in 1988 with Mats Wilander beating Stefan Edberg, and in 1984, when Wilander defeated countryman Anders Jarryd.
A Swede has won the ATP title six times (Wilander four, Edberg twice) and been runner-up six times (Jarryd once, Wilander once, Edberg four).
Edberg is the all-time winningest player here (45 victories).
Attendance down
Attendance at the first four days of the ATP Championship main draw is 82,683 -- 811 behind last year's count of 83,494.
Including the Seniors and Qualifier, attendance is off 4,949. "Actually, attendance is up over last year," said Phil Smith, director of communications for the tournament. "This year, we didn't have a Wednesday night (Seniors) session, which drew 5,073 in 1997."
If the 5,073 fans are taken out, attendance is up 124 over last year.
Good work
Working in the parking lots is one of the hottest and most thankless volunteer jobs.
This hasn't seemed to bother Jeff Paul, a member St. Anne Episcopal Church in Mason - West Chester, who has worked every day from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning at the Seniors Tournament.
"We'll raise about $5,000 for the church," Paul said. "We have 18 workers here each of the nine days who work eight-hour shifts. This is done by about 100 volunteers from the our church."
A teacher at Scarlet Oaks Vocational School, Paul has organized the church effort the past 10 years and will have personally worked 76 1/2 hours when the tournament ends Sunday.
The St. Anne group is thought to put in more total hours (1,340) than any other organization volunteering at the tournament.
Differing opinions
Veteran Sycamore tennis coach Dave Tanner and Anderson's Phil Sinkovich differ on their opinions as to who will emerge as the champion of the Great American Insurance ATP Championship.
"Patrick (Rafter) is the hottest player, and I expect him to play Pete Sampras for the championship," Tanner said. "The biggest difference is movement. He gets to everything, and that's why he beat Todd Martin."
Sinkovich is going with Sampras.
"Pete appears to be the strongest and the most consistent right now, and I think he'll win," Sinkovich said. "But my mother's from Australia, and I'm rooting for Rafter."
All in the family
When a pregnant female fan casually mentioned to ticket taker Sue Pendergast that she was one day overdue, it brought back memories for the Fairfield resident.
"Back in 1970, I was four days away from my due date and planning to attend a tennis match at Riverfront Coliseum, " Pendergast said. "No one from the church (St. John Newman) wanted to let me on the bus."
As it turned out, Pendergast delivered a week later, and her son, Christopher (ball boy), and husband, Jack (ticket taker), were also on duty Friday.
Marry me, Mary Jo
The most surprised and overwhelmed spectator at Thursday's evening session was Mary Jo Chuba, a Pittsburgh resident.
During the third changeover of the singles match between Rafter and Martin, the public address announcer directed everyone's attention to Section 5, Row B, Seats nine and 10.
Seated with Chuba was Scott Wucher, also from Pittsburgh, who arranged for a special message to be flashed on the scoreboard: "Mary Jo . . . Will you marry me . . . Scott."
Wucher quickly broke into a smile, shook her head yes and gave Wucher a kiss.
Wucher set a VCR to capture the moment. He later discovered that the tournament was televised on ESPN2, not ESPN.
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