Pete Sampras sits on top of the world yet again but the American tennis star is feeling a little underappreciated these days.
After finishing 1998 as the number one player in the world for a record sixth consecutive year -- a feat he feels will never be duplicated --
the lack of attention his accomplishment received in the United States was downright depressing.
"I felt I was doing something that was so unbelievably difficult. I don't know what it takes to make tennis more popular here,"
Sampras said during a teleconference from Los Angeles on Thursday.
Sampras last week completed a relentless drive to finish the year atop the world rankings, a campaign that took him through seven
European tournaments in five countries over an exhausting eight-week span.
His pursuit to break the record he shared with Jimmy Connors came down to the season finale --
the ATP Tour World Championship in Hannover, Germany -- and still the American press that throngs to his U.S. Open
matches was missing. "I was really close to doing something that has never been done in the history of game, and breaking
another American's record is a very unique story ... and there was just one American (journalist) in Hannover.
It makes you feel a little underappreciated," he complained.
Sampras knew enough not to expect the kind of frenzy that accompanied home run king Mark McGwire's astonishing record run,
but a little fanfare back home would have been nice. "You would hope that there would be some people from your own country that
would come over and report on what was going on," he said. "It was obviously a very big deal in Europe, a huge media blitz,
but unfortunately there weren't too many Yanks there, which is disappointing."
Sampras, who picked up his fifth Wimbledon crown this year to move within one of equaling Roy Emerson's record of
12 Grand Slam singles titles, doesn't expect to see his latest accomplishment eclipsed.
"Believe me, guys that have been number one know how hard it is to stay there," he said.
"I know what it takes to do it and I really don't see anyone in today's game having the consistency and durability
it takes to be number one, not only for one or two years but for six," he said, dispensing with any pretense of modesty.
"You need the game, you need the heart and you need the mind. Some guys have two of the three, but to do it for six years
you need to have everything." Two more impressive records will be well within Sampras's grasp in 1999.
He needs two Grand Slam wins to overtake Emerson -- a mark he could tie at the Australian Open in January --
while 18 more weeks atop the world rankings would break Ivan Lendl's mark of 270 total weeks as number one.
"These records out there are the reason I'm going to continue to work hard, and breaking the Grand Slam record is something
I feel is realistic. "As long as there are things out there that I feel I want to do then I am willing to do whatever it takes,
so when I look back when I'm done, I won't have any regrets," he said. Even with his Wimbledon win and amazing new record,
1998 was an off year by Sampras's imposing standards with just four titles and a mediocre 61-17 match record.
If he is to complete a seventh year as number one, Sampras doesn't want to work as hard for it as he did this October and November.
"That is something I'm going to try to avoid next year and the years after, so I want to get off to a good start (in 1999) and make sure
I go down to Australia fresh and ready to go." Unlike some other former top players, such as Mats Wilander and Andre Agassi,
staying motivated has never been a problem for Sampras. "The motivation will always be there as long as I'm playing the best I can be,
and in my mind that is to be number one." With his five Wimbledon crowns, four U.S. Open titles and two
Australian Open championships, there remains one glaring omission from Sampras's Grand Slam resume.
"I would love to win the French Open, that would be phenomenal," he said. "If I could ever win that event,
I couldn't do anything more in the game."
