by Jim Plautz
Lisa’s 2nd round match was on court 18, as far away from the championship courts as you can get at Roland Garros. There was room for about 200 people, a far cry from the 15,000 that watched her upset Myskina on the Suzanne Lenglen show court. Her opponent was an American girl ranked # 110 in the world. Lisa had never seen her play, but Gregg said the girl had a good serve and a wicked forehand. Her backhand was her weakness. “Hit deep to her backhand and come to the net,” Gregg advised.
It was standing room only and scores of fans were milling around the outside of the court, many of them yelling encouragement. Most had cameras. Lisa had to smile. For two days she had answered questions from the national media. Even the other players wanted to know what prompted her to take a picture of the bad line call.
“I don’t know, I just did it,” Lisa explained. “I guess I was trying to relax.” Whatever the reason, her impromptu action made her a celebrity. A French magazine paid her $10,000 for the photo, which more than made up for her $5,000 fine. Replays were inconclusive, but everyone sitting along that sideline had agreed with Lisa. The ball was good and the chair umpire was wrong. The photo was proof.
The crowd erupted in applause as they walked onto the court and got louder when Lisa smiled and waved. Flashbulbs popped everywhere and continued throughout warm-ups. Lisa thoroughly enjoyed the moment before settling into the match. The small but vocal crowd was behind her as 200 fans cheered her every winner and groaned if Lisa made an error. They reacted with polite applause to her opponent’s good shots, which were few and far between. The California girl seemed unnerved by the raucous crowd and never got into the match. Lisa won easily, 6-2, 6-2.
The media room was packed when Lisa showed up for her post match interview. The questions were more about the camera than about Lisa’s tennis match, but Lisa didn’t mind. She was enjoying the moment and her infectious smile endeared her to the press. That night, on National TV, Bud Collins asked Lisa why she thought the fans and media had taken to her so quickly. “Was it because your demeanor contrasted so much with the stoicism and truculent attitude of the Russian girl you beat in the first round?”
Lisa was only 17, but old enough to recognize a loaded question. She wasn’t going to be trapped into characterizing Myskina as stoic or truculent. “I’m not sure what you are asking me, Mr. Collins, but last year my brother let me drive his truck for a couple days. Was that a truculent?”
That ended the interview as Pat McEnroe and Shriver started laughing. When Lisa returned to the women’s locker room at least a dozen of the other players and coaches congratulated her on side stepping the question. Even the ESPN commentators were laughing at themselves and saying how refreshing it was to have a young lady with so much poise and class. Her legend and fan base was growing.
Ambre was also causing a stir as she again won easily on center court. It had been 1967 since a French-born woman, Françoise Durr, had won their national championship. The anticipation was growing every time Ambre stepped onto the court.
Chris’ first act was to convince the French security force to tighten security at all entrances. Packages and large purses were opened and searched causing long delays and disgruntled fans. Every ticket agent had a description of Agbu and scanned the face of every young man. If you were young and limped, or displayed an injury of any kind, you were pulled over to the side and questioned. It was tedious and time-consuming work. Lines at the main gates reached 150 meters, and delays exceeded 90 minutes just to enter the stadium.
Inside the stadium security was doubled. Plainclothes detectives were everywhere with emphasis given on protecting the Simpsons. Chris was adamant. “If Pete or Lisa Simpson is playing on Court 13, I want a team there scanning the stands for explosives and two detectives in the stands an hour before the match. Two others will pose as security guards and escort them to and from the court. Believe me, Agbu will try something and he is an expert with explosives.”
Video cameras were everywhere including the areas surrounding Roland Garros. A ten-person crew monitored the cameras looking for suspicious behavior. One young couple was arrested as they were observed dropping a handbag into a trash bin as they entered the stadium. They subsequently were released and allowed to enter the stadium, but their marijuana was confiscated. The police had no time to waste on petty criminals.
Away from the stadium, the Simpson family was escorted everywhere and were secretly moved to a private home where the entire family was together. This minimized security requirements and risk to innocent bystanders, but also offered an inviting target if word of their whereabouts leaked out. “Don’t worry Jim, we plan to move you in a few days to another location. We’re not going to let him get to you,” Chris assured me.
“I know you are doing what you have to do, Chris, but it’s awfully tough on the kids. They have enough pressure on them without this.”
“They seem to be dealing with it okay,” Chris said with a smile. “They’re winning.”
Chris’ team was making progress in tracking Agbu’s movements before and after the aborted attempt to blow up Roland Garros. Fingerprints and DNA had matched the dead terrorists confirming this indeed was the terrorist headquarters. Two sets of fingerprints did not match and a third man’s partial print was found on a bloody bullet recovered in the toilet drain.
“This must be the doctor that operated on Agbu, find him and we find Agbu. What do we have so far?” Chris asked.
“Nothing, we ran the fingerprint, but he isn’t in our database,” the agent replied. “We are looking at every doctor in Paris but have come up empty so far. It will probably take a couple more days to check them all, but I’m not hopeful we will get anything.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too risky. I just don’t see a doctor taking that kind of chance and besides, it’s too obvious. Agbu is smarter than that.”
“When you are bleeding, you might not be thinking too clearly, but I see your point,” Chris replied thoughtfully. The room was silent for a few seconds until Chris asked aloud. “Maybe he isn’t a real doctor? Maybe he is just a nurse or medical assistant, someone that picked up enough experience to help out in an emergency. Let’s expand our search to include these groups,” Chris added. “Maybe he was a paramedic in the military.”
“One more thing,” the lab technician offered. “We found traces of explosives. They were making bombs at the apartment, and it had nothing to do with the explosives used in the cell phones. It looks like C-4,” the technician said referring to the American version of Semtex.
Chris looked at her boss who shook his head. “There were no bombs or detonators found in the van, or anywhere else on the grounds,” Ron said. “Whatever they made is still out there.”
“Or it’s already in place and waiting to be detonated,” Chris replied. “Let’s do another search of Roland Garros and take a closer look at the construction team. I want a detailed check on everyone involved in this project,” Chris ordered.
“Do you want to check the Simpson group as well as Bouygues?” an agent asked.
“Yes, check everybody although I think you could skip Jim Simpson.” Chris thought a moment and then added, “let’s check everyone.”
Carlos advanced easily into the third round, losing only five games in three sets. The same could not be said for the rest of the American men. Andy Roddick, the #2 seed, lost in five sets, as did James Blake. Both had won the first two sets. Vince Spadea had been forced to retire with an injury. Pete was the only American remaining from the nine that had started.
Last year not one American man had made it through to the third round. Andy Roddick has never made it out of the second round in five attempts, and he is the #2 player in the world.
Why? Americans will continue to berate themselves for not being competitive at Roland Garros, at least until Wimbledon comes around and helps erase the bad memories. The Americans do better on the slick, fast courts that favor power over finesse. Anyone who watched the Blake and Roddick matches kn
ows why they lose on clay.
How many times did you see Blake or Roddick get pulled wide and try to hit a low percentage winner from a defensive position rather that getting the ball back in play and starting the point over? American players are aggressive, most good clay court players think defense.
How many times did Pat McEnroe point out the difference between speed and footwork? Blake and Roddick are fast and footwork is okay, but not nearly as good as the Spaniards or South Americans. Americans don’t slide into the ball the way the natural clay court players do. They grew up on this surface and embrace it; Americans fight it. Some like Agassi and Courier actually got pretty good at it, but the South Americans change directions on clay without a thought.
Another factor is conditioning. American players are in pretty good shape but the real good clay court players are in great shape. The exception was Jim Courier, twice a French Open champion. His conditioning was superior. Success on the slow, red clay courts at Roland Garros demands patience, footwork, experience and a patient attitude that is not characteristic of the top American players. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it’s just being realistic.
The future for American men at Roland Garros is not good. That is not to say there won’t be occasional successes, but for every American that learns to embrace the clay, there will be a dozen Spaniards and South Americans that grew up playing on their favorite surface. American players face a daunting challenge. There are 15 Argentineans in the main draw and twelve won their opening matches.
Day 5 (Friday)
The Future of Tennis