There's a Flip Side to Ferreira

There’s a Flip Side to Ferreira

By DIANE PUCIN

July 29, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Wayne Ferreira was despondent.

He said he felt guilty. He talked about how hard he was searching for motivation and for love of this game that has made him a millionaire. Ferreira said he hadn’t played tennis very well Wednesday afternoon and that, really, there was no good reason to have won this match.

Justin Gimelstob was sullen. OK, great, he said, Ferreira feels guilty about winning. “At least,” Gimelstob said, “he’s playing another match here.” And Gimelstob couldn’t have been pleased to hear that Ferreira felt undeserving of the win, “a little guilty even.” For Gimelstob had served for the match in the second set.

Yet, finally, it was Ferreira, seeded eighth at the Mercedes-Benz Cup tennis tournament at UCLA, who beat the former UCLA star, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, in 2 hours 12 minutes of very uninspired tennis. Afterward an on-site therapist should have been provided for these two troubled pros.

Even when he spoke of his next match, a quarterfinal appointment with second-seeded Pete Sampras, who Ferreira has beaten four times in a row, the 27-year-old South African could muster little enthusiasm. And Gimelstob couldn’t stop listing facets of his game--forehand, backhand, serve, volley, movement--that disappointed him. Oh, yes, his consistency too.

So it was left for the struggling Michael Chang and the awe-struck James Sekulov to provide some afternoon smiles while Sampras provided some evening thrills.

Sampras was broken when he served for the first set and then broken again, meaning he had to break the serve of Sebastien Lareau, a Canadian ranked No. 116 in the world, just to get into a first-set tiebreaker. But in the end Sampras was wiping his brow and thankful to have a 7-6, (7-5), 6-3 victory.

Sekulov, a 22-year-old qualifier from Australia who has been a professional for four years and who has recorded no significant victories in that time and who had, as late as last Wednesday, planned to take a rest this week, upset No. 5 Thomas Enqvist, 6-7 (7-1), 6-4, 6-3. Chang, a 27-year-old struggling to find his way back into the top 20, had a surprisingly easy time in disposing of Guillaume Raoux of France, a semifinalist here last year, 6-4, 6-2.

But smiles were in short supply for Ferreira and Gimelstob. The South African has been ranked as high as No. 6 in the world, but for more than a year he has struggled with knee and ankle injuries. He is physically sound now, but says his intensity is missing.

Having taken a 5-3 lead in the first set, Ferreira said he had been playing some of his best tennis in a while. “But then I lost a bit of my motivation,” he said. “That’s been happening a lot lately. It’s a struggle to keep motivated.”

When Gimelstob, 22, ranked No. 85 in the world, left UCLA and turned pro three years ago, he was expected to become more than a struggling journeyman who has not taken any big steps forward. It was clear why Wednesday.

While he took advantage of Ferreira’s motivational siesta in the 59-minute first set, and while he had given up only two points on his serve through the ninth game of the second set (for a 5-4 lead), he just crumbled after earning a chance to serve for the match.

In that 10th game, Gimelstob missed easy volleys, whacked wild forehands 10 feet long and double-faulted. “He seemed a bit tight,” Ferreira said in an accurate assessment. Once Gimelstob’s serve was broken for 5-5 in the second set, the former Bruin was clearly finished. He hung his head. He kicked his racket. He hit thoughtless shots and tried crazy volleys.

“I lost my serve and the momentum switched,” Gimelstob said. “It was pretty obvious.”

It didn’t change the mood that much for Ferreira, who, while he was squandering the first set, began to swat balls into the stands and even out of the stadium and once extended the middle finger of his right hand toward a linesperson. Ferreira was given a conduct warning, but his misbehavior, Ferreira said, was directed at himself. “I’m angry just at me,” he said. “Sometimes I’m not even aware of my actions.”

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Mercedes-Benz Cup at a Glance

STADIUM COURT

Matches begin at noon

* Magnus Larsson vs. Anthony Dupuis

* Axel Pretzsch vs. Lleyton Hewitt

* Andrew Ilie vs. Goran Ivanisevic

Matches begin at 7:30 p.m.

* Andre Agassi vs. Eric Taino

* Hewitt-Woodforde vs. W. Black-Stolle

GRANDSTAND COURT

Matches begin at 3 p.m.