Q. How many racquets do you play with at The
Open?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: What do you mean? <br><br>Q. I thought
it was --?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: It was from the '90
Open. <br><br>Q. The winning racquet from the '90
Open?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: First Slam. A couple from England
that<br>was from some Lord Mayor, someone with a lot
of<br>money.<br><br>Q. How much did you think it would go for? Did you
have<br>any idea in your mind?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: Just over the
years, they've gone for<br>five to ten grand. 50 is
really out of this world.<br><br>Q. How many of those
racquets do you keep? Do you<br>keep your racquets from
every Slam you won?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: No. I'll just
start doing that. If I ever<br>break the record, I'll
keep that racquet.<br><br>Q. Not even from, say, first
Wimbledon?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: (Shaking head.)<br><br>Q. Will you keep
your racquet from tonight? <br>PETE SAMPRAS: I keep
the trophies.<br><br>Q. The last trophy, Wimbledon,
you gave to the Nike<br>CEO. <br>PETE SAMPRAS: He
gave me a building, so I figured I'd<br>give him a
trophy (laughter). <br><br>Q. If you're looking to play
eight or seven of the nine,<br>what's your thought on
the ranking impact? Does that<br>enter into your
mind? You're thinking more about the<br>Slams?<br>PETE
SAMPRAS: I base my year around the Majors. I'm<br>going to
try to give myself every chance possible to
do<br>well at those tournaments. Sure, I'd love to get back
to No.<br>1 and try to finish No. 1. I feel like
I've done that in my<br>career. It's not so much a
priority. <br>You know, playing Davis Cup this year, I kind
of told<br>myself the ranking I'm just going to let
go. Not playing all<br>the Super 9, the Masters
Series, I'm going to have to win<br>Wimbledon, The Open,
a couple Majors, to finish No. 1,<br>which is what
I'm going to have to do.<br><br>Q. What is your
buildup into the French this year?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: I'm
playing World Team Cup in<br>Hamburg.<br><br>Q. No Rome,
no Monte-Carlo?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: No Monte-Carlo.
Rome is up in the air.<br>Possibly Orlando. Still
trying to figure that out, see how<br>the next three
weeks ago.<br><br>Q. Is that enough?<br>PETE SAMPRAS:
Yeah, I'll get plenty of matches. That's<br>why I'll
probably play Orlando, see if I can win a few<br>matches
there, go to Hamburg, Dusseldorf. I'm<br>guaranteed
three good matches. I hope it is enough. I<br>mean, I
hope I can break through and play okay
there.<br><br>Q. Hamburg because it's a week later?<br>PETE
SAMPRAS: Yeah. It just makes sense with the<br>schedule.
Hamburg is probably the toughest clay to play<br>on. If
you can play on there, you can go to the French
and<br>it's a pleasure to play there. <br><br>Q. Do you still
maintain a place in Orlando?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: I'm out of
Florida. I'm an alien resident,<br>paying my California
taxes.<br><br>Q. What is the better bet, Lakers winning the NBA
title or<br>your winning Wimbledon?<br>PETE SAMPRAS:
The Lakers have won 19 in a row. They<br>haven't won
a championship in a while. I'll let Bill
Dwyre<br>answer that because he knows more than I do.<br>BILL
DWYRE: Better odds he wins Wimbledon. Lakers<br>have
Miami, New York, back to back.<br><br>Q. We saw you in
the tunnel doing wind sprints before the<br>match. Is
that part of your regular routine before a
match?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: It is now.<br><br>Q. What was going
through your mind?<br>PETE SAMPRAS: I want to make sure
when I go out I'm<br>warmed up. When I move, I move
explosively. If my body<br>is not ready for it, like it wasn't
in Australia playing Andre,<br>I'm going to pull a
muscle. I'm making an effort each time I<br>go out on the
court that I do a sprint, I'm warmed up,<br>sweated,
ready to go. I've had too many serious injuries<br>over
the past six months to really make it an effort
to<br>make sure I'm warmed up. <br><br>Q. In your first set
Andrei didn't have any unforced errors,<br>there were no
break opportunities. What happened in the<br>last game?
<br>PETE SAMPRAS: I'm not sure exactly what h