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Sampras not old for those who appreciate

March 20, 2002

Certain things in life you should take time out to appreciate: Any sunset, a child's crayon drawing, Pete Sampras' one-handed backhand.

Sampras has been coming to Crandon Park every spring for 14 years. All we can say is Father Time is one shifty opponent. It seems like only yesterday that Sampras bowed out to Christian Bergstrom in his debut here.

South Florida has a reason to take a proprietary interest in the Southern Californian; we've seen him grow from a gangly teen to the most majestic player to wield a racket. The love affair between Sampras and this tour event goes back longer than his romance with his wife, the former Bridgette Wilson.

We've seen him win in walkovers and lose in heartbreakers; we've watched him outlast rain delays and Gustavo Kuerten in a 3-hour, 18-minute marathon. We've seen him ascend to No. 1 in the world and drop to his current ranking of No. 13.

Since Sampras' first appearance here in 1989, Key Biscayne has grown to appreciate him and him, it. The tournament finally made the significant relationship official, welcoming Sampras into its Hall of Fame last year.

Sampras didn't make it to the ceremony in time. After being upset in the third round by teenager Andy Roddick, a discombobulated Sampras started to drive off into the sunset. He made a U-turn and returned to the grounds to keep his date with posterity.

One of these days he won't come back. You can consider yourselves warned.

Sampras is 30 now, going on geriatric. His balletic game -- an aesthetic mix of grace and power -- will be but a fond memory before too much longer, a collection of fleeting images tucked away in tennis' annals like photographs in a family scrapbook.

The running forehand, the leaping volley, the explosive second serve; like the Grand Canyon or the grandkids' growth spurts, these are things better off seen by the naked eye. Secondhand reports simply don't do them justice.

The world's fifth-largest tournament has been a stomping ground for the game's greatest player. Sampras has won three of his 63 titles here. His record on these hard courts is a nifty 41-9.

In 1993, he had to play five matches in as many days after rainstorms washed out the first week. Limping on a gimpy left ankle, Sampras saved eight break points and dispatched MaliVai Washington 6-3, 6-2 in the final. A month later, he ascended to No. 1 in the world where he would remain for a remarkable six years.

South Florida could see it coming. Anybody who watched the 1993 final here and saw the way Sampras played through shin splints that sent a stabbing pain up his leg every time he planted his left foot could have told you he was something special.

The following year Sampras ate some pasta before his final against Andre Agassi and the marinara sauce went to war with his stomach. Sampras was so sick he could barely walk.

Agassi didn't want to win in a walkover. "Give Pete at least a couple of hours to get better,'' he said. Sampras responded to his rival's gesture of sportsmanship by rebounding for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Sampras' swashbuckling serve and volley game hid a vanilla personality, that's what everybody used to say. Again, South Florida knew Sampras better. We laughed along with him in 1995 when somebody, alluding to his earlier stomach ailment, asked whether he planned to alter his diet.

"Bread and water the whole week,'' Sampras deadpanned.

Agassi's meat-and-potatoes game got the best of Sampras in the 1995 final that was decided in a third-set tiebreaker. To be sure, the resplendent rivalry that gave last year's U.S. Open its one shining memory has been a recurring theme here.

Marcelo Rios' defeat of Agassi in the 1998 final knocked Sampras off the No. 1 perch after 102 consecutive weeks. No matter. Two years later Sampras would show he still has amazing staying power in a 6-1, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (10-8) defeat of Kuerten in the final.

Sampras has since won only one title -- at Wimbledon in 2000. People say he's lost a step, that he's easy prey for the spry, hungry youngsters in his midst. That's the thing about people; they don't appreciate Sampras like South Florida does.

 

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