by Dennis Passa, AP
January 25, 1995
Pete Sampras, recovering from a two-set deficit and crying openly on court in one of the most unusual and emotional scenes ever witnessed in tennis, hung on for a stirring five-set win over Jim Courier at the Australian Open championship.
Sampras began sobbing into his towel during the changeover after winning the first game of the final set. Throwing ice water on to his face in an effort to hide the tears, he was able to compose himself before returning to the court.
There were television reports that a spectator in the crowd, at the beginning of the fifth set, yelled: 'Do it for your coach', in reference to the illness suffered by Tim Gullikson.
Gullikson, who has had two strokes in the past three months, left for the United States yesterday after again becoming ill during the tournament and having to be hospitalised.
Sampras appeared to be composed after the changeover, but moments later, he again began crying and during one service game, blasted two aces past Courier in between wiping the tears away.
Sampras, who won 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, had beaten Courier in 10 of 13 previous meetings. He now plays Michael Chang in the semi-finals tomorrow.
In the fourth set, Sampras broke Courier's serve in the 10th game when Courier slammed an easy overhead smash well outside the court.
The pair stayed on serve through the first 12 games of the opening set, forcing a tiebreaker, where they scored points on their serve to 3-3.
Sampras double-faulted to allow Courier to take a 4-3 lead, then Courier held on his next serve to go up 5-3. The next point had to be replayed when a linesman ruled that a Courier shot was wide and the chair umpire over-ruled. Courier won the set when a Sampras backhand went into the net.
The two also held service in the second set, forcing another tiebreaker that Courier won after going up 3-0 and watching a Sampras backhand go into the net on set point.
Sampras came fighting back in the third set, breaking Courier in the third and ninth games.
Earlier, Chang admitted that players often exploit injuries to their opponents. But he was reluctant to talk too much about one he may have sustained himself.
'Jim and Pete read papers,' Chang smiled when asked about an upper thigh injury he suffered during his 7-6 (9-7), 7-5, 6-3 quarter-final win over Andrei Medvedev.
Medvedev injured his left wrist while lunging for a Chang forehand passing shot that gave the American a 5-3 lead in the first-set tiebreaker.
Conchita Martinez, playing with the same determination that brought her last year's Wimbledon singles title, moved a step closer to another Grand Slam championship.
Martinez, the second seed, beat American Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to advance to the semi-finals against Mary Pierce, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Natasha Zvereva.
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Brawn, Sweat and Tears
By Robin Finn , New York Times
January 24, 1995
MELBOURNE, Australia-Long before he won this tortured passion play that masqueraded as a quarter- final match at the Australian Open, Pete Sampras, the event's defending champion and the world's No. 1 player, had already done the unthinkable. He broke down in tears under the spotlight on stadium court. And the instant this 3-hour-58- minute tear-jerker ended in a 6�7 (4�7), 6�7 (3�7), 6�3, 6�4, 6�3 post-midnight comeback against the ninth-seeded Jim Courier, the traditionally stoic Sampras was again overcome by sobs.
"I think we were both just playing our hearts out," said Courier, who suspected that his opponent's uncharacteristic histrionics might have something to do with his unease over going on with a title defense while his coach had been sent back to the United States for further treatment of a serious heart ailment.
Long before Sampras had resurrected himself from the ultimate in Grand Slam predicaments -a two-sets-tonone deficit-for the second match in a row, his opponent was coping in secret with a body-racking case of leg cramps. "I just physically gave out," said Courier, this Grand Slam event's champion in 1992 and 1993. "At 4�3 in the fifth, either one of us could have collapsed, but he was the one left standing. Pete's pretty determined, and certainly at a Grand Slam he's going to do whatever's in his power to win."
Sampras had worn himself into an emotional frazzle worrying about the health of his coach and best friend, Tim Gullikson, who spent the weekend undergoing tests in a private hospital after apparently suffering the latest in a series of strokes linked to a congenital heart ailment, which was first diagnosed in December.
Sampras was unable to talk about his crying jag, which began after he held serve in the opening game of the final set and then resumed intermittently throughout the set. "Hopefully I can recover from this whole experience," said Sampras, whose composure had reached the cracking point even before a spectator incited him to "win this one" for his coach. "I was really happy that I fought back; I didn't quit," said Sampras, who hurled 23 aces at Courier, two of them between sobs as he took a 2�1 lead in the final set.
It wasn't until Sampras took his first lead of the match by holding serve to start the fifth set that his emotions floored him. He sat down for the change-over and, with his shoulders heaving and his face buried in his towel, he burst into uncontrollable tears. He struggled through the next two games, then called the trainer over to help talk him through his distress.
Sampras had appeared on the verge of giving up the match, but instead he soldiered on, broke Courier in the eighth game, and converted his first match point when Courier's forehand return soared long. Up at the net, Sampras apologized to Courier and embraced him; Courier had, after all, been part of a group that, on the eve of this match, shared dinner with Gullikson before he flew home. Gullikson learned the results of the match while changing planes in Los Angeles en route to a doctor's appointment in Chicago.
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Emotional Sampras wins in 5
By Alan Attwood, The Age
January 25, 1995
This wasn't tennis; this was war. And after an extraordinary battle spanning two minutes short of four hours, a tearful Pete Sampras finally conquered Jim Courier. He later broke down while attempting to begin the post-match news conference.
In the finest, most dramatic, and longest match of this Australian Open, the defending champion defeated Courier in a match that finished in the early hours of this morning, taking Sampras through to the semi-finals. He won 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
For the second successive match Sampras had to fight back from two sets down. That he was able to do so was testimony to his extraordinary stamina and determination to hang on to the Open title he won last year. But the effort took him to the edge of exhaustion, and early in the final set he started to cry.
At that stage Courier called out to him: "You all right, Pete? We can do this tomorrow, you know." Sampras only reply was to serve consecutive aces.
Missing from his customary place at courtside was Sampras' couch of three years, Tim Gullikson. Se fell ill last Friday, was taken to hospital, and flew home to the United States yesterday.
Asked later if he could explain Sampras' distress on court, Courier said afterwards: "I don't know about emotional distress, but he was definitely in physical distress. We were both cramping at the end."
But before Sampras appeared for his news conference, tournament director Paul McNamee said he would not answer questions about Gullikson. Sampras appeared, broke down, and returned only after a few minutes, still very emotional. He later said he was unsure if would be able to recover fully before his semi-final, tomorrow, against Michael Change, who yesterday defeated Andrei Medvedev in straight sets.
Courier said he was aware early in the match that "something special was happening out there". Sampras said: "It was definitely one of the better matches I've ever taken part in. I�m just pleased I fought back and didn't quit." It was certainly one of the best matches ever played Flinders Park.
The crucial game of a stirring final set was the eight, with Courier serving, trailing 3-4. Five times Courier held game-point to lick up the deciding set at 4-all. Five times Sampras wrested back the advantage. Then, when Courier hit a backhand long, the centre court crowd erupted as Sampras gained break-point.
Courier, himself a former Open champion, wearily dumped a forehand into the net to concede the game. Summoning all his last energy, Sampras served out the match to love, sealing an incredible victory.
The pair embraced at the net, though Sampras seemed hardly able to raise his arms to celebrate his triumph. At the net, Courier said to Sampras: "I know you're dead, because I'm f---ing dead." Sampras left to cheers, as did Courier. The beaten man held a white towel above his head. It was a symbol of farewell, not surrender.
The first two sets resembled old-style trench warfare, with both Sampras and Courier fighting for every inch of ground. Courier, however, seemed to be marginally more confident and aggressive than the defending champion.
There were no breaks of serve at all, with both sets going into tiebreaks. Even in the first tiebreak, points went on serve until Sampras double-faulted to give Courier a 4-3 lead. Two points later, Sampras upset when the umpire over-ruled a linesman who had called a Courier shot out. The point was replayed, Courier won it, and soon afterwards claimed the set.
In 13 previous meetings, the winner of the first set had gone to take the match on 12 occasions, Courier trailed 3-10 in those career matches, but had won their last meeting at the French Open, where he also took the first set. At last year�s Australian Open, Sampras won a semi-final match 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Early in the second set, Sampras received treatment for a cut on one foot. He seemed frustrated by his inability to find a chink in Courier�s game. But still there were flashes of fire: in the seventh game he served three aces, interrupted by a double fault, to take the game from deuce. Again the set went to a tiebreak. Courier bamboozled Sampras with a mixture of drop-shots and lobs and wrapped it up 7-3.
After a fraction over two hours it was crisis time for Sampras. He had not had his own served broken, but trailed by two sets to love. As had been the case against Magnus Larsson two days earlier, he faced the toughest assignment in the game: having to recover from two sets down to win the match in five.