09-09-2012

It was the last all-American men’s final in a Grand Slam tournament; the last match between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi; and though this was not clear at the time, the last match of Sampras’s career.

It was the 2002 United States Open final, 10 years ago already.

“Obviously with the Open on right now, I think about it,” Sampras said in a telephone interview last week. “And I think a lot about where I was a couple of months before I won the Open.”

That was at Wimbledon, his signature tournament, where he lost in five sets on Court 2 in the second round to a Swiss player named George Bastl who had little in common with a certain Swiss player who has since supplanted Sampras as the most prolific men’s majors champion of all time.

Quite unlike Roger Federer, Bastl never won a tour event. His world ranking peaked at 71 in 2000, and he made it into the Wimbledon draw that year only as a “lucky loser.” He ran out of luck in the round after shocking Sampras, who during a changeover sought inspiration to no avail by reading a letter from his wife of two years, Bridgette.

“One of the biggest low points I’ve had in my career,” Sampras said. “I just felt lost, no confidence. My coaching situation was a mess, and I just felt really sad with where my tennis was.”

Sampras, with his whip of a running forehand and his smooth but deadly serve, had won a record 13 major singles titles, including four United States Opens, by making attacking tennis look easy. But the gears were grinding at that stage, and Sampras — though secure financially and in legacy — was not yet at peace with the idea of calling it a career with his 31st birthday approaching in August 2002.

He made his third coaching change in a year, contacting his former coach of six years, Paul Annacone, who was working for the United States Tennis Association. Annacone’s goal was not to tinker with Sampras’s strokes or his fitness regime; it was to tinker with his head by reminding him of his achievements and muting some of the negative background noise that had been generated by Sampras’s going more than a year without winning a title.

“It was all about believing in myself and my game, and Paul reminding me who I am and what I’ve done in the game,” Sampras said. “The belief that as much as everyone wrote me off that I didn’t write myself off; that I could still play at a high level and get myself going at the right time.

“There was no reason why not. I didn’t win 13 majors by bluffing it.”

So he would remind everyone at Flushing Meadows, including Greg Rusedski, the huge-serving Briton who lost in five sets to Sampras in the third round and then volunteered that Sampras was a step and a half slower coming to the net than at his peak.

“It was what everybody was thinking, that he was a step and a half slow,” Rusedski said in the Open players lounge last week. “But that gave him a little extra motivation, and he went through and proved us all wrong, and that’s why he’s a great champion.”

Sampras, seeded 17th, was still fast enough to defeat Tommy Haas of Germany in four sets in the fourth round; still fast enough to beat the rising 20-year-old American Andy Roddick in straight sets in the quarterfinals and to beat the unorthodox Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands in straight sets in the semifinals.

“The Roddick match was a big match because I could save my body a little bit,” Sampras said. “It was a pretty comfortable match, and it helped me have a little bit left in the final.”

The lack of a day of rest between Super Saturday and the Sunday final at the Open has long been tough on older players because of the recovery factor. But Sampras, then 31, was actually the younger man. Agassi, 32, had played the second, tougher semifinal on Saturday against Lleyton Hewitt, winning in four sets.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled about it,” Agassi said of the final with Sampras to come. “You always question if it will ever happen again. You have a career that you spend playing your best tennis against one of the greats of all time, and you’re never guaranteed, even with the best of careers, to have that sort of rivalry and that sort of opposite that brings out the best in you over the years.

“To me, this feels less about what we pull out of each other tomorrow; more about a nice toast to the past. Because it’s going to be a great day.”