On Eve of French Open, the Big One He Hasn’t Won, Sampras Is . . . : Due in Court

PARIS — Maybe it was the way he unraveled against Wayne Ferreira after double- faulting on his own match point at the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla.

Or it could have been the way he went out after a tight first set against Thomas Muster at Indian Wells, Calif., losing in front of his ultra-nervous father, Sam, who rarely ventures to tournaments because of the high anxiety of watching his son.

Certainly, the final confirmation something was wrong came in Monte Carlo where he won two games against Fabrice Santoro, a respected player but someone he easily dispatched on clay last year.

Pete Sampras was losing his way on the journey to tennis immortality, a lofty perch but a few serves away, so he turned to his best asset--himself. Sampras analyzed the state of his game, and his mind realized that his body needed to do some catching up.

“The last couple of months, I actually felt burned out,” he said. “At the end of last year, getting hurt in Davis Cup, I never really felt like my season really ended. I needed to get away from the game, and I feel I didn’t have the chance to do that.

“My conditioning wasn’t great at the time, I felt like I kind of paid the price the last couple months. I probably got a little complacent.”

Sampras did two things, hiring his former trainer, Pat Etcheberry, and moving from Tampa, Fla., to Orlando, Fla. And in the lonely pursuit of the Grand Slam event he has yet to win, the French Open, Sampras skipped the World Team Championships at Dusseldorf, Germany, and arrived in Paris a week early to practice.

“I feel I could be in better shape,” Sampras said. “Pat is definitely someone who pushes me to the limit. And I knew deep down, for the past year, I wasn’t hurting enough. I wish I had figured this out six months ago, but unfortunately I didn’t.”

Since then, he has won a clay-court tournament in Atlanta and reached the third round in Rome, beating Thomas Enqvist and Magnus Norman before losing to Michael Chang. Sampras is 8-2 on clay in 1998.

Overall, he is 23-6 this year and has won two tournaments, Atlanta and Philadelphia. But because he lost the No. 1 ranking for four weeks to Marcelo Rios before regaining it, there has been talk about his seeming vulnerability.

Of course, his toughest competition is his own lofty standards.

“It’s difficult,” said Sampras’ coach, Paul Annacone. “To be brutally honest--I told him this--unfortunately he only makes news when he loses.”

American Todd Martin, a friend of Sampras’ who, incidentally, will play him in the first round of the French Open, said increased depth at the top level of men’s tennis is another factor.

“Over the past five years or so, there were a few people who could compete with Pete when he put forth a fairly good effort,” Martin said. “Now there’s 15-20 guys on a given day who could give Pete competition. Then there’s another handful of guys who on shaky days who could give him fits. That’s a big adjustment.”

Now comes the most difficult Grand Slam tournament for Sampras. Last year, he lost to Norman in the third round. His best result in Paris was reaching the semifinals in 1996, losing to eventual champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Sampras is heartened by that performance. He fought his way through a formidable draw and summoned five-set victories over Sergi Bruguera in the second round, Martin in the third and Jim Courier in the quarterfinals.

Then, personal reasons altered his French Open tuneup.

“That’s the one year I didn’t play anything on clay and I just went there,” he said. “It was after [his coach] Tim [Gullikson] passed away. I went there really not in good shape. After that tournament, it really told me I could win there.”

The lack of a French Open crown has not turned into a grand obsession for Sampras, as Wimbledon became for Ivan Lendl.

Sampras is thoughtful, even analytical, about the conditions at the French Open . . . but not obsessive.

“You can’t play the year for one tournament,” he said. “Sure, it seems like this time of year it’s all I’m talking about. People want to know why I haven’t won the French.

“He [Lendl] was kind of an obsessive type of guy. The way I look at it--it’s not an obsession, it’s a tournament I’m going to do whatever I can to win. When Lendl did that [for Wimbledon] I thought, ‘Wow, he’s putting all his eggs in one basket.’

“I can’t obsess with one thing. That’s just not the way I am.”

His place in tennis history is secure, no matter what happens at Roland Garros. Still, there are attainable goals, and Sampras, only 26, has whittled the wish list to three:

* Becoming the only player to finish No. 1 for six consecutive years. Sampras is tied with Jimmy Connors at five in a row.

* Surpassing Roy Emerson as the all-time leader of Grand Slam singles titles. Emerson has 12. Sampras is at 10--four Wimbledon, four U.S. Open and two Australian Open titles.

* Breaking the French Open barrier.

“Trying to beat Connors for No. 1, I haven’t really helped myself out the last couple of months,” said Sampras, smiling. “It’s not time to panic, but I wouldn’t have minded winning Lipton or Palm Springs [Indian Wells]. That [the Connors record] is a short-term goal.

“Obviously the French and the Grand Slam record is the whole picture. Those three things are really it for me in tennis.”

Although Sampras reclaimed the No. 1 ranking, the ascension of Rios brought increased attention and sparked a debate about the Chilean’s worthiness to hold the top spot.

Rios, 22, reached the Australian Open final, losing to Petr Korda, and reached No. 1 after winning Indian Wells and Lipton.

“I give him credit,” Sampras said. “He’s had the best start to the year. I maybe could have accepted it more if he won in Australia. If he won the major, that’s a true indication of how good someone really is. That’s where all the pressure is, all the stakes are.

“I’m not going to say anything bad about Marcelo, I think he’s a great player, but it really does come down to the end of the year.”

Television commentator John McEnroe agreed.

“I think it’s a great accomplishment that he [Rios] reached No. 1 on the computer,” McEnroe said on a conference call. “But that was also like March 15 or whatever it was. That’s like saying: I’ve seen times when the Sacramento Kings started the season at 10-2, but they don’t say they’re the best team in the NBA. . . . At this point it’s an insult to Pete, and it shows that the computer needs to be worked on.”

Sampras and Rios have not played in 1998 but are in the same half of the draw at the French Open. Rios is ranked third. Nevertheless, Sampras wasn’t exactly given an easy draw, considering he faces Martin in the first round. Martin, though ranked 33rd, won a major clay-court event at Barcelona in April. Residing in the same quarter of his draw are several other serious threats: No. 9-seeded Karol Kucera, No. 15 Felix Mantilla and Santoro.

“Every year I’ve been with him, and every year I’ve seen Pete play the French he hasn’t had much good luck,” Annacone said. “You can say, ‘Oh, oh, he never has any good luck.’ Or you can say, ‘He’s due.’ I think he’s due for some good luck.”

Maybe there was a sign when Sampras went house hunting recently. He found a dream house and thought he lost it to basketball legend Julius Erving. Being an avid basketball fan, he had mixed feelings. Weeks later, the house was back on the market and Sampras grabbed it on the rebound.

He doesn’t plan to live there forever. His plan is to return home to the Los Angeles area after his playing days.

Sampras is somewhere in that middle ground, not a kid anymore but not ready for any retirement parties. Still, for him, it’s been strange watching some of his vaunted competitors move on.

“At times, I look in the locker room and there’s guys I don’t recognize,” he said. “You look at [Boris] Becker, [Michael] Stich and [Stefan] Edberg and those guys are done when they’re 30. I haven’t even thought about retirement.

“I look at [Michael] Jordan and [Wayne] Gretzky and they’re 35 and 36, playing at that level. Sometimes, I think if I’m still enjoying what I’m doing, why can’t I play until I’m 35, 36?”

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French Open Facts

* WHEN: Monday-June 7.

* WHERE: Roland Garros Stadium, Paris

* DEFENDING CHAMPIONS: Gustavo Kuerten (men);

Iva Majoli (women).