By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

INDIANAPOLIS, AUG 16 – World No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten is playing one racket short and that is not a good scenario going into the U.S. Open since he only has two rackets left.

“Yeah, probably a fan,” said Kuerten, explaining that his racket went missing in the locker-room at the RCA Championships on Wednesday afternoon. “I only have three rackets and now I only have two.”

Kuerten, who mentioned the racket theft to the crowded stadium after his 6-4, 6-3 second round win over Israeli Noam Okun on Wednesday night, actually seems like he wouldn’t blame a fan who might walk off with the prized possession. The sporting fan side of Kuerten, a follower of Brazilian soccer, admitted with a smile, “Of course, if I saw a Brazilian national shirt hanging around, I’d probably take it.”
If you’re reading this and wondering why a player of Kuerten’s stature only has three rackets and why he can’t just get a few more upon request, it apparently isn’t that simple. As it turns out, Kuerten appears to be slightly neurotic about his rackets. The Brazilian claims it takes him about one month to get a racket into ready condition to use to play matches – the grip never seems to be right the first time out and neither does the racket weight. So Kuerten is constantly having the stringers at tournaments around the world tinkering with these elements and it obviously takes an inordinate period of time to reach the perfect state.

“My rackets have to be the way I like them and the more I have, the more complicated it is for me,” said Kuerten, pointing to his head, a signal that tennisreporters.net took to mean that some of this belief might just be in his head.

Tim Henman said he had heard about Kuerten’s unfortunate situation and says that because the Brazilian strings his rackets with synthetic gut, he is probably safe having only three rackets since they don’t have to be strung as often. Henman, himself, usually takes six rackets to the court for matches and normally has nine or 10 rackets in his possession when on the road. The Britain, who won a concise 6-2, 6-3 second round victory over Adrian Voinea of Romania on Wednesday night, strings his rackets with natural gut which don’t have as long a shelf life as the synthetic stringing.

For Kuerten, who each day is appearing more and more the favorite for the upcoming U.S. Open, going into the last Grand Slam of the year with only two rackets must be a daunting possibility. And certainly, if trying to prepare a racket for matches makes Kuerten as stressed as he says, doing it during the U.S. Open can’t be ideal timing. So, if anybody out there knows the whereabouts of Guga’s third racket, be a good sport and bring it back to it’s rightful owner.