`Pistol` fires first shot in 2002
January 12, 2002
Pete Sampras has described his Commonwealth Bank International final victory
against Andre Agassi in Melbourne as the perfect preparation for the Australian
Open.
In a typically gritty clash between the two, Sampras prevailed 7-6 6-7
6-3 in windy conditions at Kooyong.
Agassi was the defending champion after winning in 2000 and 2001. The two
are seeded to meet in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
'That was the perfect preparation. Two hours out there against a great
player,' Sampras said. 'We both struggled with the windy conditions but
I felt I served pretty well out there. I feel like I am hitting the ball
well, got through some pretty tough matches and am feeling great. The body
is in pretty good shape playing a match like that against Andre. It is always
nice to have a win against Andre, no matter where it is, and the Rebound
Ace is a surface he loves." he said.
"It's a pretty good test to see where I'm at and to get through a
pretty tough match and actually feel like I hit the ball pretty well in
tough conditions, I'm very pleased about that."
Sampras admits his fearsome reputation is a handy aid to help him through
the early rounds and hopes that will continue in Melbourne.
"I've done pretty well over the years and, having a few credentials,
it helps," Sampras said.
"I won't say intimidates but it might help on a few points here and
there. On the other hand, guys are coming out really swinging away with
nothing to lose and you have got to deal with that aspect of it.
"But it's my game against his game and who has got more tools, who
is playing better. I feel like it's kind of up to me on how the match is
going to go."
Agassi had a perfect start breaking Sampras in the opening game of the
match, but was himself broken when serving for the set at 5-4. Sampras stepped
up a gear and beat Agassi in the opening tie-break 8-6 with some incisive
volleying and accurate serving.
Agassi, who trails Sampras 18-14 in head-to-head matches, played himself
back into the match winning a second set tie-break by the same score.
But a single break in the second game of the deciding set was all Sampras
needed as the winner of a record 13 grand slam titles served out for the
trophy 6-3 after 105 minutes.
"This week has been a very productive week -- it has been very windy
and I had to get used to some tough matches (preliminary series wins against
Alex Corretja and Scott Draper) and to then play Andre, that is
the toughest test you can have in the game," he said.
"My preparation is as good as it is going to get; I feel like I'm
pretty confident."
Agassi may have lost to Pete Sampras, but he revealed to a packed Kooyong
Stadium crowd he had gained a victory of sorts.
"At the end of the day, my wife could beat his wife," Agassi
said, confident that Steffi Graf, winner of 22 Grand Slam events, would
have a tennis edge against Hollywood actor Bridgette Wilson.
When it was Sampras's turn to speak, after his 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 win in the
Commonwealth Bank International, he jokingly retorted: "He's giving
me a hard time about my wife, but I've got marginally more hair than Andre!"
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Thirty love can be a winning score
January 12, 2002
That hunger which left Pete Sampras has returned . . . and Andre Agassi's
insatiable appetite for major titles burns as strongly as ever.
Both are back, admittedly on the wrong side of 30, but still spoiling for
a fight against the ever-increasing pack of younger combatants. History
beckons both Americans and the fact each has stood midcourt,
holding aloft the Australian men's singles champion's trophy on that last
Sunday in January, only serves to drive them to experience the unique sense
of achievement again.
Whether these former world No. 1 kings and past Australian Open titleholders
can keep the younger upstarts at bay will be compulsory viewing at Melbourne
Park for the next fortnight.
Agassi is striving to three-peat, a feat achieved only by Roy Emerson in
the 1960s and Jack Crawford in the 1930s.
It would be a brave bookie to wager that he can't complete the hat-trick
as, like last time, he doesn't burden himself with unreal expectations to
do it all again.
"Being the defending champion (last January) wasn't pressure, it was
actually confidence-building because I have done well (at the Australian
Open), done well on the court and in the conditions," Agassi said.
"It just added a certain confidence to me that might have taken me
longer to get if I had been playing at a different (grand) slam.
"When you win the first one of each slam (title), it's the greatest
feeling in the world. While the feeling gets different, I don't think it
ever dissipates. It's a different cost that goes into winning it.
"Experiences, how your matches develop, how far down you have to dig
to win and at the end of every slam has its own story and you never forget
those."
Agassi emphasised the uncertainty of himself and Sampras as they enter
the final phases of grand careers.
"You are never sure when you are going to have your last victory and
you are never sure when you are going to get another one," he said.
Agassi won four events last year: one major (Australian), two Masters Series
events (Indian Wells and Miami) plus an ATP event in Los Angeles.
He also had a few significant distractions: marriage to Steffi Graf in
August and the birth of son, Jaden Gil, on October 26.
Sampras, who married Bridgette Wilson in 2000, failed to win an event.
Even more significant was the fact that he lost all four finals that he
made: Indian Wells, Los Angeles, Long Island and then his straight-sets
loss to Hewitt in the US Open.
But Sampras dismissed any talk of retirement although he's more prudent
with tournament selection since getting married.
"I'm at a different stage in my life and a different stage of my tennis.
I'm still very focused and still do all the things I've always done, but
I'm not quite as consumed with it off the court," he said. "When
I was 20, 22, 25 you kind of eat, breathe, live tennis and that was a big
reason why I was able to stay No. 1 for all those years. I still want to
win as much as I have ever had, but it's just different. I'm not 20 any
more."
But no one could doubt that he means business this trip in the pursuit
to extend his record grand slam singles tally to 14.
Barely had Christmas dinner settled than he was on a trans-Pacific flight
to take advantage of a wildcard for match toughening, court familiarisation
and climate adjustment in the Australian men's hardcourt championships in
Adelaide. He worked diligently on physical conditioning with former AFL
player Brett Stephens in the US at the end of the year and new coach Tom
Gullikson has taken over the whip as part of his three-man team in Australia.
"What happened at the (US) Open last year when I beat some great players
and went to the final, I told myself I was still there and very close to
winning majors," Sampras said.
"When you see someone like Andre at 31 doing really well, it gives
you motivation that you can still be at the top of your game at that age."
The realisation time is no longer an ally is a similar motivating force
for 1999 Open champ Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
"I'm getting older and I know that perhaps my time will be coming
soon when I have to quit," the Russian said. "So every match to
me right now I'm approaching like it could be the last match of my career.
So, I'm
playing with more desire and with more determination than four, five years
ago."
Kafelnikov has followed the tried-and-true formula of setting up at Kooyong
where his vastly fluctuating performances are never a good guide to his
Australian Open prospects.
"I have a lot of memory about this wonderful country which has brought
me a lot of success, winning the 1999 Australian Open and winning an Olympic
gold in 2000. I'm just going to cross my finger," he said.
Kafelnikov continued to be the iron horse of the sport, playing an incredible
93 singles matches to qualify for the Masters Cup in Sydney in November.
And expect the main threats to Sampras, Agassi and Kafelnikov, to emerge
from the younger pack in that elite field in the Olympic city.
Masters winner Lleyton Hewitt, American Andy Roddick, Frenchman Sebastien
Grosjean and German Tommy Haas possess the power and patience on Rebound
Ace to break the four-year US-Russia hold.
Until one of these young guns cuts them down on Rod Laver Arena, the old
guard deserves respect.
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Pistol Pete believes he`s still the quickest to the draw
January 12, 2002
The field is catching up, some say it already has, with the great Pete
Sampras.
The all-time leader in Grand Slam titles is finding it tough and the perception
is that 30-year-old tennis icon has had his day.
Sampras enters next week's Australian Open chasing his first major triumph
in six attempts since the 2000 Wimbledon.
That's from a player who has set the benchmark in modern tennis winning
13 majors, 50 other tour titles and over 42 million US dollars.
His silky serve-volley game no longer holds the terrors it once did and
Pistol Pete sets out in the Australian Open seeded eighth behind Australian
young gun Lleyton Hewitt.
Sampras believes the art of serve and volley is on the path to extinction,
but he doesn't count himself as a tennis dinosaur just yet.
"That's a challenge for me to play against these young guys and try
to fend them off.... the players are getting better and stronger and they
are all good," he said this week.
"It's just an indication where you need to be in great shape, and
you need to be aggressive, and that's the challenge for me over the next
couple of years."
Sampras has a career path mapped out after tennis - having a family and
several business features in his native Los Angeles, but he adds quickly:
"That's way down the road."
Sampras has in recent years been reluctant to play too much, but that's
now changed. He's available to play Davis Cup again. He has taken on a new
coach, Tom Gullikson, the former US Davis Cup captain, and he has
had a change of heart about his playing schedule.
"There have been times throughout the last couple of years when in
certain times in my schedule I had a hard time getting going at certain
tournaments and that's where Davis Cup comes in," he said.
"At those times, it means something, you're playing for your country,
you're playing for your teammates, so you feel that added pressure which
I need to feel out there.
"I need to keep being inspired and that's why I've decided to play
Davis Cup in weeks that I would normally take off.
"That gives an indication that I want to play more and the days of
me taking four or five weeks off are probably over."
It's a different Pete Sampras in the twilight of his fantastic career.
"I'm at a different place in my life than when I was 20 and you're
trying to make your mark and kind of eat, live and breathe tennis,"
he said.
"I don't have quite that same feeling. As you get older things change.
I'm still very focused on tennis but I'm not as consumed as I once was -
I was a little bit too consumed at different levels."
Yet if the inclination is to wipe off his chances at this year's Australian
Open, then that might play in his hands.
The focus will be on other players, particularly tournament favourite Andre
Agassi, and expectations are not that high for Sampras, whose last win here
was in 1997 against Spaniard Carlos Moya.
"I've spent a lot of time in the last couple of months getting in
the best shape possible and I realise that I play better when I play more.
I've got a great serve and I can do what I want and it's just a matter of
being able to sustain that for a long time."
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