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THE last great match of Pete Sampras’ career is being played out inside his head. Each northern summer, he watches Wimbledon, hears a voice and then goes in search of his racquet. The other 50 weeks of the year, he is merely another former champion, playing some golf, enjoying his weekly game of poker and taking his eldest son to lunch.
The problem is that the soothing voice, the voice that he wants to hear, the voice that says he could still play one last Wimbledon, is getting louder.
The bigger problem is that the other, quieter voice knows the truth.
An interview with Sampras now is more conversation than question and answer.
The period of isolation, the re-entry into real life, is over and the 14-time Grand Slam and seven-time Wimbledon champion - world No.1 for 286 weeks - is rediscovering exactly what it is about the game he once dominated that he now misses so much.
Most of the time he can cope with the feeling of loss, but during Wimbledon the ache becomes persistent.
He sees player after player staying at the back of the court, he sees Jonas Bjorkman reach a semi-final and Rafael Nadal, a clay-courter, in the final and wonders aloud what damage he, Sampras, could still do.
The danger of embarrassment if he came back seems irrelevant. What could be more embarrassing than his last Wimbledon match, losing to George Bastl, a qualifier, in 2002 on court two, the so-called graveyard of champions.
He would still be younger than Andre Agassi, who played his final Wimbledon this year at the age of 36.
So the phrase just slips out. “I mean, great a player as Nadal is,” Sampras says, “you put a really good serve-and-volleyer against him and you have got to feel pretty good about it.”
So you would fancy your chances against him on grass?
“Oh yeah, even today. If I worked at it and I … I’ve had those moments, they come and go, like playing Wimbledon again - I haven’t ruled it out.
“I’m not saying I’m going to come back, but I’ve had moments of wanting to play there more now than I ever have.”
Haven’t ruled it out? “Well, I have. But seeing how everyone’s playing, staying back on grass like it’s Paris, and just the fact that I miss Wimbledon and the fact that I ended it on such a poor note on court two against someone I shouldn’t have lost to. That still left a bad taste in my mouth.
“So you think, ‘wow, one more time’, and if I wanted to do it, I could do it. But there would be so much more work to do. In reality, it’s not going to happen.” The Australian
And on Agassi’s retirement:
After Agassi retired in New York, Sampras called and left a message. A few days later, Agassi returned the call.
It was a significant moment for both men. Agassi’s tearful farewell at the US Open had marked the end of a golden era of American tennis, begun by 17-year-old Michael Chang’s astonishing victory in the French Open in 1989 and continued by Courier, Sampras and Agassi through 17 years and 26 more Grand Slam victories. Sampras found the scenes as moving as the rest of the US and says so. But there was more to the call than congratulation and support.
“I wanted to say how much I had enjoyed the matches we’d had 34 in total, 20-14 to Sampras,” Sampras says. “When we were one and two in the world it was difficult to be close, but we always liked and respected each other.
“We’re very different, but we still have a lot in common. He’s got two kids, I’ve got two kids, I go to Las Vegas, he comes to LA. It would be good to catch up in a way, to remove ourselves from what we used to be, so we agreed to stay in touch. It was just like two guys talking.”
What will Agassi be feeling now? “Relief. It’s over. He was banged up pretty bad. His back was hurting, his thigh muscle had gone, everything was breaking down. He doesn’t have to deal with all that any more, he doesn’t have to worry about tennis, about eating, sleeping, working out - all that stress.
“He’ll get excited about doing some things with his foundation and with his kids and he’ll go through the whole emotional cycle when you don’t miss it and then you slowly miss it.”
Although Agassi’s body finally gave out, it was Sampras’ mind that folded first. “My heart,” he corrects.
After winning his 14th Grand Slam at the US Open in 2002, two months after his ignominious exit from Wimbledon, Sampras put down his racquet and never quite picked it up again.
