Samprasfanz

April 15, 2008

LONDON (AP) — Pete Sampras has agreed to play two tournaments on the international seniors tennis tour this year.

The 14-time Grand Slam champion, who beat Andre Agassi in the 2002 U.S. Open final in his last match, will play on the BlackRock Tour of Champions in London and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“It’s still fun for me to compete. It’s still a challenge and I still want to hold that trophy up at the end,” Sampras said in a statement released Tuesday. “Today, or 10 years from now, if I’m on the tennis court, I’ll still want to play well and win.”

The first of the two tournaments will be the Grand Champions Brasil in Sao Paulo from May 24-27, the first time Sampras has played in South America. He’ll also play at the Dec. 2-7 BlackRock Tennis Masters at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

“I hear a lot of good things about the event in London and the stadium and the exposure it brings,” Sampras said.

Sampras has not been to London since 2002, when he made his last appearance at Wimbledon — a tournament he won seven times — and lost to George Bastl in the second round.

“The tour gives tennis fans a wonderful opportunity to see some of the world’s greatest tennis legends in action again,” said Nuala Walsh, the head of international marketing at BlackRock.

Among others who play on the BlackRock Tour are former Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Pat Cash.

The 36-year-old Sampras said he’s been playing golf and having fun since he retired from tennis, but started to get restless after a few years.

“There’s no book on retirement, especially at 31 years old,” Sampras said. “Initially you love it but after a while you need something to do.”

Sampras started playing World Team Tennis after barely picking up a racket for three years, and eventually took part in the Outback Champions Series, a circuit formed by former rival Jim Courier. He’s also played a series of exhibitions against top-ranked Roger Federer.

“When I was 26, I never thought I would want to play Champions tennis,” Sampras said. “But, as time goes on, when you’re playing golf, taking some trips here and there and maybe putting on a little bit of weight, you just kind of feel a little bit unfulfilled as a man. That’s how I felt.”

Sampras is looking forward to his first trip to South America.

“It’s a different culture and I was just thinking the other day that I used to go somewhere and not even care about the city or its history, but now I’ll go there and maybe have a few days off to see some sights, something I wouldn’t have done back then,” he said.

The BlackRock tour also has events in Barcelona, Spain

The American, former world’s number one, will visit the South American country for the first time for the exhibition tour, which will include matches in Brazil and Chile.

On May 20th, Pete Sampras is to perform in Argentina for the first time. He is to play a friendly match against either local shot David Nalbandian, seventh at the ATP, or Guillermo Cañas (20th).

So far, it has been confirmed the American will play at Luna Park stadium and he will stay in Buenos Aires for merely 48 hours.

A week prior to landing on Argentina, Sampras is to face Chilean Marcelo Rios in China and he is going to be part of a legendary tournament in Sao Paulo on May 25th.

Source: SportsYa

Pete Sampras talked about the match he will play against Marcelo Rios, another former world number one. Both players will meet on May 18, in a court at Arena, in Santiago de Chile.

“It will be very exciting to be there (in Chile). It will be a great opportunity for all of those who supported me through the TV, as they can now watch me live,” the American told La Tercera.

The Chilean was the one responsible for removing Sampras from the first place in the ATP ranking, after holding world number one title for 102 weeks.

Regarding such issue, the American said that Rios “was one of the greatest players at that time,” and added that “it was a great challenge to move him from the first place, as he was playing quite well.”

Source: SportsYa

March 12, 2008

Pete Sampras and the victorious Roger Federer were nearing the end of a news conference after their historic tennis exhibition at Madison Square Garden Monday night when a reporter asked the retired American which racket he’d chosen for the match.

Both Sampras and Federer, the world’s No. 1 and a 12-time Grand Slam winner, had played with Wilson rackets. But Sampras cracked his aces with a nondescript black stick that was wrapped with purple grip tape — an apparent throwback to the Wilson ProStaff 6.0 models Sampras used to win his record 14 majors.

So, Sampras was asked, was that an old ProStaff standby in your hand, the predecessor of Federer’s newfangled Wilson K Factor [K] Six.One Tour 90?

“So you think,” Sampras said with a coy smile.

“It’s not the racket I played with early on [in my career],” said Sampras, who stopped playing in 2002, but played several exhibitions in the past year. “I need the technology to help me play against these guys.”

Sampras and Wilson are developing a new racket, amNewYork learned Tuesday. Sampras was trying it out during Monday’s NetJets Showdown, which Federer won 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6).

“He’s playing a prototype,” said John Muir, reached yesterday by telephone in Chicago, where he is general manager of Wilson Racquet Sports. “It’s something that we’ve made and something that we’re working on.” Muir said he could reveal few other details during the five-minute interview.

“We purposely have done it all black, just because it’s a prototype and we’re still working on it,” he said. “Pete’s got to play with it a little more. You need to be a serious player to play that racket. I’m not going to say anything more than that.”

Steve Hilliard, the head stringer at Mason’s Tennis Mart, handled an order to string three of Sampras’ prototypes Monday morning, before Sampras practiced for the exhibition.

Hilliard said Tuesday that he couldn’t help but compare these mysterious black rackets to their counterpart, Federer’s K Factor, which came out last year.

Sampras’ prototype had a few cosmetic differences, Hilliard said.

“It had a slightly different finish around the throat — flatter, without the indentations,” Hilliard said. “It was customized with lead tape. Some of the parts were different than what I see on the K Factor.”

Apart from noting other visual differences, Hilliard said he couldn’t say much more about the frame until he could play with it. Muir offered no release timeline.

Source: amNY.com

March 11, 2008
CBSSports.com wire reports