Sampras Pulls Out of L.A. Tournament

Local celebration and up-close appreciation of Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras will have to wait at least another year.

Sampras, the top player in the world, withdrew Friday from the Mercedes-Benz Cup at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA. The tournament begins Monday.

Sampras won his fifth Wimbledon title July 5, and had an operation 10 days later on the sole of his right foot to repair a minor injury. His recovery time was supposed to be swift, but that prognosis was overly optimistic.

“The doctor assured Pete that he would be playing again in three or four days,” said Jeff Schwartz, Sampras’ agent. “Unfortunately, the doctor miscalculated the length of Pete’s rehabilitation time. . . . Pete is still unable to put much pressure on his right foot.”

Sampras, who has 11 Grand Slam titles, is within one of tying the all-time leader Roy Emerson. Sampras is said to be in no danger of missing the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 31.

His next scheduled tournament is in Cincinnati, starting Aug. 10, and he could accept a wild-card entry the week before in Toronto. By then, it is likely he will have lost his No. 1 ranking to Marcelo Rios of Chile. Rios, now playing in an event in Stuttgart, Germany, needs to reach Sunday’s final to overtake Sampras.

Schwartz said Sampras will resume practicing in the next three to four days to see if his foot has improved. Sampras, who won the Los Angeles tournament in 1991, had not played this event since 1993.

Two of the other 1998 Wimbledon semifinalists are in the field: second-seeded Tim Henman of England and third-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, a wild-card entry. Sampras defeated Henman in the Wimbledon semifinals, and beat Ivanisevic in a five-set final. The top-seeded player in the draw is U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter of Australia. Andre Agassi is seeded fifth.

The other two wild-card berths in singles were given to Justin Gimelstob, formerly of UCLA, and Bob Bryan of Camarillo.