The resurrection of Pete Sampras still has two chapters left. He deserves to lift the U.S. Open trophy after his back-to-back throwback stunners over Patrick Rafter in the Round of 16 and Andre Agassi in a U.S. Open all-tiebreaker quarterfinal epic that ended at 12:14 a.m. yesterday morning.
Instead, Sampras’ reward as a 10th seed and recipient of a horrific draw is a semifinal date tomorrow with defending champion Marat Safin.
“He’s not really here to get to the semifinals,” Sampras’ coach Paul Annacone told The Post. “The draw is the draw. His work’s not finished yet.”
The rocket-serving Russian destroyed Sampras in last year’s Finals, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. Luckily, the 10th-seeded Sampras, who hasn’t won the Open since 1996 and hasn’t won a tournament this year, has two days off to rest his battered body after his 6-7 (9-7), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5), 31/2-hour classic in which neither player lost his serve. The match drew the largest rating in cable history for tennis (4.6 million viewers).
Yesterday, Sampras rested, stayed back at his Manhattan hotel and jogged on the treadmill.
“I have never been crazy about two days off but I’m thanking my lucky starts I have two days now,” Sampras said.
“I just gave him a day to relax, a leisurely day away from tennis,” Annacone said. “A couple of days helps but it’s always a concern.”
Fitness has always been a concern for the serve-and-volley genius from L.A. because of an iron deficiency. If the Agassi match had been played during the heat of day, it could have been a different story. If Agassi had forced a fifth set and did not blow a 3-1 fourth-set tiebreaker lead by hitting three unforced errors, including two tired forehands into the net, it could have been a different story.
“I think when the conditions are thicker, whether it’s hotter or whether it’s slower, it’s easier for me to get to the part of his game I need to get to, which are his legs,” said Agassi, the No. 2 seed who mustered just three break points.
Tennis officials have been unable to document another match that has ever gone four sets with neither player breaking one serve. Before they began the fourth straight tiebreaker, the Ashe Stadium crowd rose to serenade the aging tennis titans with a 45-second ovation.
“The appreciation the crowd gave us, it was awesome,” Sampras said. “It was kind of a chilling moment to have the crowd kind of stand on their feet and just applaud what we’re doing out here.”