It’s a New, Improved Sampras

For Pete Sampras, onetime King of New York, the view is the same, only different.

It’s a paradox, all right, how he can still look out over the top of the stands of the National Tennis Center and see the jagged Manhattan skyline off in the hazy distance just as it appeared when he won the U.S. Open two years ago, all the while seeming entirely unlike anything he has seen before.

“A couple of years ago, I had nothing to lose,” Sampras said. “Nobody expected anything, I was seeded 12 and I had two incredible weeks. Last year, maybe I felt the pressure, but two years later, I’m more or less used to pressure . . . notoriety. Maybe the pressure got to me last year.”

And on the court, well, what you see isn’t what you used to get.

“Now, I’m more consistent all around,” he said.

So maybe it’s Sampras who is different. As the U.S. Open begins today, there is more to being a former champion than meets the eye.

The 19-year-old Californian with the flat serve and the loopy grin is now a 21-year-old Florida resident with a flat serve, a loopy grin and a new all-around game that is the envy of the men’s tour.

But Sampras from the baseline? This is the tennis equivalent of making Mark McGwire into a singles hitter.

That is what has happened, though, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time now that the fourth and last of the sport’s grand slam events is about to begin.

Sampras enters as the third-seeded player, behind Jim Courier and Stefan Edberg, but he is clearly the hottest player on the ATP Tour and coming off three consecutive tournament victories. The first of the trio was even on clay, his first title on the slow surface, which hasn’t exactly been Sampras’ favorite.

But this obviously is a different Sampras, a fact that has come to the attention of Courier, last year’s finalist, the two-time French Open champion and someone who knows a thing or two about playing from the baseline while hammering groundstrokes for winners.

“Pete obviously built strong points in his game and he still has those strong points,” Courier said. “But what he’s done is fill in the holes. You can just see it.

“He was very smart to go over and play clay-court tournaments. No question he’s much more comfortable now from the baseline. That’s translated into a comfort factor.”

Comfort and the U.S. Open are seldom even casually associated, but if there is any player to be entering at the high point of his year, then it is Sampras.

After winning events at Kitzbuhel, Austria, and at Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Sampras even has the benefit of a good draw. He opens against qualifier Dave DiLucia and, if form follows, would play a fourth-round match with No. 12 Guy Forget.

That could be followed by a quarterfinal against either No. 13 Michael Stich or No. 5 Goran Ivanisevic.

If Sampras doesn’t have the best draw, then Andre Agassi does. Courier, eighth-seeded Agassi and No. 16 John McEnroe are in the top half of the draw.

Agassi would meet Carlos Costa in the fourth round, but the Spaniard is a clay-court player and probably won’t get that far. Agassi could play either McEnroe or Courier in the quarterfinals.

The toughest quarter is in the bottom half of the draw and features Edberg, Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl and Richard Krajicek.

“There are about six or eight guys who can win it,” Sampras said. “I’m one of them. But so is Jim. Let’s just see what happens.”

The others in Sampras’ top six are Edberg, Agassi, Becker and Ivanisevic. Sampras admits to sometimes letting his concentration lapse but claims he has overcome that problem and won’t let his mind wander enough to cost him a match.

If Sampras is going to lose, he says he won’t be the one to beat himself. That would be left up to someone else. There will be plenty of opportunities.

U.S. Open Notes

Monica Seles and Steffi Graf, the top two seeded women’s players, play their first-round matches on opening day. In Graf’s case, make that opening night. Seles takes on Audra Keller on Stadium Court, right after Michael Stich’s first-round match against Olivier Delaitre. Graf begins night play at 7:30 against Halle Cioffi. Jim Courier plays Alex O’Brien in the second match. . . . Jennifer Capriati will announce at a news conference today that she will donate half of her prize money from the U.S. Open to the Hurricane Andrew relief fund. That amount will be matched by Snapple, a New York beverage company, who just signed Capriati to a four-year, $2-million endorsement contract. . . . Happy Birthday Dept.: Jimmy Connors turns 40 Wednesday and will play his first-round match under the lights against Jaime Oncins of Brazil. . . . Both the men’s and women’s singles winners will earn $500,000.