The Hindu : Sampras pulls out of U.S. Open

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 25, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Sampras pulls out of U.S. Open

NEW YORK JULY 24. Defending U.S. Open champion Pete Sampras officially withdrew from this year's tournament on Wednesday.

Last year's finalist Andre Agassi will be the top seed.

Sampras was automatically included on the initial entry list last week based on his No. 26 ranking.

However, he has not played a professional tournament since winning his fifth U.S. Open, and record 14th Grand Slam singles title, last year.

He is the first U.S. Open men's singles champion not to defend his title since 1970 winner Ken Rosewall.

Sampras told NBC-TV last weekend that `there's a good chance' he will officially retire soon.

Agassi, a two-time U.S. Open champion, is currently the world's top-ranked player.

The 33-year-old Agassi, this year's Australian Open champion, is the oldest player to be ranked No. 1 by the ATP.

Agassi has won eight Grand Slam titles, tying him for sixth on the career list. French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain was seeded second with Wimbledon champion Roger Federer of Switzerland third. Carlos Moya of Spain, the 1998 French Open champion, is the No. 4 seed with Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, the 2001 U.S. Open and 2002 Wimbledon champion, seeded fifth.

Andy Roddick is the next highest-ranked American at No. 6. Roddick, 20, reached his first Grand Slam semifinal this year at the Australian Open and then also made it to the Wimbledon semifinals.

He has been in the U.S. Open quarterfinals the last two years, falling each time to the eventual champion.

The Open, to be held from Aug. 25 to Sept. 7, will feature 99 of the top-100 ranked men's players. The champion will receive $1 million. — AP

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