Sampras, Graf Drop Out of the Olympics

The Olympic tennis event lost a double dose of star power Tuesday when Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf withdrew because of injuries: Sampras because of a strained Achilles’ tendon, Graf a reinjured knee.

The loss of both No. 1-ranked players is a blow to an event that many of the world’s top professionals had decided to skip.

No substitute was named for either player.

Sampras has never been more than lukewarm about the Olympics, frankly admitting that he was mostly looking forward to watching the basketball competition.

“This is a very unfortunate time to suffer an injury,” Sampras said. “I was really looking forward to competing at the Olympics. After I lost at Wimbledon, I was determined to make up for it by winning a gold medal. I’m very disappointed.”

Sampras suffered the injury to his right foot while jogging Sunday. He was advised by a doctor to stay off the foot for a week. According to the U.S. Olympic Committee, which announced his withdrawal, Sampras was filming a commercial in Florida.

Graf, who would have been a four-time Olympian, has been one of only a handful of tennis players to speak fondly of the Olympics, which fall at the beginning of the grueling hardcourt season and make the summer schedule extremely tight. At Wimbledon earlier this month, Graf said the experience of competing in the 1984 Olympics as a 15-year-old remains her most cherished athletic memory.

Graf won that competition in Los Angeles, when tennis was a demonstration sport. She won the gold medal in 1988, the year she completed the “Golden Slam” by winning the four Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic title.

In 1992, Graf lost the gold to Jennifer Capriati.

While her countrymen Boris Becker and Michael Stich have been outspoken in saying tennis has no place in the Olympics, Graf has disagreed. With her father still in jail awaiting trial for tax evasion, it seemed the Olympics were the only topic of conversation that elicited any enthusiasm from Graf.

Graf injured her left knee a week before Wimbledon, causing her to withdraw from a warmup tournament. Graf played and won Wimbledon while using a single piece of athletic tape attached under her kneecap. Other than to acknowledge she had injured her knee, Graf would not discuss it.

Speculation about the extent of the injury brought about a small rift between Graf and Martina Navratilova, who, in her role as HBO’s color commentator, remarked that Graf didn’t look injured.

“It’s an excuse ahead of time in case she needs it,” Navratilova said during a broadcast.

Graf revealed only after she won her seventh Wimbledon title that her knee prevented her from preparing for the tournament. “I felt that, physically, I wouldn’t get through it all the way,” Graf said.

The U.S. men’s team now consists of No. 3 Andre Agassi and No. 12 MaliVai Washington in singles and No. 23 Richey Reneberg, who will team with Washington in doubles.

If the U.S. Tennis Assn. were to nominate another singles player, it might be faced with slim pickings. Going down the rankings: No. 5 Michael Chang does not want to play, No. 9 Jim Courier was angry at being passed over the first time and may not be available, and the same is true of No. 16 Todd Martin.

Martin, a Davis Cup loyalist, was offered a place on the Olympic team as a doubles player but refused.

The choices drop precipitously after that. The next highest-ranked American player is No. 60 Chris Woodruff.

Also withdrawing from the Olympic competition Tuesday was Julie Halard-Decugis of France, because of a wrist injury.

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Times Sports Editor Bill Dwyre contributed to this story from Atlanta.