Resolute Sampras puts no limit on twilight years
May 6, 2002
PETE SAMPRAS is nowhere near finished putting himself through the wringer. A mantlepiece dripping with trophies, a bottomless bank balance, a gorgeous wife and yet here he is on a blissful Roman afternoon preparing for many more years of self-sacrifice.
You would have thought that he had had enough of the torture, for Rome in the May sunshine is not all it is cracked up to be. If yesterday's weather persists through the week and Sampras stays a significant percentage of the Italian Open course, he will need all the renewed definition in his physique that is testament to the hours he has put in after the most stunning reverse in years.
Should he recapture the title he won in 1994, Sampras, at 30 years and eight months, would become the fourth-oldest champion behind Jaroslav Drobny, Rod Laver and Bill Tilden, who was 37 when he carried the American flag to its first victory on these courts 72 years ago. Surely success for Sampras here he meets Felix Mantilla in the first round tomorrow is inconceivable but suggest as much to the greatest grass-court player, who lost his last match on his surface from a two-set lead, and he casts you an enigmatic look.
Sampras was beaten by Alex Corretja in a Davis Cup singles match in Houston last month on a court designed with him specifically in mind and it was difficult to tell who was more shocked Corretja, the scourge of Wimbledon, having led a Spanish mini-boycott two years ago, or the man who walks past replicas of his seven triumphs there each morning he is at home in Los Angeles.
"I was dominant for the first two sets, I had a slew of break points in the third but Alex hung in there and in tie-breaks, you roll the dice, Sampras said. I kept letting my chances slip and it can happen to me, even on a surface I have done OK on over the years. Grass can be crazy, too, but it was definitely a shocker.?
Sampras knew he could not let the defeat fester, so he took off to the country with his new coach, Jose Higueras, the Spaniard who has got into the heads of Michael Chang and Jim Courier and persuaded them that they have the talent to win the French Open.
People have assumed that I went to Jose for the French (the only grand-slam event he has not won) but it was a general change I wanted, Sampras said. I know it's not a magic pill. Ultimately, it's still up to me to hit the shots, but if I play well on clay it will make me a better player on everything. We have spent a lot of time on the court, three or four hours in the morning, then sets in the afternoon.
I am getting the legs in shape and feel I can stay out there a long time. I'm more selective in the way I play but I know I have to be aggressive to do my best on clay. I feel I have more majors in me and that the day I quit the sport is still far away. I'm in the twilight of my career but that twilight might last five years.?
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