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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Rachel Nichols

Aired June 30, 2002 - 11:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Now, that the World Cup is over, all attention, when it comes to sports, just may be on tennis and one of the most important tournaments of the year, Wimbledon. Joining us on the phone from London for a recap of week one at Wimbledon is Rachel Nichols, and she writes for "The Washington Post" and "Tennis" magazine. Can you hear me OK, Rachel?

RACHEL NICHOLS, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Absolutely. How you doing?

WHITFIELD: All right. I'm doing good. All right, let's talk about men's tennis, first round, or at least the first week. We are seeing some pretty major upsets with no Americans making it to round 16 for the first time in decades.

NICHOLS: I dare you to find someone to talk about in the men's draw.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my, gosh, how embarrassing. What is going on? What major disappointments.

NICHOLS: You're not kidding. Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, it was last one out, shut the lights around here. The last American man left in the draw was a 23-year-old kid named Jeff Morrison from West Virginia, who had never competed in Wimbledon before, and he only...

WHITFIELD: He was the American hopeful.

NICHOLS: ... made it to the third round. This is the first time in 80 years that no American man has made it to the fourth round of Wimbledon. And I think we have known for a while that there is a hole in the men's game among the Americans, but the reality of it has just hit everyone like a ton of bricks this year.

WHITFIELD: Wow! How disappointing. But instead now, we are seeing an emergence of some of the Brit hopefuls, I mean, the real darlings out there. Attention now is on some of these kinds of lesser-known, but still pretty well-known men's players.

NICHOLS: Absolutely. I mean, Tim Henman, who is a local favorite, has been -- reached the semifinals here three times. He is certainly a contender. They call him Tiger Tim here, and there's a lot of pressure on him after Pete Andre and Marat Safin, the No. 2 seed, all went down in one day. The headline in the newspaper the next day was, "No pressure now, Timbo, but if you don't win, we'll never forgive you." So...

WHITFIELD: Well, he truly is the darling.

NICHOLS: There is no question they want him to win here. The other British hopeful is a man named Greg Rusedski. He was actually born and raised in Canada, but his mother is British. He came over here and claimed British citizenship. He is no dummy. He comes here. He is a British citizen now, and now he has got the whole crowd behind him.

WHITFIELD: Wow! All right, good for him. All right, so let's talk women's tennis now. Some of the favorites still out in front, no major upsets as of to speak of so far. You've got Venus, you've got Serena, Monica Seles. She truly is a darling in any arena. And still Jennifer Capriati...

NICHOLS: Absolutely.

WHITFIELD: ... the ultimate comeback kid.

NICHOLS: Absolutely. Of all of those four, I mean, Monica Seles is by far the crowd favorite. People just want her to do well. She has been through so much, obviously the stabbing in 1993. Then her father, who she was very close to, died three or four years ago. That was very difficult for her.

WHITFIELD: That was Monica Seles.

NICHOLS: Absolutely. And so people have been pushing her. I was watching her match yesterday, and they just clapped at everything. They want her to do well. Unfortunately, her grass court game just isn't as good as the rest of her game on other surfaces. It's hard for her. Her mobility isn't as good. She can't get the shots over (ph) the net as well.

So I think you are really looking among the American women, at favorites, you are looking at Venus and Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati, who is really hitting the ball hard right now.

WHITFIELD: Wow! Now, any fallout from former tennis star, Gabriella Sabitini's, comments saying -- her criticisms of women's tennis, saying that this athleticism is really taking away from the grace of the sport, and that these tough, hard, you know,100-mile-per- hour serves are really kind of demoralizing women's tennis?

NICHOLS: I think a lot of people around Wimbledon have just sort of seen that as sour grapes. I mean, there is a former player, who they feel was passed by, not only by just aging, but also by the power of the game. And anybody who thinks that athleticism isn't good for sports probably needs to reconsider what they want to be doing with their time, whether it is playing a sport or maybe just playing backgammon. I think the power has certainly helped the women's game move a little further. In the men's game, you could certainly make the argument that the greater racket speed and the power have made it boring. It's sort of blip-blip serve, blip-blip serve. But in the women's game with more power, you are actually just getting stronger shots. You are getting to a point where the men's game maybe was 10 or 15 years ago, and people certainly thought that was interesting.

WHITFIELD: Sure. And the flip side is this athleticism has certainly taken tennis to another level, and it has created an even greater interest, wouldn't you think?

NICHOLS: Absolutely. And I think it's a great role model for girls. I know that you were talking about...

WHITFIELD: Yes.

NICHOLS: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) earlier on your show. And I think that it's important for girls to see these young women, who are very glamorous and very exciting, but also very athletic and very powerful.

WHITFIELD: All right. Do you want to place any bets on who you are going to see in the finals?

NICHOLS: Well, you know, this is London, and you can pretty much place a bet on anything, whether your elbow is going to hit the table at a certain time. But I would definitely pick Venus to win it all, but I think Serena is going to be her toughest competition. Venus has just got great advantage here, because of her height. She is 6 foot 1. She's got a great reach at the net. Her serves just glide across the grass. They go by so fast, the other girls are getting whiplash.

WHITFIELD: Wow!

NICHOLS: So I think she has the advantage. But Serena is obviously very competitive. She just won the French Open, and she wants this title.

WHITFIELD: Wow! All right, thanks very much, Rachel Nichols -- enjoy the tennis out there, all right -- with "The Washington Post" as well as "Tennis" magazine. I appreciate it -- thanks for joining us over the phone from London.

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