European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A . Open starts today with top seeds hurting by Steve Wilstein new York a they re walking wounded into the . Open if they re walking at All Pete Sampras on his bum foot Steffi Graf with her Back spasms the state of their health As precarious Ashe state of their sport. Martina Navratilova worn out is stay ing away from the4 tournament which starts monday. Jim courier burned out almost did the same. Goran Ivanisevic hurting in the hip May drop out yet. No one has seen Jennifer Capriati or Monica Seles for a Long time. Jimmy Connors could t be talked into coming Back though the Usta tried mightily. Tennis is not dying. It s wheezing an limping along hiding sometimes. Twenty five years ago Rod Laver completed the last men s grand slam at the . Open in sedate Forest Hills a few Miles from the present sprawling raucous site in Flushing Meadow. The rackets were wooden the surface was grass the balls were White his prize Money was $16,-000, and nobody made Navratilova triumphs see Page 31 any big Bucks Selling shoes. Laver s future admirer Sampras hoped to duplicate the grand slam this year while pocketing considerably More Money. But he got tripped up figuratively at the French open and literally afterwards Sampras the . Open s defending Champion and top seed injured his ankle in a multimillion Dollar foul up. Just before winning Wimbledon he signed a fat contract l with Nike an donned new sneakers designed specifically for him. Nike introduced these new wonders of the shoe world with great fan fare. Problem was Sampras feet did t take the change so kindly. He sprained his right ankle slightly when his shoe stuck on the grass at Wimbledon then injured tendons and ligaments in his left ankle atthe Davis cup. Sampras blamed the shoes and to Many matches and he has t played in More than a month. He s made up his mind to play through the pain at the open though he does t know How effective hell be and Nike has been work ing with him on the shoes to get them right. Maybe he should just go Back to his old sneakers. If Sampras were healthy he d be heavily favored to win his third grand slam title of the year. Perhaps he should be anyway since he won his first Wimbledon last year despite hurting his shoulder the week before the opening match. Grass injury and her losses in the French open and Wimbledon make her chances far less certain. French open Champion Arantha Sanchez Vicario no. 2wimbledon Champ Conchita Martinez no. 3 and Mary Pierce no. 4 Are the strongest challengers. No. 6 Lindsay Davenport fresh out of High school has a shot at her first major title if she s not slowed by the leg injuries that have bothered her recently. The stars and stripes ports sunday update Nebraska 31, West a. 0 East Rutherford . A Tommie Frazier ran for three touchdowns and passed for an other As fourth ranked Nebraska routed no. 24 West Virginia. Schumacher disqualified spa Franco champs Bel Gium a Michael Schumacher the apparent runaway Winner of the belgian grand prix was disqualified when race stewards ruled a device on his car illegal. See earlier Story on Page 30 Venezuela rules Little league by Kelly p. Kissel Williamsport Paap Venezuela ended the United states two year run As Little league Cham pions beating the California team whose City was rav aged by an earthquake seven months ago. Venezuela came Back after a three hour rain delay an became the first latin american team to win the title since 1958, defeating Northridge calif., 4-3 saturday. It s been a great ride. A dream Northridge coach Larry Baca said. Really a dream when you think where we  r the families of three Northridge players Matthew Cissel Matthew Cunningham and Greg Wallis have yet to move Back into their Homes. Many others Are still dealing with the aftermath of the Strong Jan. 17 quake. The game was scoreless in the third inning when rain Hail and lightning stopped play. The storm produced 18-Inch puddles in the Outfield and when the game resumed three hours five minutes later it was 7 20 . Edt and Abc had Cut away from its telecast except on the West coast Northridge Pitcher Justin Gentile whose Palm bal was working so Well before the break and Venezuela Pitcher Cesar Hidalgo each were in control when the severe weather hit. But after the game restarted Gen tile threw five wild pitches and gave up seven hits. He had real Good control of it but after we Westback out his other pitches were up a Little bit and he seemed not As Sharp Baca said. Gentile had a 3-2 count on Effenson Mora with two out in the top of the third when the storm came. After the delay Mora doubled to right Field wherefore than a foot of water had stood two hours earlier. Mora took third when the next pitch sailed Over Catcher Cunningham s head and scored on Esteban Avila s single. Hidalgo remained Strong pitching a three hitter an striking out 10, walking two and allowing one earned run. Winning Pitcher Cesar Hildago Rolls Over backwards following Venezuela s Little league world series title Gaine win. Drummond puts the brakes on Rieti Italy a John Drummondo the United states ran a meet record 9.99 seconds in the 100-meter dash Sun Day to upset olympic and world Champi on Linford Christie of Britain in Rieti invitational track and Field meet. Drummond s time matches his person Al Best and easily outpaced Christie who finished in 10.06. It also puts an end to Christie s string of dominance at International meets. The briton turned in the year s second fastest time of 9.91 at the Commonwealth games thursday and prior to that had beaten the world s Best sprinters at grand prix meets at Zurich Switzerland and Brussels Belgium. But sunday s result did t startle Drummond. I m never surprised when i win he said after the race. I m in the Best for that i could be  in other events 19-year-old Benso Koech ran the year s fastest 800 meters leading a kenyan sweep of the top four places in that race. He turned in a time of 1 43.17, More than one second ahead of countryman William Tanui the cold medallist at the 1992 olympics. World record Holder Colin Jackson of Britain pulled away with two barriers left to win the 110-meter hurdles in 13.07 seconds the second fastest time of the year. Americans Alan Johnson and Anthony Dees finished second and third respectively. Irina Privalova of Russia repeated the double she accomplished at this month s european championships cruising victories in the 100 and 200 meters. To 0"24685q"0005q4"