Tuesday, July 10, 2001
Wimbledon champ will play here
Ivanisevic accepts wild-card after stunning victory
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Here's a small-world tennis story. Paul and Bruce Flory were following the Wimbledon finals Monday in Cincinnati when they decided to extend Goran Ivanisevic a wild-card bid for their Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati event.
They called an ATP contact in London, and within minutes of Ivanisevic's leaving the court he was being asked if he'd accept the Cincinnati bid.
He did. The surprise Wimbledon champion joins the world's top 51 ranked players as entrants announced Monday. It's the second consecutive year that every available top-ranked player accepted an invitation.
The event is one of the top 13 in the world, and financial and points-race incentives make it essentially mandatory that top players come.
“Our ticket sales are strong, and we believe with what happened at Wimbledon it only raises the interest in our event,” said Paul Flory, the tournament chairman. “The story about Goran is phenomenal.”
The elder Flory attended the first week of Wimbledon and fielded numerous inquiries from agents trying to get one of four wild-card spots into the Cincinnati field. His son, Bruce, the tournament director, has until Aug. 4 when the draw is announced to name the wild cards, but Ivanisevic became a no-brainer.
The 29-year-old Croatian was just 9-11 in 2001 before Wimbledon, and had lost five of his six previous tournament matches. He needed a wild card to enter Wimbledon.
“Our initial impression was not to offer Goran one, because he had gotten like 12 wild cards in Europe and he hadn't been winning,” Bruce Flory said. “I think (Wimbledon) thought they'd give him a wild card out of courtesy one year and then he'd go away.”
With his Wimbledon victory, Ivanisevic will move from No.125 to about No.20 when the new rankings are announced today.
Fan favorites Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter and Michael Chang will be back in Cincinnati. Sampras is expected to drop out of the top 10 today for the first time since September 1990, just before he won his first Grand Slam at the U.S. Open.
Jockeying will continue for the final three wild-card spots. Some players under consideration are Richard Krajicek, who's returning from injury; American young guns Taylor Dent, Bob Bryan, Mardy Fish and Michael Russell; Cedric Pioline; Chris Woodruff; Daniel Vacek; Vince Spadea; and Barry Cowan.
NEW COURTS: For the second consecutive year, the tournament's courts will change color.
Last year, the familiar green courts became purple, a uniform change for Tennis Master Series events. The court remains purple inside the lines but the surrounding surface will be green. Tournament officials picked this after seeing the Indian Wells, Calif., event make the same change.
“We heard from fans who liked the two-tone system,” Paul Flory said. “The contrast helps (the eye) follow the ball.”
HISTORY BOOK: This event dates back to 1899, and tournament publicist Phil Smith set out to amass a complete compilation of this event's history. The result is a new book: From Club Court to Center Court, The Evolution of Professional Tennis in Cincinnati.
It sells for $12.99 and is available at Joseph-Beth in Norwood and Mount Adams Bookstore & Cafe, and will be available soon at Borders in Eastgate and Tri-County. It will also be available at the ATP Tennis Center during the tournament.
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Wimbledon champ will play here