Posted on: September 07th, 2002
Revival has Sampras one step from fifth U.S. Open title
- petepageSource: Joe Joe Carnicelli SportsTicker
It was at Wimbledon, and Pete Sampras sat with his head in his hands in near disbelief. He had just been beaten by journeyman George Bastl in the second round of a Grand Slam event he had won a record seven times.
Many in the tennis world felt Sampras was through as a force in the game and should seriously consider retirement. The sentiment grew during the remainder of the summer as Sampras' futility streak stretched to 33 consecutive tournaments, dating to his record-setting Wimbledon 2000 title.
"That was the emptiest I've felt in years," Sampras said, recalling the stunning Wimbledon loss. "It was just the accumulation of a bad year and just such a nightmare playing out there on Court Two."
But over the last two weeks, Sampras has staged his career revival. Now he is poised to play long-time rival Andre Agassi on Sunday for a record fifth U.S. Open title after beating Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands in straight sets in Saturday's semifinal.
If Sampras can pull off what he failed to do in the past two finals against Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt, he would equal the record of five Open titles held by fellow American Jimmy Connors and stretch his own Grand Slam mark to 14.
The secret to his revival? Sampras turned to those closest to him for support and says he never lost confidence in his ability.
"You need a lot of support. The family, my wife, Paul (coach Paul Annacone). Those are the times you need that stability," Sampras said. "I was at a low point, but you have to get out of it. You can't sulk about it too much. It took a while just to remember I still love to play, I love to compete. And I still want to continue. It's nice to have that stability behind me. It feels good."
Even when struggling against mediocre players, Sampras said he did not lose faith in his ability.
"I never questioned my ability. Even though it's been a struggle through the year at certain times, I never questioned that I could be back here," he said. "As long as I believe in myself, and I do, I believe I can still do it. I got Agassi's four-set semifinal victory over Hewitt lasted three hours and did not end until 5 p.m. EDT, giving Sampras a slight edge in recuperation time.
"I'm just going to do whatever I can to shut it down tonight," said Sampras. "The last couple of years, I went home and just kind of stressed out about eating, sleeping. I never really emotionally shut it down.
"I'm going to do whatever I can tonight to just kind of relax a little bit and go out and play well tomorrow. Having a day off is nice to shut it down but I don't have a ton of time. I'm going to mentally just kind of relax and just have a beer tonight and just kind of chill out a little bit."
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