--The usual funny Pete!!!<br>An interview
with:PETE SAMPRAS<br><br>P. SAMPRAS/A. Medvedev<br>6-4,
6-3<br><br><br>GREG SHARKO: PETE moves into the second round,<br>will
play the winner of Gambill-Ferreira. About 35
degrees<br>warmer from last week's match at Scottsdale.
First<br>question for Pete. <br><br>Q. Presumably you're fairly
happy with that?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: Yeah, all things
considered. Not having<br>played many matches over the past
five weeks, and<br>Andrei, he's given me a lot of
problems over the years. I<br>have to be pleased the way
things went. I hit the ball well,<br>moved well, my body
came up pretty good. It was a good<br>night.
<br><br>Q. How does your back feel now?<br>PETE SAMPRAS:
It's good. It's good. Doesn't feel<br>anything, so
that's good. <br><br>Q. What did you have to do after
leaving Scottsdale<br>fitness-wise to get yourself
back?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: Well, I went back to LA and just
got<br>some treatment for the next couple days. It was a
slight<br>strain; it wasn't anything serious. I just needed to
take<br>care of it now rather than playing through it and
possibly<br>making it worse. So for the next couple days, I just
took<br>treatment, got here Sunday, hit a few balls, just kind
of<br>casually hit a few balls the last couple days to get ready
to<br>play tonight. But it pulled up pretty good.<br><br>Q.
Do you think after what you've been through with
your<br>back in the last year or so that you quite
understandably<br>have become a bit ultra-cautious?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: Oh,
absolutely. What happened at The<br>Open, I'll never forget
that feeling. The back is a very<br>serious injury,
especially when you're dealing with a disc.<br>My coach,
Paul, has a ruptured disc. He deals with it<br>every
day of his life. I don't want to get it to that
point. I<br>want to take care of it, do all my
exercises, do all my<br>stretching, kind of be real careful
and cautious with my<br>back as far as making sure
when I go out there it's<br>warmed up and it's ready
to go. <br><br>Q. Do you get concerned - may be not
the right word -<br>with Agassi going out early for
two reasons: First of all,<br>people love that big
f<br><br><br><br><br> "I just suck, right? "<br><br><br><br>Q. Would
that be a fair surmise?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: Yeah, yeah.
The last I think four years<br>I've only won
--.<br>GREG SHARKO: 2-4.<br>PETE SAMPRAS: -- 2-4, which is
not very good. I've<br>always kind of - the altitude
- not the altitude, but the dry<br>altitude, the
ball seems to carry a little bit too much for<br>me.
The last couple of years I've struggled. This year
it<br>doesn't seem like it goes that quick. I played at
night,<br>which might be a little bit slower. I play
tomorrow<br>afternoon which might be a little bit quicker. I don't
prefer<br>really fast conditions out there. I prefer it a bit
slower, have<br>a little bit more time to play.<br><br>Q.
You played at night last year, too, and lost.
<br>PETE SAMPRAS: You're right (laughter). I just
suck,<br>right? <br><br>Q. Did you do anything to accommodate
yourself to these<br>conditions?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: Not
really. You know, I've tried different<br>strings,
different tensions. You know, I'm not trying
to<br>complicate it here. Just trying to go out and play, come
in<br>a lot and hopefully I can win a few
matches.<br><br>Q. Don't you think part of it's mental, given that
you've<br>won the tournament here twice?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: I
wish it was. But once you get to a<br>tournament and
your first hit on the center court, you<br>know how
the ball is coming off the racquet.<br>Unfortunately,
the last couple years it hasn't clicked, I<br>haven't
played well. I don't think it's mental; it's
the<br>conditions. So, you know, it's over with. It's a new year,
a<br>new stadium, and hopefully some better luck.