THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, NO. 27

Annacone won't rule out post-Wimbledon comeback for Sampras

By Matthew Cronin and Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net

While a post-Wimbledon comeback for Pete Sampras is not something you should bet the house on, it's not entirely out of the realm of possibility according to Paul Annacone, Sampras' longtime coach.

Although Sampras has now officially pulled out of the upcoming Roland Garros and Wimbledon tournaments, the 14-time Grand Slam champion could become itchy to get back on the court after watching his peers go at it at the All-England Club. Annacone told tennisreporters.net that while it's probable that Sampras will sit out the rest of the year, he wouldn't be stunned to see his pupil back on court to defend his US Open crown.

"It's a long shot but never say never," Annacone said. "I don't know how not being at Wimbledon will affect him and I also know that everyone in life needs challenges to motivate them -- superstar athletes need it even more. His mindset right now is, 'I'm not ready to commit,' but he's also not ready to retire. Once he goes through watching Wimbledon on TV and see how it feels not to be there, it will be a pretty good indication of whether he's rejuvenated to go for the US Open or just call it a day."

Of course, Annacone's theory goes on the assumption that Sampras will spend time tuning into Wimbledon from his home. In actuality, that could be a big assumption. If Sampras is the ultimate couch potato, he's probably well familiar with the art of channel surfing and could just click off of ESPN or NBC when the tennis is airing. Also, with new infant son, Christian, and wife, Bridgette, at his side, watching TV might not be a frequent pastime for Sampras when he has more intriguing options to fill his time.

Nevertheless, Annacone knows his friend well and it could be that Sampras will be drawn to Wimbledon coverage. Even if he'd prefer not to pay attention to the goings on, he might not be able to help himself from watching and wondering how he might have fared if he took to his beloved grass court one more time. Without a doubt, his reaction to being on the wrong side of the pond during Wimbledon could very well be the decisive moment for the defending US Open champion.|

Comebacks not worth the trouble
Other Wimbledon champions such as Bjorn Borg and Boris Becker attempted late career comebacks, which went nowhere. Former Wimbledon champion John McEnroe took and extended period of time off in 1986 and never won another Grand Slam title after that.

Susan Mullane/ Camerawork USA, Inc.

"No one else has been able to take this amount of time off and then play at a great level again so maybe combining that with missing Wimbledon might trigger something internally where Pete says 'OK, let's see if I can do this now,' " Annacone said.

Last week, Sampras pulled out of both the French Open, where he failed to lay claim to a title, and Wimbledon, where he's won a record seven championships for men's singles. The 31-year-old hasn't played a tournament since winning his fifth US Open last September. This year, he's entered eight tournaments and pulled out of all of them.

Annacone said that Wimbledon has been a marker tournament for Sampras all year long and now that he's made the decision to stay away, only Sampras can decide the ramifications of that choice.

"He's been going back and forth and trying to sort out where he is with career and what wants to do," Annacone said. "Wimbledon was a good barometer to see if he was ready to go because he had so many fond memories there. Clearly, if that doesn't lure him to play, it was time for him to reevaluate where he is."

Annacone reports that in terms of tournament preparedness, Sampras was in condition to rejoin the tour by the San Jose tournament in early February, but mentally, he just wasn't craving the competition. He subsequently pulled out of tournaments in Scottsdale, Indian Wells and Miami.

"He became ambivalent," Annacone said. "With all due respect to those tournaments, he wasn't motivated enough to play them. From March to now, he's been a little sporadic about his tennis but he has still been training. We knew in April that he needed to kick it into gear again at the beginning of May to be able to play Wimbledon. When we started preparing to get ready for Wimbledon, it sounded great romantically, but realistically he didn't feel he could do what it takes every day in practice and didn't' want to go in ill prepared."

Say goodbye just once
Annacone, who's working with Sampras on developing the Pete Sampras Tennis Academy at the Home Depot Training Center in Carson, Calif., indicated that Sampras' indecisiveness over the past nine months is due to the fact that when he really decides to retire, he wants to say goodbye for good.

"He wants to be finite about it," Annacone said. "He doesn't want to retire, miss Wimbledon and then say 'Sorry guys, I need to go play again, I was just kidding, I'll be at the US Open.' He doesn't want to be like the retired boxers who come back 17 times."

Sampras, himself, said last week that he hasn't ruled out a return in 2004 and the Greek-American has said in the past that he would love to compete in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.

"In some ways the best way to find out where you are to complete the cycle of missing all the Grand Slams in a year and then you can really see where you are emotionally," Annacone said. "Then once you weigh that against practicing and preparing again, you can really see what you want to do."

The danger for Sampras lies in the fact that even though Annacone reveals from a physical standpoint Sampras was ready to go earlier in the season, and even if his desire to compete returns at a heightened level, being close to 32-years-old and away from the game for almost a year now, will not make for a smooth easing back on to the tour. Many rightly view Sampras as a miracle man -- certainly his ability to ride roughshod over the US Open after a more than two-year slump without a title was visible proof of his genius.

But it must be remembered that at the point he rebounded in the biggest of ways by winning the Open last September, he had been continuously playing regardless of bad results. If he decides to pick himself up, dust himself off and show up to defend his US Open title, or pick up where he left off by returning to the game in January 2004, it is anyone's guess as to how he will fare. As any player will tell you, however, using the practice court, where things can be going exceedingly well, as a reliable yardstick as to how you will fare in actual matches is a bit risky. And it's probably far riskier if you haven't played an actual match in a year.