Posted on: March 07th, 2003
Sampras withdraws ... again and again [Mar 7, 2003]
- petepageFROM THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN IN INDIAN WELLS, CALIF. – What to make of Pete Sampras' nonstop withdrawals from tournament after tournament, including his pull out today from next week's Pacific Life Open and the Nasdaq-100 Open in a week and a half?
That his fans must be pulling their collective hair out their heads trying to figure out whether he will retire next week, next month, just before Roland Garros or Wimbledon, or after the All-England Club shuts its doors in July. While it is completely within the best player of all time's right to take his time making a decision, he did tournament directors and fans in San Jose, Scottsdale, Indian Wells and Miami a major disservice by waiting so long to pull out.
His brother Gus, the tournament director in Scottsdale, said that Pete still hasn't made a decision on whether to retire yet and may just come back for the majors, but who knows?
"He's reflecting on everything and wants to see how he feels when he gets closer to the time," Gus said. "He taking it one week at a time. He doesn't want to pull a la Michael Jordan – retire and then come back again."
Gus added that if Pete does decide to retire, he won't have a farewell tour a la Michael Chang."That's not him or his style. If he going to play, he's going to play ... he's going to play seriously."NASDAQ tournament owner Butch Buchholtz also spoke to Pete and said that Sampras told him that the December birth of he and his wife Bridgette's first child, Christian, has nothing to do with his decision to stay at home.
"He feels he's not at a top level yet and he doesn't want to go through another drought," Buchholtz said.
Sampras is next scheduled to play the Houston on clay at the end of April. When asked whether Pete would play Houston and then hop over to Europe for the clay court season, Gus joked, " Oh, yeah, he's getting primed for a run at Roland Garros."
Funny, yes, but the waiting for King Pete's decree on his career is getting tiresome and pretty soon, people will begin to lose interest.
by Matthew Cronin
Source: Tennisreporters.net
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