Friday, August 22, 1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
U.S. Open first tournament for Arthur Ashe Stadium
New court adds thrills to tennis
The Associated Press
mal dedication that night.
NEW YORK — The true inauguration of Arthur Ashe Stadium won't come when the first ball is struck Monday morning at the U.S. Open or when past champions pay homage to Ashe in the for-
Rather, it will be that moment in the tournament, perhaps on some sultry afternoon or balmy evening, when the roars of the largest crowd in tennis vibrate through the
Arthur Ashe: U.S Open will be inaugural tournament in stadium.
new steel and brick arena and shake two players standing on the sage green court.
One of those players may be Pete Sampras, the four-time champion who has a knack for dramatics at this tournament that belies his laid-back, off-court demeanor. Or perhaps one of them will be Martina Hingis, the 16-year-old with the sweet smile and killer strokes who, like Sampras, is going for her third Grand Slam title of the year.
Or, just as likely, the roars will be for some low-ranked underdog socking it to a high seed with brillant and unexpected shots.
At that moment — and it happens every year at some point in
The U.S. Open is the raucous, sometimes obnoxious cousin of Wimbledon and the French and Australian opens. Jets rattle the seats, fans walk around whenever they want, no matter the score, and sandwiches cost more than an ounce or two of silver.
the U.S. Open — the 22,547-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, with its rim rising against the Manhattan skyline across the river, will become as loud and wild and crazy as New York gets. Just as it was intended.
What the U.S. Open has lacked in classiness since it moved from Forest Hills two decades ago, it has made up for in noise and chaos and a uniquely New York energy. Now, with the opening of Arthur Ashe Stadium as the centerpiece of a $254 million, privately funded renovation, the USTA is hoping to achieve some of the aesthetic appeal that has been missing for so long.
The new place is bigger yet more intimate because of the slope of the seats, and the acoustics of all that steel will make the roars all the more deafening.
"Ikind of miss the old stadium — that's where I made my mark in '90 — but the new stadium is going to be a pleasure to play in," Sampson said after testing the court.
Sampras said he liked the spacious new inlaid wooden lockers, the large players lounge, the easy access to the court. Fans will appreciate the wider walkways between outside courts, the comfortable seats, the extra toilets, the new landscaping, and the lovely lane that links the tennis center with the majestic Unisphere and fountains of the 1964 World's Fair.
"I kind of miss the old stadium-that's where I made my mark in '90 but the new stadium is going to be a pleasure to play in."
The architectural design of the
Pete Sampras four-time U.S.. Open champion
new stadium — a jumble of retro '20s and postmodern '90s — will be an acquired taste for some. Depending on one's point of view, it's either spectacular or spectacularly ugly. But compared to the creaky relic it is replacing, it's a major improvement.
Of course, the fans will be paying more for all this change. Prices for high-end tickets are up about 20 percent, with the top single-session seat now $613. Most other ticket prices are up 5-7 percent. Still, the USTA expects attendance to increase at 10 percent above last year's $506.012.
Whether any of the changes will have an effect on the quality of the tennis remains to be seen. There will be no Boris Becker, no Steffi Graf and, based on recent history, probably not much of Andre Assigli.
Becker had planned on making this his last major tournament but pulled out because of the death of his longtime friend and manager. Graf, who won last year, is still recovering from knee surgery. Agassi hasn't played a major tournament since the U.S. Open last year, when he lost to Michael Chang in straight sets in the semifinals.
Expos' pitcher earns first win in majors
Cardinals' winning streak snapped, 3-2
The Associated Press
MONTREAL — Mike Johnson helped himself to his first major league win with the assistance of Montreal's bullpen.
Johnson combined with two Montreal relievers on a two-hitter yesterday, leading the Expos to a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Cardinals.
"It's gratifying to get the win," said Johnson, who combined with relievers Anthony Telford and Ugueth Urbina to hold down the Cardinals.
Johnson, a 21-year-old Canadian.
got his first big-league hit and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning on Mike Lansing's two-run double.
Johnson, acquired from Baltimore on July 31, limited St. Louis to an unregured run
and two hits in six innings of his ninth major-league start, his fourth since joining Montreal.
"It's a big relief to get the first win out of the way." said Johnson.
who was 0-1 in five starts with Baltimore. "The first one is probably the hardest to get. It's out of the way now. Hopefully it will carry on through the rest of the year and I can finish strong."
"He's got poise. He's going to be a pitcher," Alou said. "He had a good changeup and located his fastball well. Telford did another great job and Urbina got the save. It's an easy combination."
Expos manager Felipe Alou said he was impressed with Johnson.
Telford struck out five of six batters and Urbina pitched the ninth inning for his 20th save.
The Cardinals, battling to stay in the NL Central race, had their three-game winning streak snapped and missed a chance at their first three-game sweep in Montreal since 1969.
Famed pitcher takes coaching position for triple A team
The Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. — A 56-game hitting streak. Sixty-one home runs. A 400 batting average. One hundred-ninety RBIs. Thirty-one victories.
In baseball, they are revered numbers — standards chased almost annually, challenged occasionally, but rarely, if ever, threatened.
In 1962, as he was wrapping up a 4-12 season with the Kansas City A's, the right-hander went 84 1/3 innings without walking a batter. That's the equivalent of nine straight complete games, plus 3 1/3 innings.
Bill Fischer holds a record like that.
Fischer, now the pitching coach for the Richmond Braves of the Triple A International League, said he didn't even know about his streak until one day in Chicago, when he was removed from a game and saw a note crawling across the scoreboard that he'd gone 50 or so innings without a walk.
A's owner Charlie Finley promised Fischer a $1,000 bonus for breaking the mark of 68 straight innings, set 49 years earlier by Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson.
Finley also promised Fischer another $100 for each inning he extended the record.
The record didn't come easily.
"In about the fifth inning, Robin Roberts came up to bat. He was a left-handed hitter. I went three balls and one strike on him and I'm thinking, 'You son of a gun, you're going to walk the pitcher.'
"Well, I threw a pitch, he took it and the impire called it a strike. On the next pitch, he swung and missed. Once he did, I knew I had it."
An inning-ending comeback by Brooks Robinson the next inning gave Fischer the record, and the bonus. And when the streak ended on the final day of the season with a four-pitch walk to Detroit outfielder Bubba Morton, a career .267 hitter, Finley wrote Fischer a check for $2,600.
"I was happy I finally walked a guy to it get over with." he said.
The remarkable streak allowed Fischer to finish the season with only eight walks in 127-2-3 innings, or one for every 16 innings pitched.
Now 66, Fischer has spent the last 25 seasons teaching pitchers to master the craft better than he did. He was the Red Sox pitching coach when Roger Clemens won each of his three Cy Young awards and one Most Valuable Player award, and still consults regularly with the pitcher he calls "Smokey."
"He kept it simple," said Clemens, 19-4 with a 1.78 earned run average. "Fisch knew he could tell me something in the middle of a game or on off-days and it would stay with me. He really knows me."
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