Notes on a Draw Sheet

Davis Cup: Kafelnikov and Safin's greatest challenge
The Five Musketeers; Steffi's image conscious in Germany, not in US

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

In most or all of the English speaking world, the much-anticipated Davis Cup final will not be aired on television. That is a bigger downer than undercooked Thanksgiving turkey because having the opportunity to watch Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin try to turn their careers around in Paris is more delightful to yellowball fans than an extra helping of stuffing laced with olive oil.

Say what you will about the veteran Kafelinkov – underachiever, played to his potential or overachiever – he himself has defined this weekend's tie as the most important three days of his career. Should he lead his country to victory, he can retire plump and happy – two Slam titles, a stint at No. 1, $22 million in prize money and the leader of Russia's first winning Davis Cup team.

"I have said several times that I want to retire at the end of the year," the 28-year-old said. "So far it has been my worst season ever. But if we win the Cup it will definitely make up for all the disappointments. It would really be something, it would make me the happiest person on this planet if only I could achieve my lifelong dream," he said last month. "It would make my tennis career a complete one."

Kafelnikov took his team into the 1994 and 1995 finals, where they came up short against Sweden (Stefan Edberg and Magnus Larsson) and the US ( Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Todd Martin). While those teams didn't have '00 U.S. Open champ Marat Safin on them, they did feature the powerful yet undependable Alexander Volkov as well as the brainy Andrei Chesnokov. But it was Kafelnikov who gagged his matches during the ties, both of which were played in Moscow.

BLASTED BY THE SWEDES
First, he lost to Larsson in five sets on carpet and then, with Andrei Olhovskiy, dropped a 8-6 in the fifth clincher to Jonas Bjorkman/Jan Apell.

The next year he stomped Courier on red clay on the opening day. But then he and Olhovskiy fell in straight to Sampras/Martin. While you could tag Olhovskiy with both doubles losses, Kafelnikov did have a shot a redemption with his team down 2-1 on Sunday, but was taken out in straight sets by an inspired Sampras (on clay!) and Russia lost the tie.

So now the Y Man has another chance to clear his record, but will have to do so on indoor clay in a hostile environment. Kafelnikov is the only Roland Garros champ on the team so you have to give him the slight edge over the scrappy and capable Sebastien Grosjean and a significant edge over the talented yet mentally suspect Arnaud Clement or rookie Paul-Henri Mathieu.

However, Safin has not played well enough this year to give him a clear edge over any of three aforementioned Frenchman, even though he took out Grosjean at '02 Roland Garros. While the big Russian is always capable of blowing players out, he's also capable of getting frustrating with himself and has a terrible time overcoming slow starts. That means that Special K may have to step up in a big way.

"That would be a really fitting finale for me," Kafelnikov said. "It would sort of complete the circle and allow me to leave the game with my conscience at peace."

The Five Musketeers
On guard, D'Artagnan!

The last time nine-time champion France dominated Davis Cup – from 1927 to 1933 – the legendary Four Musketeers (Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet, Rene Lacoste and Jacques Brugnon) ruled the tennis roost on clay. None of their present players (Grosjean, Clement, Mathieu, Nicolas Escude or Fabrice Santoro) have the resumes of the aforementioned legends, which would make this two-peat a phenomenal effort.

"The age of the musketeers is a long time ago," Grosjean told Reuters. "In those days they went straight into the final."

French captain Guy Forget – who has been simply masterful in his reign – has a tough decision to make on Friday: whether he plays the unpredictable Clement or the red hot rookie Mathieu.

Last year in France's final round victory over Australia on grass, Forget chose fast court lover Escude over Clement -- an obvious choice yet painful pick.

"If Arnaud had to miss out again, it would hurt me badly," said Forget. "But I can't think like that - I have to think who can beat whom on the big day. I will keep pressure on the guys until the last minute in case there are any problems and then decide who is best placed to beat Kafelnikov and Safin."

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

It appears from these far sidelines that Clement is the best choice. While Mathieu gave Andre Agassi fits at Roland Garros this year, it's too early tell whether he will freeze up at a packed Bercy Stadium and Forget at least knows that Clement has big match experience. The only reason to play Mathieu would be if Clement is routed on Friday and Forget feels Mathieu would bring more to the table on Sunday.
Forget is already weaving psychological webs around the Russians' minds, saying that his squad is clearly the underdog.

"I sincerely believe that the Russians are better than us, on any surface," he said. "We have to keep in mind that we will beat the Russians if we are opportunists, ambitious and aggressive."

This statement was made despite the fact that Escude is a better player on grass than both Russians and that Grosjean is arguably better than Safin on clay. You also have to give Clement his props on Rebound Ace.

Plus, France will have its very vocal nation in attendance.

So who's the favorite? France, by a nose, because they are deeper and you know that by Sunday, Kafelnikov and Safin will be beat up and tired having to play singles and doubles. But don't rule out a Kafelnikov triumph in the fifth and deciding match.

Steffi's image conscious in Germany, not in US

Courtsey of the Agassi family

DPA and Stern reported that Steffi Graf has split from manager Hans Engert over disagreements about the future direction of her Stefanie Graf Marketing company.

According to Stern, Engert wanted to begin marketing large events outside of sport, which required investment, but Graf wanted to concentrate on sport sponsorship, licensing rights and marketing her own name. Engert has been in charge of the affairs of Graf since her father, Peter Graf, was convicted of tax evasion in 1996.

"He was a great support to me in hard times," Graf told Stern.

What's interesting here is that when she's not traveling on tour with husband Agassi, Graf spends the majority of her time in the US, both at their Tiburon, Calif. mansion and in Las Vegas. No legend in recent memory has been as invisible to the tennis world as Graf has in the past three years, who even when she's at tournaments, hides in luxury boxes or deep in the players' lounge. While it is completely within this new mom's rights to have a private life away from the spotlight, how does her darkly veiled existence aid her quest to market her name? Only Stefanie knows the answer to that, but since keeping herself tightly under wraps in her adopted country, we probably won't know the answer for a while.