TENNIS / JERRY CROWE : Without Visible Weaknesses, Sampras in a Class by Himself

Pete Sampras, home in Tampa preparing for the clay-court season after earning more than $1 million already this year, has made the most of his time at the top of the ATP Tour rankings.

He has maintained his No. 1 ranking for all but three weeks since April 12, 1993. He has won the last three Grand Slam events--Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open--and his 33-2 start this year is the best on the ATP Tour since 1989, when Ivan Lendl won 36 of 38 matches before losing in the French Open.

Sampras increased his 1994 earnings to $1,125,038 when he won his sixth title of the year, defeating Michael Chang in the Japan Open final on April 10. And he will take a 21-match winning streak into next month’s Italian Open.

“It appears that he’s really head and shoulders above everyone else,” said John McEnroe, who twice spent more than a year at No. 1. “He’s got the confidence factor, he’s got people intimidated and he looks to be fitter than I’ve ever seen him.

“He’s just in that flow right now, so unless someone is able to pick it up, or something happens to him on a physical level, it’s pretty difficult to envision him losing the No. 1 ranking this year.”

McEnroe was dominant in 1984, winning 82 of 85 matches, but success came so easily, he said, that he grew complacent.

“It was the first time that I felt like I was a level above the (other) players,” said McEnroe, whose U.S. Open championship in 1984 was the last of his seven Grand Slam event titles. “My mistake was, at the end of the year, I was resting on it a little bit, saying, ‘I’m going to see what other people do (to catch up),’ as opposed to working harder at that particular time.

“It will be interesting to see how Pete reacts at the end of this year or, depending on what happens, the remaining part of this year.”

McEnroe, though, said that Sampras has no glaring weaknesses.

“I mean, to nit-pick about someone as good as that is absurd,” McEnroe said. “He’s a great player, there’s no question about it. I’d love to have that serve for a couple weeks. And he has worked extremely hard. He obviously learns from his mistakes because he’s been around for a while and now his time is here.”

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On the flip side: While Sampras’ star has skyrocketed, Jim Courier’s has plummeted.

Courier spent more than two years at No. 1 or 2 before last November, but has twice fallen to No. 5 this year and is currently ranked fourth. He has won only one title in the last 11 months, none since August, and only two matches against top-10 opponents, both against Goran Ivanisevic. He lost eight of his last 15 matches in 1993 and has twice lost his opening match in tournaments this year. He has reached the final in only one of his last 14 tournaments.

“He’s obviously lost his confidence, and I think his game is based a lot on his confidence,” McEnroe said. “He’s not as natural a player as Pete, for example, so he can’t rely on his ability.

“He’s got to rely more on his physical conditioning, and it all plays hand in hand with his mental frame of mind. He’s probably been going so hard for the last couple years--he trains so hard--that he’s probably a little bit burned out.

“Although it looks right now that he’s really struggling, he’s still got time to pull it together, potentially, before the French Open.”

McEnroe suggested that Courier, a two-time French Open winner, might benefit from turning down the intensity a notch as he prepares for this year’s tournament, which opens in Paris on May 23.

“It’s hard to honestly know what he needs to do without having seen him play a lot and not knowing what’s in his head at this particular time,” McEnroe said. “But some people, when things go wrong, they like to train harder. And it looks like he’s doing even more of that, from what I understand.

“I would probably advocate taking it easy a little bit because he’s certainly in shape. He’s probably hurting himself at this point.

“But he’ll probably do exactly the opposite.”

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Back on track: Steffi Graf, who withdrew from last month’s Family Circle Magazine Cup because of a minor knee injury, is expected to return to action this week in the Citizen Cup at Hamburg, Germany.

The WTA Tour’s No. 1 player is unbeaten in 28 matches and winner of five tournaments this year.

“I don’t expect to win everything, but I know I can do it,” Graf said last month after winning the Lipton Championship at Key Biscayne, Fla. “That’s what’s important, to know you can.”

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Asian Ace: After winning the Salem Open at Hong Kong this month, Michael Chang is 41-5 in Asia during the last two years, 16-2 this year.

Six of his 16 titles have been won in Asia, all since the start of 1993.

Tennis Notes

Tracy Austin, who was 17 when she passed the $1-million mark in earnings during the summer of 1980, still needs $17,991 to pass the $2-million mark. . . . It has been almost two years, a span of 33 tournaments, since Gabriela Sabatini won the Italian Open in 1992 for her last WTA Tour title. She has lost in five finals during that time. . . . Next Saturday is the one-year anniversary of the attack on Monica Seles. . . . Randy Snow, 10-time U.S. Open wheelchair tennis champion, will be among the instructors at a camp for players in wheelchairs Wednesday through next Sunday at the Vic Braden Tennis College in Coto de Caza. Details: (714) 361-6811.