Grand Slam winners missing from Grand Slam Cup

Web posted September 29, 1998

Associated Press

MUNICH, Germany -- The Grand Slam Cup doesn't live up to its name this year -- at least among the men.

Of the four Grand Slam men's champions this year, three are not participating, including the two top players in the world, Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter.

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But the women, competing in the $6.7 million event for the first time, are here in full force, with only Monica Seles absent. Seles has refused to play in Germany since being stabbed at a tournament in Hamburg in 1993.

Martina Hingis, No. 1 in the world and the Australian Open champion, will be joined by No. 2 Lindsay Davenport. Davenport beat Hingis for the U.S. Open title this month.

The tournament, which gives out more prize money per player than any event, starts Tuesday in Olympic Hall, with 12 men and eight women in the field.

Hingis opens the tourney against Conchita Martinez, followed by two men's matches, Tim Henman vs. Jonas Bjorkman and Nicolas Escude vs. Felix Mantilla.

The tournament began in 1990, with the idea of bringing together players with the best records in the four Grand Slam events of the year -- the Australian, French and U.S. Open and Wimbledon.

But this year, only one Grand Slam male champion is here: Petr Korda, winner of the Australian Open. Seeded No. 2 is Marcelo Rios.

Wimbledon champion Sampras, U.S. Open champion Rafter and Carlos Moya, the French Open winner, all declined to compete in an event that has no bearing on the rankings.

So, the organizers turned to wild cards to spice up the tournament.

That's how Andre Agassi got into the field. But efforts to bring in a crowd-pulling German failed. Semi-retired Boris Becker is injured, as is Steffi Graf.

But if the men's field lacks stars, the women should provide the fireworks.

Hingis and Davenport are joined by Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna and French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.

With Rafter absent, Australia is represented by Mark Philippoussis, whom Rafter beat in the U.S. Open final. Philippoussis missed Australia's Davis Cup victory over Uzbekistan over the weekend in a dispute with Rafter and captain John Newcombe.

The men's winner will receive $1.3 million, the women's $800,000.