Will 2001 be the year that the L.A. resident is put in a wheelchair by the tennis' menacing legions of youthful powerballers? Not so fast, the prideful seven-time Wimbledon titlist. "I'm not scared of anyone," Sampras said. "It's a question of how much I want to compete. I'm not going to play 20 to 25 events like I used to. I need to play enough to stay sharp, but with my ability, I think I can still play with anyone. There's a lot of good young players but no one who really scares me. Andre is the one guy who can beat when I'm playing well, but with Safin and Kuerten, even though they've beaten me, I feel like the match is on my racket. It's about match-ups. The majority of guys now are baseliners. It's not like I'm a huge guy with just a huge serve and nothing else. Week in and week out it does get tougher, but when I'm on, it's tough for guys to beat me. I just need to stay inspired and motivated. That's my challenge. I still have the tools."

Sampras coach, Paul Annacone, said that when his pupil is on, he still has no peers. "When Pete plays his best, he's unequivocally the best player out there. Will he produce that tennis 12 months out of the year? That's up to Pete. But I was happy with Pete's year overall last year. He still has room for small improvements and I think he's motivated to make them."

So how to explain the straight-set shellacking by Safin or the four-set TKO by Martin? "Safin was in the zone," Sampras said. "He played as well as anybody has ever played against me in a big match. I felt a little flat in the legs. If I had a day off in between the match would have been a different story. I didn't think he could play at the level."

Being zoned on by a youthful run and gunner is one thing, losing four-setter to the 30-year-old Martin when top rival Agassi awaited in the next round is another. "It was the best Todd ever played against me and he closed me out, all credit to him," Sampras said. " I obviously wasn't at my best, but that's no excuse. It one of those matches where I needed to find a way to get through and I couldn't do it. But that doesn't mean I won't do it in the future."

HOW MAN SOURED HIM ON THE DAVIS CUP
Sampras is not a terribly complicated person – at least on first glance. He's a ferocious competitor, a smart player who (off clay) emphasizes his strengths rather than constantly trying to cover up his weaknesses; a man with tremendous inner strength who admires quietly forceful people rather than overly-opinionated extroverts.

Sampras is a Republican but is not a died-in-the-wool God-and-country-come-first-at-all-costs flag waver ("A lot of our fans don't understand Davis Cup whether I play or not.") He was bred to be self-sufficient player and man, who does not suffer fools easily ("John apologized to me but he tends to shoot from the hip and I need people to be straight with me first before they talk to the press.") He is loyal to his friends, but not to a fault ("I had the same problems with Tom Gullikson, a very good friend, as I am having with Patrick, another good friend, I'm not going to forget all my personal goals to play just because they are my friends.")

So when it comes to understanding Sampras' problematic attitude toward Davis Cup, it is critical to take into account the fact that his opinions have changed over the years depending on not only who was captaining the team (Tom Gorman, Tom Gullikson, John and Patrick McEnroe), but what kind of reception he received while playing and exactly how much fire was in his belly when he played Davis Cup

As it stands today, Sampras will very likely never play Davis Cup again. Pat Mac is the new captain ("the guy went to my wedding, I really like Pat") and Sampras realizes the team has almost no chance at winning the cup without him, but he really has no desire to play. Why? Blame it on Johnny Mac. Blame it on the additional four weeks of play that Davis Cup can demand if a team in successful. Blame on fans for not really getting behind the team. Blame it on Pete himself. "Look, I know in '99 that I said that I was done chasing No. 1 and that the Slams and Davis Cup would be what I would play for," Sampras said. "But when it came right down to it last year, it just didn't sit well with me. Getting on another plane to play after a long Grand Slam wasn't something I really wanted to do. My body needs time to recover, especially if I'm injured. It just didn't feel right."

Since '95, when Sampras almost single-handily led the U.S. to its last Cup title over Russia, Pete hasn't shown a terrific amount of enthusiasm for the competition. He essentially had sworn off Davis Cup until April '99, when Annacone called him into a room and sat him down to watch Jim Courier pull off a miracle five-set victory to give the U.S. the win over England. "Pete almost never watches tennis on TV but I knew that Jim's play would get his attention," Annacone said. "I said, 'Pete, this is why you play, its these kind of events that transcend tennis, that are bigger than tournaments themselves.'"

Sampras then volunteered for doubles duty only in the U.S. loss against Australia in Boston, a disastrous tie in which Courier and Martin went down in flames. Rather than demanding that Sampras play singles and doubles, Gullikson listened to Courier and stuck with his two old warriors. Sampras told Gully that he didn't want to jump on the bandwagon and play singles, but Gullikson likely could have convinced Sampras to play if he could have gotten the other players to go along. Gully couldn't pull it off, the U.S. was embarrassed, Gullikson lost his job and Mac was named captain. "That tie did not go well," Sampras said. "A lot of things went wrong there."

When John McEnroe was named captain, Sampras was initially excited. He respects Mac as player and loved the enthusiasm he showed and the attention he brought the U.S. team. But before the first ball was struck, their relationship went south.

After Sampras pulled out of the U.S.'s tie against Zimbabwe with a injury he sustained playing Agassi in the Australian Open semis, McEnroe publicly questioned his commitment to the team. The normally cool-headed Sampras was so ticked off that he called LA Times Sports Editor Bill Dwyre to vent about the legitimacy of his injury. "All the hype that he caused about me not playing, that was tough to get over," Sampras said. "I needed to speak my mind. He was calling my character into question. I'm a stand-up guy who likes stand-up people. If you have a problem with me, call me. I'll talk to you. But call me. Don't assume that I'm saying one thing and am doing another. John did call me and apologize but we had a lot of miscommunication. We never communicated that well. After Zimbabwe, we couldn't seem to get it together again. The whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth. I couldn't forget it."

Although Sampras played he next round against the Czech Republic in L.A. and won the clinching match, it was obvious that he and Mac weren't comfortable with each other. After Sampras registered his greatest title run to date by winning Wimbledon, Sampras spent two days on his back. He pulled out of the US tie against Spain (as did Agassi) and the U.S. was shut out. Mac questioned why he couldn't get his stars to play. "I have never seen a player go through what Pete did at Wimbledon," Annacone said. "He couldn't hit a ball for 12 days. The mental duress he underwent was incredible. I think he felt slighted when McEnroe was questioning whether he was hurt enough to play. I guess John felt like if Pete was well enough to win Wimbledon, he was well enough to play against Spain. But that's John, he doesn't always take into account what really happening with other people. It's the world is always-lined-up-against-me mentality. John doesn't always realize when he's slighting people. His comments really took the wind of Pete's sails."

Johnny Mac never spoke to Sampras about Davis Cup again. He resigned his captaincy without so much as of a courtesy call to the man that many people call the greatest player of all time. "I saw John at the U.S. Open but he never mentioned Davis Cup," Sampras said. "I'm not that surprised he didn't call me. He made up his own mind. It was his decision."

Davis Cup isn't 100 percent out of the question for Sampras. He doesn't feel comfortable cherry-picking which ties he will play, say the semis and final ("The guys who play all year should play"), but if the ITF changes the format, count him in. "I'd pay the USTA and the ITF to change the format," he said. "I wouldn't take any money at all. Let's just have it once a year over a two-week period in one place with all the countries playing and I'd be the first one there. It shouldn't be that hard."

The Scourge of Roland Garros

After winning a record 13th Grand Slam last summer in a dramatic five-set victory over Patrick Rafter at Wimbledon, the multi-millionaire Sampras could have retired and still be called by many observes the best ever. When Sampras harkens back to his Wimbledon victory, he gets a little choked up.

"It was a storybook ending -- my parents were there, how well I played, the sun going down just as I won. It was the perfect way to break the record, a perfect match," said Sampras, who won despite the fact that his shin was shattered and he only practiced once during the fortnight. "It's as good as it ever got and maybe as good as it will ever be. Even if I win it again, it will probably never approach that. But I want to have that special feeling again and will keep trying to see if I can get it again."

Annacone calls Sampras' title his "best accomplishment as a pro." But both men know that there is one task left that will truly put the icing on his career -- that of winning the French Open at last. A mediocre clay court player at best, Sampras nealry killed himself reaching the French semis in '96, only to be flattended by Yevgeny Kafelnikov. In the last four years, he has all but embarrassed himself losing to Mark Philippoussis in a tight yet winnable match in 2000 where he failed to produce one backhand winner from the baseline, a chilling statistic for an aspiring Roland Garros champion.

"Winning the French would be a perfect career ender," Sampras said. "It's the one place I'm not supposed to win. Of course I'd like to win more Wimbledons because that's always been my place. And I haven't won a U.S. Open in a while ['96 was his last title]. But the French is my biggest challenge. I've won everything I wanted to win and then some. I'm still trying to figure the French out."

Annacone believes that once Sampras gets on court in Paris, his confidence sinks in the soft orange clay. "Pete has a little mental block," Annacone said. "He's a great athlete who can make the surface work for him and he has the heart to last, but he needs to reassure himself that he can win there and the only way that's going to happen is by winning a few matches. His stubbornness can sometimes prevent him from making the necessary changes."

The top clay courters have studied well the book on how to crush Sampras on clay: pound his backhand mercilessly, wait for a weak response and then lace a winner. On hard courts, Sampras protects his backhand by playing taking the ball early and either blocking flat shots back or chipping crosscourt, daring his opponents to go down the line where he then sprints at full speed and then takes a crack at his sidewinder forehand, which most if the time, he will paste crosscourt for a winner.

On clay, three tendencies play against Sampras: it is much more difficult to effectively block a shot back because the ball doesn't travel as fast and he needs to generate more of his own pace, a nearly impossible task when he is constantly brushing over the top of the ball without much authority; and because the surface is slower, opponents are more apt to run his forehands down and go back down the line, where Sampras is forced to try to hit a winner from his shaky backhand side. Plus, his slice backhand doesn't bite or stay low enough to be considered a weapon.

Sampras isn't' quite sure what the proper recipe for success is.

"Maybe it's not mental," he said. "I lost a tough match to Philippoussis last year. I didn't get that great of draw but I have to make my draw work for me, too. Paul and I need to figure out a strategy this year. I can still come in on clay but the hardest thing about the French is that there are 20 guys who can win it. Except for maybe three guys in the top 20 today, clay is their best surface. There's no easy matches. But I know all this coming in. I need to let it go, let it happen for me.

"I'm at fault for putting too my pressure on myself because I haven't won and I want to win. I'm forcing it, I feel conflicted, I can't find a balance. I need to just enjoy it and let my game come out."

Sampras understands that his backhand was not built for clay and that he needs to be more forceful. If you think about the past five Roland Garros champions (Muster, Kafelnikov, Kuerten, Moya and Agassi), all of them can crush a backhand down the line winner, which is mandatory to negate the biggest weapon in dirtball tennis, the inside-out forehand. "The one-handed backhand is difficult to control," Sampras said. "But Kuerten and Corretja make theirs work because they get more heavy topspin on the ball and really hit it. I need to do something to open the court up. It's been a struggle."

Annacone has a few different ideas. He knows that Sampras must get into remarkable shape to survive up to 20 hours on court and become a much more aggressive player. "Pete needs o realize that his best is still good enough here if he make some minor adjustments. His Grand Slam preparation plans have never been etched in stone. When he did his best here, in '96, he played almost no clay court tennis coming in. He needs to get more creative, much more offensive on the return of serve and not be afraid to come in a lot and get passed. He needs to maximize his strengths and keep his opponents under constant pressure."

Even if Sampras transforms into a rabid dog in Paris, what are his realistic chances of winning the tournament? Probably about as good as Kuerten's are of winning Wimbledon. "It's really in the hands of God, if he decides to give Pete great dry weather and a good draw where he can play himself into the event," Annacone said of Sampras, who flunked his pre Roland Garros tests In Rome and Hamburg.

Over the next few years, what will be especially weighty on The Sweet One is reproducing the ethereal tennis he produced in his mid-20s. But the ultra-confident serving artist isn't ready to bow to anyone just yet. "It's the competitor in me," he said. "I still really enjoy playing. I love the game. I'm still pretty young in my eyes. I feed off the competition. When feel like I'm just going through the motions, then I'll hang it up. But right now, I still enjoy the battle."

Orginally printed in Inside Tennis magazine. Call 510-530-2200 for subscription information.