Four of the biggest and most important tennis stars in recent history were missing from last night’s U.S. Open anniversary ceremony.
Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors and Steffi Graf were all no-shows.
The opening night ceremony was to honor the 40th anniversary of the Open Era, with all 39 living U.S. Open champions invited.
The 21 who were in attendance included such luminaries as John McEnroe, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Rod Laver, Boris Becker, Monica Seles, Gabriela Sabatini and Ivan Lendl. Current players who have captured the Open title, such as Serena and Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer, were also part of the ceremony – with McEnroe, the Williamses and Federer all receiving large cheers.
“It’s still a blockbuster bill,” Chris Widmaier, USTA’s director of publicity, told The Post regarding the snubs from Sampras, Connors, Agassi and Graf. “We’re not disappointed with this night. We don’t know what it conflicted with.”
Actually, others besides the Sampras-Agassi-Connors-Graf quartet also missed the event. Justine Henin didn’t show, while Kim Clijsters had a family emergency.
Evert, meanwhile, noted how much she wanted to be there. How much so? Basically, she intimated it wasn’t something she’d even consider missing.
“I’ve got three boys that start school this week. I have a lot going on. But whenever I’m called on, whenever the USTA or whether it’s Wimbledon, or any of the Grand Slams, call and say, ‘We’re having all the past champions get together to celebrate and have a parade or whatever,’ I just love doing things like this,” she said before the ceremony.
“It’s part of my past that I want still to be a part of my future, too. I just don’t want to erase the past and say, ‘That was then and this is now, and now I’m a mom and now I’m doing other things.’ So, I love it. I still get a thrill to be around Rod Laver and the champions of the past and Billie Jean [King].”
Laver also added, “It was my thrill to be able to come back.”
One interesting note was Becker’s prediction that the world may not see another Federer-Rafael Nadal championship matchup.
“You always want the best to meet,” Becker said. “But I get a feeling we have a surprise here.”