from www.wimbledon.com--Pete Sampras might look
at the Wimbedon field and realise that the draw has
been kind to him as he bids for a seventh title at the
All England Club. He always knew that Andre Agassi
would be seeded to play him in the final and his own
route there is by no means strewn with potential
pitfalls.<br><br>It is true that Sampras should face Lleyton Hewitt
in the last eight but the memory of his defeat to
the 19-year-old Australian in the Stella Artois final
last Sunday will have faded and carry less
significance if they both arrive at the Wimbledon
quarter-finals.<br><br>Sampras has not had the greatest of years--he took the
title in Miami and was a semi-finalist in the
Australian Open and has had two periods of inactivity to
rest injuries. But none of this seems to matter when
he starts at Wimbledon. In eleven challenges, he has
won six times and against that massive backlog of
achievement almost everyone else pales into
insignificance.<br><br>Of course Agassi is capable of beating him. He did
so in the Australian Open this year and has won 12
of 29 matches against Sampras. But Sampras has
beaten him twice at Wimbledon,including that astonishing
final last year which was a mission statement of where
Sampras stood at the end of the 20th Century.<br><br>The
highest seed in Sampras' half of the draw is Magnus
Norman of Sweden who has not played since the French
Open final when he was beaten by Gustavo Kuerten. But
Norman has a poor track record at Wimbledon with two
third round appearances in three Championships.And like
all those who will stand in the path of the defending
champion he will know that Sampras will be driven by the
desire to gain a 13th Grand Slam title to make him a
stand alone champion with one more title than Roy
Emerson.