Dateline: 06/24/01

Wimbledon starts on June 25 this year and ends on July 8. While the women's field has a handful of contenders whose chances are hard to rank, Pete Sampras is the clear favorite in the men's singles.

Sampras will be seeking his fifth consecutive Wimbledon singles title, which would tie Bjorn Borg's record, and his eighth career Wimbledon title, one behind Martina Navratilova's record for either gender. He hasn't won a tournament since last year's Wimbledon, but it's still hard to pick anyone against whom he won't retain a considerable edge.

On grass, where the ball skids forward more quickly than on any other surface, Sampras's serve is so difficult to break, he needs only one break per set or one mini-break per tie-break to win a set. Pete's first serve usually travels in the 120-130 mph range, with excellent placement, but even more important is his second serve, which is widely rated the best in tennis. With speeds averaging in the 110's and precise and well varied placement, Sampras's second serves are as tough to return as many of his opponents' first serves.

Lleyton Hewitt may have the best chance at ending Sampras's streak. He will be entering Wimbledon with two fresh titles on grass. At Queens Club in England, he defeated Sampras in the semifinals, then another top grass court player, Tim Henman, in the finals. He followed up by taking the ATP Heineken Trophy at Den Bosch, Netherlands, over Guillermo Canas. Hewitt has less firepower than Sampras, but he moves extremely well and has a strong return of serve.

With an even better return of serve than Hewitt's, Andre Agassi is the next strongest contender. Agassi's compact swings and unequalled timing give him an extra advantage on grass, where one has less time to prepare each stroke and less predictability on each bounce.

The same factors that give Agassi some advantage on grass give nothing but trouble to players with long clay-court style swings. This may account for the absence of the world's number one player, Gustavo Kuerten, although he claims a slight injury problem.

Among the newer players on the tour with a chance to break through at Wimbledon, Andy Roddick is the most dangerous. His huge first serve will rack up a pile of aces, and his powerful groundstrokes will help him too. His second serve has one of the highest kicks ever seen, but it won't kick as high on grass. He'll probably serve his way through a few rounds, but it might take a couple more Wimbledons for him to really get his footing on the grass.

Page Two: a tough women's field