TENNIS WIMBLEDON : Instead of the Usual Wet and Wild, It Was Dry and Predictable

WIMBLEDON, England —  They are serving up far more questions than answers at Wimbledon, where the courts are hard and fast, like the rules.

So far, this has been a very unusual Wimbledon, with or without Andre Agassi’s chest hair. It’s because of something even more basic--the weather. There hasn’t been one drop of rain, not a single delay or a break in action as the second week begins today with fourth-round matches.

Because of the dry weather, the normally fast and slippery grass courts are playing more like hard courts, which might explain the continued presence of baseliners such as Agassi, Jim Courier, Petr Korda and Cedric Pioline.

Of course, Agassi probably hits the best service returns in the game, which doesn’t hurt him either. But if the rains come, will the baseliners go?

In any event, Wimbledon shifts into a new gear today, lugging along some issues that need some explanations.

--Why is Pete Sampras playing Andrew Foster on Court 14?

Sampras is the No. 1-ranked player and the No. 1-seeded player while Foster is the only English player in the draw. Court 14 is the fourth-largest court at Wimbledon with only 1,816 seats.

Malcolm Folley of the Mail on Sunday was not amused by the Court 14 scheduling (“Wimbledon wilderness,” Folley said).

Said referee Alan Mills: “The Order of Play Committee have weighed up everything and feel the decision is justified.”

So there.

--How will Courier play now that he doesn’t have his guitar and his mountain bike to keep him company?

According to reports, burglars broke into Courier’s rented house Friday afternoon and made off with a mountain bike, a guitar, a video machine and a CD player.

“It’s no big deal,” said Courier, whose fourth-round opponent is South African Wayne Ferreira.

If he gets past Ferreira, Courier will match his best Wimbledon finish, a quarterfinal spot in 1991 when he lost to eventual champion Michael Stich.

One last thing: What was he doing with the mountain bike at Wimbledon?

--Who is taller, David Wheaton or Todd Martin?

Martin is 6-6, Wheaton is 6-4. Otherwise, this fourth-round match looks pretty even. They have split four previous meetings, Wheaton winning the first two, Martin winning the last two.

If anyone has an edge, maybe it should go to Wheaton, who beat Martin in four sets in the second round of Wimbledon last year.

Even after being forced to go 4 hours 22 minutes and five sets in order to beat Michael Chang, Wheaton remained confident.

“I think I’m one of the better grass-court players in the world,” he said. “If I capitalize on opportunities, I stand a good chance of maybe winning each match I play.”

--Will Barbra Streisand be courtside for Agassi’s match against Richard Krajicek?

“Possibly,” Agassi said.

A relationship between Agassi, 23, and Streisand, 52, has been hinted at since she saw Agassi play at the U.S. Open and told a television reporter that Agassi was a “Zen master” and “played beyond his linear years.”

Agassi said he has spoken to Streisand about her coming to see him play.

“What do you think, that I just make this up?” Agassi said. “What, I just to go sleep and dream and then I believe?”

--Is Stefan Edberg the luckiest player in the world?

He probably thinks so. While Agassi is attracting all the interest, Edberg quietly goes about his business, knowing there are only two other seeded players remaining in his half of the draw--No. 3 Courier and No. 13 Ferreira.

“I’m quite happy not to draw too much attention to myself,” Edberg said. “I am glad what Andre is doing.”

Edberg didn’t have to play much more than a mediocre match to knock out Chris Wilkinson and now Edberg’s road to the semifinals looks smooth.

In the fourth round, Edberg takes on journeyman Richard Matuszewski, and would meet the winner of today’s match between Pioline of France and 30-year-old Wally Masur of Australia.

--Is the top half of the men’s draw overloaded?

For sure, with Sampras, Agassi, Agassi, Becker, Stich and Krajicek. Only one can make it to the final.

If everything goes according to form, Sampras would play Agassi in the quarterfinals, with the winner playing whoever is left standing in a quarterfinal between Becker and Stich.

--Have the women’s matches been predictable?

So far, they have been running like a train schedule. Of the first 10 seeded players, only No. 5 Mary Joe Fernandez and No. 10 Magdalena Maleeva are not around.

The rest of the gang is here. Steffi Graf has needed 2 hours 18 minutes to win three matches by the combined set score of 36-3. She is projected to meet Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals, provided Graf beats Meredith McGrath and Capriati treats Lisa Raymond the same way.

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario plays Helena Sukova with the winner meeting either Conchita Martinez or Yayuk Basuki in the quarterfinals.

Navratilova leads the bottom half of the draw into the second week. She plays Nathalie Tauziat in the fourth round, then would get either Zina Garrison-Jackson or Natalia Zvereva.

Gabriela Sabatini, who runs into Anke Huber next, is on track to play either Jana Novotna or Miriam Oremans in the quarters, then meet Navratilova in the semifinals.

However, none of this is guaranteed. Like the weather here, it changes in a hurry.

Wimbledon Notes

Yayuk Basuki, 22, from Jakarta, Indonesia, is in the fourth round for the second consecutive year. The daughter of a retired police officer, Basuki played badminton and soccer and probably knows what to do with her prize winnings--she went to the Academy of Bank Management in Jakarta. . . . Early favorites: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario is 3-0 against Helena Sukova, Martina Navratilova is 7-1 against Nathalie Tauziat. . . . Stefan Edberg is playing in the fourth round for the eighth time. Only once did he lose in the fourth round, to Kevin Curren in 1985 when Edberg was 19. . . . This is the first time in nine years that only one Swede reached the fourth round. . . . Six Americans are in the fourth round, twice as many as last year when Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe made it. . . . Richard Matuszewski, 28, from Hopewell Junction, N.Y., had won only three matches in his Grand Slam career coming into Wimbledon and had never made it past the second round.