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Sampras curious, but won’t play WimbledonMcEnroe: 'Roger would say he’d want to play him, but he’d be concerned'
McEnroe looked okay, too, in dispatching Mayotte 6-1, 7-5. Mayotte has been contending with back problems and is carrying too many extra pounds, but he was in good cheer and tried as hard as he could to stay with McEnroe, but couldn’t keep up from the back court. Mayotte was so excited to be performing for the first time since 1998 that just as the match was starting he asked an on-site staffer to call his sister and tell her he couldn’t make it to dinner, but to hustle down instead to see the match. The Massachusetts native is teaching tennis in Manhattan. He and Mac contested the '82 Wimbledon semis, which Johnny Mac won in the bat of an eye. When asked to assess up and comer Novak Djokovic, Mac called him, “The Man” and said the Serb has more potential than Andy Murray. Mac added that Djokovic’s agent has called him and asked him to coach the teenager, but Mac can’t find time in his schedule yet. Mac added that Carlos Costa called him last year and asked him to consider playing doubles with Nadal at the US Open. … Sampras says he might do a charity event in LA sometime in the near future. … Mac says if he ever starts a US academy, it will have to contain clay courts. … Bud Collins, the dean of Boston and US tennis, is coming off hip surgery and is feeling great. He’s barely walking with limp and will be headed to his beloved Italy for the Italian Open on Monday. You can’t keep a good tennis journalist down. … Senior tennis is gaining in popularity in the media. In town at various times during the event have been Peter Bodo, Andre Christopher, Bruce Schoenfeld, Dan Weil and Todd Skovron. Our buddy Leif Shiras is doing color commentary for NESN. CLIJSTERS' CAREER SEEMINGLY OVER The last time I had an in depth conversation with Kim Clijsters was the day before she pulled off a three-set win over Martina Hingis in the Aussie Open quarters. Then she blew a huge chance against Maria Sharapova in the semis, ending her last realistic chance to win her second Slam. Now it looks like her career is all but history. She went home, seemed to regroup a bit mentally and roared into Antwerp, where she played reasonably well before tearfully waving goodbye to her Belgian fans after falling in the final to Amelie Mauresmo. Then Kimmy pretty much checked out, skipping Indian Wells, losing early in Miami and then on Thursday in Warsaw, where she was the defending champ, going down 7-6, 6-3 to Ukrainian qualifier Julia Vakulenko. That's it for Clijsters until Eastbourne, where she'll undoubtedly show up in mediocre shape and without match preparation as she has vowed to spend time preparing for her wedding. She won't do much there or at Wimbledon, unless she suddenly wakes up one night and realizes that her career really isn't over yet and she gives it her all during her last few times out. But her mind is already on the next stage in her life and if her head isn’t on court, she won’t be able to fake her way through tough matches. Some folks might think she’s pulling the wool over their eyes and should just plain quit right now, but I really don’t think that at the start of the year, that she knew where her emotions would take her. Don’t forget that she won Sydney and did push Sharapova a little. I simply don’t think that she realized that the closer that her wedding got, that she would lose interest in her career. It happens to a lot of folks and probably happens a lot faster if you know you are going to retire in a few months time. I certainly would have liked to see her give it one more heroics go at the US Open, but that’s not going to happen. Now her last few tournaments will all about the memories. That’s a little sad, but at least she’ll be smiling when she talks about what was and what will be. It could be worse. She could just disappear, like Monica Seles. … Also in Warsaw, Justine Henin moved on, as did Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams, who as expected, kept the rust on Elena Dementieva. … My, are the two Italian veteran women slumping. In Estoril, Victoria Azarenka surprised Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-2 and Gisela Dulko beat Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Tommy Robredo, Richard Gasquet and Djokovic look good on the men's side. … Tomas Berdych is now favored in Munich. © TennisReporters.net 2007
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