Samprasfanz

[May 19, 2003 Christopher Clarey] Pete Sampras’s decision last week to withdraw from the French Open and Wimbledon probably signals the end of the most remarkable tennis career in the past 30 years.

But that does not mean Sampras, the winner of a record 14 Grand Slam singles titles, has retired. He still wants to leave himself enough wiggle room for the second thoughts that might surface in the months ahead, particularly when he watches Wimbledon begin from afar for the first time since 1988.

“I am not ready to close the door quite yet on my career,” he said when interviewed by ABC television Thursday in Los Angeles during a National Basketball Association playoff game in which his beloved Lakers were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs.

Sampras, 31, has not played a competitive match since he won his 14th major title by defeating his longtime American rival, Andre Agassi, in the final of the U.S. Open last September.

If that remains his last match, it will rank as one of the most stirring farewells in history for a sports star.

“Sure we’ve talked about it,” his coach, Paul Annacone, said by telephone Friday. “He feels, like, O.K., Andre Agassi, finals of the U.S. Open, two-year drought, 26,000 screaming fans