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Ivanisevic: Not the same without rain

By DARRELL FRY, Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 9, 2001

WIMBLEDON, England -- The way the weather has brought havoc to the scheduling has prompted calls for Wimbledon to consider adding a roof to Centre Court.

Wimbledon officials are mulling the idea, but not everyone is wild about it. Goran Ivanisevic, for one, said he is against it.

"Then Wimbledon is not Wimbledon," he said. "You have to have rain. You can't expect two weeks without rain in Wimbledon."

FLORIDA'S DOUBLE CONNECTION: Americans had a big day in the two doubles finals. The all-American team of Don Johnson and Jared Palmer defeated the Czech duo of Jiri Novak and David Rikl 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). The most recent all-American men's team to win was Rick Leach and Jim Pugh in 1990.

It was the first Wimbledon title for Palmer, a Tampa resident.

American Lisa Raymond and Australian Rennae Stubbs won the women's doubles, defeating Kim Clijsters of Belgium and Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-4, 6-3. It was the second title for Raymond, a former player at Florida, who teamed with Leander Paes to win mixed doubles in 1999.

ANYBODY SELLING TICKETS?: Moving the men's final to today is expected to cause quite a fuss over tickets. There will be 10,000 Centre Court tickets and 5,000 ground passes on sale this morning, with officials expecting crowds doubling that at ticket windows.

Only cash is accepted.

HOW THEY STACK UP: While Venus Williams captured her second straight Wimbledon title, it didn't help her move up in the rankings, which will be released today. She remains No. 2 behind Martina Hingis.

Jennifer Capriati, who reached the semifinals, jumps from No. 4 to No. 3, replacing Lindsay Davenport, who also reached the semis but fell to No. 4.

DID YOU KNOW?: In losing the final, Justine Henin's streak of 11 straight final-round wins under coach Carlos Rodriguez was snapped. The Belgian had been 11-0 in title matches on the WTA Tour and the International Tennis Federation circuit since hiring Rodriguez six years ago.

HEAVENLY HELP: While trying to serve out his semifinal match against Tim Henman on Sunday, Ivanisevic could be seen playfully praying for help before each of his last few serves.

"First time on match point, I say, 'God, if I miss the first serve, I'm going to hit another big second serve. And please, be good.' So then I hit that (and missed). Okay, no problem. Maybe God is (at) lunch, so he didn't see me," said Ivanisevic, who eventually ended the match with an unreturnable serve. "I think I'm in the final only because of God. He just gave me another chance. He said, 'Man, you were so annoying always asking for another chance, so okay, I'll give you another chance.' "

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