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Sampras Woes Continues

May 14, 2002

Pete Sampras' struggles on clay continued Monday.

You know things are not good for Pete Sampras when his media conference lasts all of three minutes.

Such is the expectations or lack of expectations for Sampras on clay these days that the former world number one attracted only a handful of journalists to his post match presser after crashing out of the Tennis Masters Hamburg, 6-3 6-4 to Belarussian Max Mirnyi.

Sampras was blunt in his assessment of his performances on the European clay, ahead of Roland Garros.

"I'm struggling with my game, and my confidence isn't that high," said Sampras, who was playing at the Rothenbaum for the fifth time and reached the semifinals in 1995. "I'm trying to find my game, and I
haven't found it. Right now I'm pretty frustrated. Credit to Max, though. He serves incredibly big."

"At this point I am just trying to find my game. If I can find my game next week in Dusseldorf then hopefully I can get it going at the French. But these are the matches I need to win. Last week was a match I needed to win but itis just not happening so I am pretty frustrated and pretty down about the way it is going."

Mirnyi, who reached the second round in his two previous Hamburg appearances in 2000 and 2001, couldn't pinpoint exactly what the key to his win was. "It's not Pete's favorite surface," he said. "But to my credit I converted two out of two breakpoints. I'm happy that I won, but it probably wasn't Pete's best performance."

 

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TMS - Hamburg (Round 1)
Post-Match Interview

Pete Sampras loses to Max Mirny
3-6, 4-6

May 14, 2002

Question (Q): Pete, what happend?

Sampras: I am struggling with the game right now and the confidence. Credit to Max, he served huge. The condition where a lot faster than I thought they were going to. And my serve I had a hard time getting it down. Tried to play a couple of good service games.

I was trying to break more. That was it. I wasn't putting any pressure on his service games. I wasn returning very well. He was serving very big. You know, you don't play a lot of matches. I've been trying to find my game and I am not.

Q: You toughed your back twice. Any problems?

Sampras: No, physically fine.

Q: Do you think you can turn it around in time for the French?

Sampras: I don't know, that is what I am hoping for. I pretty down on how I am playing right now. I am disappointed. I am trying to find my game in Dusseldorf. In the hopefully get going at the French. This is a match I needed to win and last week was a match I needed to win and it did not happening. That is why I am frustrated. I am pretty down on how it is going.

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