THE SCOOP, WIMBLEDON DAY 8

The uncertain future of Pete Sampras

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

The most storied career of any player in history at a major stalled on Monday, when the crafty Swiss Roger Federer outplayed the legendary Pete Sampras 7-6 (7), 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5.

King Pete is dead for at least a year. Long live Prince Roger (at least until
Wednesday).

Pete may never break old Willie Renshaw's record for the most titles with eight now, but given that Renshaw's run happened before the turn of the last century and before Swiss women birthed babes with soft grips and lightening fast hands, Mr. Sampras has little reason to burst into tears.

Teenager Roger Federer is no Ernest Renshaw, the name of Willie's brother who old Bill beat for his seventh title. Federer is a former junior champ here who has all the tools to triumph on grass: tremendous variety on his return of serve (chip/rolling/or flat backhand and a huge forehand that he can take crosscourt and down the line); respectable speed, spin and heady placement on his own serve; big groundies off both wings; and guess what, a more than competent volley. He's cool-headed and he's a very good athlete. In fact, it can be argued that on Monday, Rocking Roger had finer touch at the net than the man who came into the match with a 31-match Wimbledon winning streak.

Federer simply yanked the match out of Sampras' hands. Some may argue that
Sampras should have cashed in when he had two break points at 4-4 in the
fifth set, but on the first break point when he had a decent shot at a
backhand pass, Federer sensed he would try to go down the line and closed on
the net, picking off Pete's weak attempt with a forehand volley. The kid not only
fought like hell, but he showed tremendous instincts.

"It was his moment,'' Sampras said. "It's grass-court tennis. One minute you
feel like you have it, the next minute you're walking off the court."
Pete walked off without his head held very high but as he said, there's no
reason to panic. Yet. Losing 7-5 in the fifth set to a brilliant teen who has
a big future ahead of him isn't something to lose much sleep over. Federer is
the No. 15 seed here for Pete's sake and reached the quarters of Roland
Garros last month before falling to Alex Corretja . [I'd bet he'd like a
piece of Alex here, but the Spaniard wants no part of the grass].

Without question, any aura that Sampras had at the AELTC is now gone. He's
vulnerable. He lost at the only place where he has invincibility anymore and
now he must enter the hardcourt season with a tattered resume: no titles in
the last year, a second serve that is losing its effectiveness, a spotty
return of serve and as always, a very shaky backhand from the baseline.
Pete hasn't played much the past nine months and there's darn good reason for
it. He's 29, newlywed and last year, won his 13th Slam title here, breaking
the all-time record. As Agassi said, "You've got to give the guy a lot of
credit for what he's done. The man obviously deserved a break. But if he is
going to win a title this summer – any title – he needs to play as much as
possible even if he is going to risk injury. He should play at least four
tournaments prior to the U.S. Open and really attempt to add a little more
spice to his game. He needs to be hungry again.

Pete will fall out of the top 10 next week and guess what, if he doesn't
shape up in the next six weeks, he'll be kissing the toes of the ITF for
going to 32 seeds in the Slams because he might just fall out of top 16
before the U.S. Open rolls along. For those of us who do not believe in the
32 seeding format, that would mean he doesn't deserve to be seeded. Last
year, the thought of that would have been unimaginable. Right now, the
prospect of losing his status as an elite player is staring Sampras straight
in the face.