Split personality is the centre court of attraction

WIMBLEDON, July 4: Superstitious Goran Ivanisevic, who has refused to shave since the start of Wimbledon, listened to the same two Croatian ...

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WIMBLEDON, July 4: Superstitious Goran Ivanisevic, who has refused to shave since the start of Wimbledon, listened to the same two Croatian songs before leaving his rented home every morning and chosen with special care which of the six showers in the men’s locker-room he uses after matches, will be watching Jana Novotna’s bid to win the women’s singles title today with special interest.

The big-serving 26-year-old left-hander from Split, who edged into the men’s final for a third time yesterday when he beat Holland’s 1996 champion Richard Krajicek 15-13 in the fifth set of a marathon centre-court shoot-out, knows all about being a runner-up in the world’s most prestigious tournament.

In 1992, his title bid was ended when he went down to Andre Agassi and two years later he was beaten by Pete Sampras.

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Tomorrow he will be facing Sampras again — the American having broken British hearts by defeating home hero Tim Henman in the semi-finals to move one step away from claiming his fifth crown.

Ivanisevic,who has been throwing rackets, towels, headscarves and anything else which comes to hand into the crowds after his string of championship victories, believes that this time he can go the whole way.

“Pete will be nervous like me. He’s going for the record. I’m going for my first win. But I am playing unbelievable. I have never been this mentally strong in my life.”

The Croatian, who has so far fired 161 aces from his six matches (compared to 105 from Sampras), has also had plenty of tie-break practice. He has so far had to play nine of them (Sampras has played four).

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But possibly the most important statistic is that Ivanisevic, who trails Sampras 6-10 in their career meetings, has had to be on court 13 hours 45 minutes since the championships opened two weeks ago whereas Sampras has played 10 hours 48 minutes. And whereas Ivanisevic has dropped five sets, Sampras has dropped only one.

But the American, who has made it clear that he plays his tennis for the record books, has once again been able tolift his game as he bids to win his 11th Grand Slam title — just one title short of the all-time best held by Roy Emerson.

A fifth Wimbledon title will also put him level with Bjorn Borg who scored his five triumphs here consecutively from 1976 to 1980. Sampras’ victories have come in 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997.

The American also knows that if he loses in tomorrow’s final Marcelo Rios the moody left-hander from Chile who stalked out of the event after losing in the first round “to watch World Cup football” back home in Santiago will recapture the No 1 ranking.