Flushed With Success Gambill Primed For Grand Slam Debut At Flushing Meadows
Jan-Michael Gambill is ready for Flushing Meadows Madness.
Until now, the 1995 Mead High School graduate had only heard the stories about the crazed crowds that come out two weeks every year to watch Grand Slam tennis American style.
But he’s never really heard what it sounds like when 10,000 New Yorkers let loose a communal whistle of disapproval. And he doesn’t really know how he’ll react the first time a jumbo jet flies so low over the USTA National Tennis Center it’s impossible to hear the sound of the ping off the strings.
Gambill, 20 years old as of June and groomed since eternity, is pysched.
His 1997 play earned him a wild-card invitation to next week’s U.S. Open, allowing him to bypass this week’s shakedown at the qualifying tournament.
“I’m just going to go out and try to beat the crap out of the ball,” said Gambill, of Colbert.
It’s the comment one would expect from someone who makes a living as an aggressive baseliner with a two-fisted forehand and backhand. Add a serve that’s been clocked at 130 mph, and who knows how high he can climb in the ATP Tour rankings.
Gambill’s first-round opponent could have been top-ranked Pete Sampras or any number of stadium-court darlings.
“Pete is awfully tough to beat. I can’t even think about beating Pete Sampras,” he said.
Instead, he drew what could be his first break of the tournament, 23-year-old Scott Draper of Brisbane, Australia. The two played indoors at the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia earlier this year. Gambill won the first-round qualifying match 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. A second-round shoulder injury forced Gambill to take two months off.
Winner of their Open match will met Jiri Novak (No. 52) of the Czech Republic or Davide Sanguinetti (No. 96) of Italy.
The tournament begins Monday morning with first-round match times to be announced Saturday or Sunday.
“He hits the ball pretty hard, but he can be erratic at times,” Gambill said of Draper. “When I played him, he was erratic. I’ve seen him play a lot better than when he played me.”
Draper, a left-hander, is ranked No. 66 in the world.
He’s 71st on this year’s prize-money list, earning $221,245. One of his big wins was at the ‘97 Lipton Championships, where he beat Andre Agassi (7-6, 6-1) in the second round.
At last year’s U.S. Open, Goran Ivanisevic served up 16 aces in a second-round win over Draper.
Gambill is ranked No. 218 in the world and is 264th on the prize-money list at $32,702. He’s coached by his father, Chuck, and former Tour player Casey Maus, a 32-year-old from Palm Springs, Calif.
The two accompanied Gambill to Seattle this week for two days of practice matches. Maus, Gambill and Gambill’s younger brother, Torrey, plan to leave for New York Saturday morning.
Torrey, who will be a sophomore at Mead-Mount Spokane, also has a bright future in tennis. As a freshman at Mead last year, he teamed to win the State AAA doubles title.
The older Gambill never played high school tennis, taking the USTA junior circuit route instead. In 1993 he won the Boys’ 18 Indoor Championships.
The following year, he lost in the national championship final, but still earned the No. 1 ranking in the Boys’ 18 division.
The University of Washington offered him a tennis scholarship, but Gambill, a 3.1 student, declined.
“I didn’t play all my life to play college tennis,” Gambill said. “For some people it’s good. For me, it just wasn’t the path I wanted to take.”
Instead, he hit the USTA satellite circuit and eventually the qualifiers (pre-tournaments into main draws). Last year he lost in the finals in six ATP Tour qualifiers, including the Australian Open.
“That’s pretty tough. It gets a little discouraging,” he said.
But this season, success came right from the start when Gambill had the biggest win of his pro career in January. He defeated 44th-ranked Chris Woodruff of Knoxville, Tenn., to reach the quarterfinals of the New Zealand Open.
Just last month at the Safeway Challenge in Aptos, Calif., Gambill won his first title, beating Wade McGuire, currently ranked No. 211.
And it’s getting bigger and better. Earlier this week, he signed a deal with Adidas, which will pay him to wear its line. (His former sponsor Nike did not pay him.)
Last week at the Pen Pilot International in Hartford, Conn., Gambill defeated No. 43 Filip DeWulf before losing to No. 3 seed Petr Korda in the second round 6-3, 6-3. The Czech is the No. 15 seed at the U.S. Open.
“Having a good tournament in Auckland and then winning Aptos and showing I could beat a top-50 player again… . I think that’s why they looked at me,” Gambill said.
And now, Gambill will have the chance to look back at the Madness.
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