Monday, August 16, 1999
ATP among toughest on Tour
Foes, schedule more demanding than Grand Slams
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON — The Great American Insurance ATP Championship has been called one of the best-run tournaments in the world. What it doesn't get credit for is being one of the toughest.
While the Grand Slam events have greater prestige, they often offer easier paths for their champions. Comparing the average rankings of opponents beaten, winners here almost always face a tougher field than in any Slam.
“Playing (Richard) Krajicek to Andre (Agassi) to Pat (Rafter) back-to-back-to-back, you don't find that at a Grand Slam,” ATP champ Pete Sampras said.
Having a 56-player field here essentially trims the fat that's found in 128-player Grand Slam draws. All the Mercedes Super 9 events have 96 or fewer players; the rankings cutoff for this event (not counting qualifiers) is usually in the 60s.
The average ranking of players Sampras beat here was 23. That's significantly tougher than the path the champs of any of the Grand Slam winners had, and that of many Super 9 champs. For example, at the Super 9 event the week before in Montreal, the average ranking of winner Thomas Johansson's foes was 134.
“It's the elite of the game here,” ESPN analyst Cliff Drysdale said. “You put your big guns up against each other. There's no easy matches.”
What else makes it tougher? A player has to win five or six matches in a week; Grand Slam winners play seven matches in two weeks. Rafter, for instance, was playing his fifth match in five days Sunday
“In some ways this is — I don't want to say tougher to win (than a Grand Slam), but certainly you don't have many breaks,” Sampras said. “You don't have a day off. You can have an easy match at a Slam with a fluke of the draw but not here.”
Only the best win here. In 14 of the past 15 years, the ATP final has matched two top 10-ranked players — something ATP Tour officials say no other tourney in the world can claim.
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