Sampras ready to get back to work
July 2, 2002
It took six days, a much shorter time than many thought it would, for Pete Sampras to pull out of his Wimbledon despondency and make a decision to get back to work.
"He's ready to go. Got an e-mail from him yesterday," Sampras' trainer, Brett Stephens, said Monday.
Stephens, a former Australian Rules Football player who is a major reason for Sampras' improved fitness level this year, said he is leaving Wednesday for Los Angeles and that Sampras wants to start training immediately for the U.S. hardcourt season that culminates with the U.S. Open in August.
Sampras' e-mail answers one of the questions he raised after losing Thursday to George Bastl of Switzerland in the second round. Although he gave no indication he would retire, there were pundits, including former Wimbledon star Boris Becker, who suggested it was time to think about it.
"It's hard to say what it's going to feel like over the next week or so," Sampras said in his postmatch news conference. "I'm sure I'll reflect on what's happened here and the first six months of the year. But right now I don't know. I'm going to be pretty down and disappointed. I was looking forward to getting it going and winning a major here."
Sampras is 17-14 for the season, but he's 10-5 on hardcourts and that's the surface he'll be on at Los Angeles (July 22), Toronto (July 29), Cincinnati (Aug. 5) and the U.S. Open (Aug. 26).
No doubt part of Sampras' decision to get back to work is his consecutive runner-up finishes at the Open in 2000 (lost to Marat Safin) and 2001 (Lleyton Hewitt).
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