Sampras’ Quest Is Out of Sight

One of the reasons, and there are many, Pete Sampras does not make himself available on a regular basis for Davis Cup goes back to 1995. Despite a heroic winning performance in Russia--he accounted for all three points in a 3-2 victory--Sampras felt his accomplishment merited more than an invitation for a round of golf at Augusta National.

Now, three years later, he does not seem to be getting his proper due again. Sampras expressed irritation that his quest to finish the year No. 1 for a record-setting sixth consecutive year has not hit the radar screen of the American sports scene, relegated to inside pages and a don’t-blink-or-you-might- miss-it highlight on CNN or ESPN.

During one of the stops on his impressive and grueling six-week European tour, Sampras looked around the room and duly noted the absence of American reporters. He notices these things. Sampras knows when the International Herald Tribune is at a tournament. He knows when he is the CNN Play of the Day.

He also knows there won’t be a traffic jam of American reporters on the Road to Hanover, at this week’s ATP Championships in Germany.

The lack of overwhelming interest, combined with media industry economics, has much more to do with the sport itself, rather than Sampras. By virtue of the schedule, the men’s tour practically vanishes from the United States after the last ball is struck at the U.S. Open, not to be seen again until February. The exception is the ATP World Doubles Championship, which is being held right now in Hartford, Conn.

The last few prominent major record chases have unfolded in the United States and Canada and involved athletes from major team sports: Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, of course, and Wayne Gretzky’s pursuit of Gordie Howe’s records.

“For so long, people have just taken what I’ve done for granted,” Sampras said at the event in Stuttgart, Germany. “To win Grand Slams year in, year out and to be No. 1 is not an easy thing to do.”

How Sampras is feeling on the eve of his final challenge in 1998 is unclear. Normally obliging, he was unavailable for comment despite repeated requests this last month.

Sampras will enter Hanover as the No. 1 player, holding a 33-point lead over No. 2 Marcelo Rios of Chile. Rios squandered an opportunity to move ahead of Sampras when he lost to the unheralded Juan Antonio Marin of Costa Rica in the quarterfinals on clay in Santiago, Chile, earlier this month.

HANOVER CHALLENGERS

Rios: He has spent more time complaining lately than winning tournaments. He criticized the tour for always holding the season-ending championships on a fast indoor court, instead of clay. Then this week he took some more shots at the ATP in the German news magazine Stern, saying: “They drill us as if we were in the army.”

Although Rios has not won a tournament since early October in Singapore, he is the only player to disrupt Sampras’ stay at No. 1 in 1998, holding the top ranking for four weeks in the spring and two more in August.

Andre Agassi: Back from oblivion and sitting at

No. 4 in the world, a startling reversal of form from last year’s No. 141. Even Agassi never expected his latest self-renovation project to take this quickly.

After beating Alex Corretja of Spain in the semifinals at Lipton in March, Agassi said: “I don’t know why they’re talking [Marcelo] Rios and [Pete] Sampras. At the end of the year, I’m going to be ranked No. 1.”

Everyone smiled, indulgently, thinking, there he goes again. But Agassi got much closer than anyone could have guessed. Maybe he was talking about the end of 1999.

Tim Henman: His Wimbledon performance, a brave semifinal showing against Sampras, was not an isolated occurrence. Since then, Henman lost to Agassi in the final at Los Angeles in the summer and was brilliant in defeating Agassi in four sets at the final in Basel, Switzerland, in October.

CONNORS VS. GRAF

The highly anticipated Steffi Graf vs. Jimmy Connors match apparently is not going to happen in December, if at all.

“There has been so much talk about it,” Graf said. “Nothing has been finalized and it doesn’t look like it is going to be happening.”

Graf said she is playing two more exhibitions-- against Jana Novotna in Baltimore on Tuesday and next week against Anna Kournikova in Germany. Graf’s 12-match winning streak forced her to change plans, as she did not anticipate reaching the season-ending Chase Championships. That included canceling a vacation in the Caribbean. Not that she minded much.

“It’s much better here than there,” Graf said, smiling. “I don’t like the sun anyway.”