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Closing in Sampras just two wins away from Wimbledon title
Posted: Thursday July 06, 2000 01:14 AM
LONDON (Reuters) -- Despite bypassing all the other seeds Pete Sampras says Wimbledon 2000 is one of the toughest tournaments he has played as he tries to shrug off the shin injury threatening his bid for a record 13th Grand Slam title. The 28-year-old six-time Wimbledon champion defeated fellow American Jan-Michael Gambill 6-4, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Sampras has yet to play a seed and faces Belarussian qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov in the semifinals. But he said afterwards that this was one of the most difficult times in his career. He had even tried acupuncture in a bid to cure the soreness to the tendon joining his shin to his foot. "It's up there," Sampras said when asked if this was one of the most difficult periods he had endured. "It's been different not practicing. Mentally it's a little unsettling. I've been dealt this hand and there's not much I can do about it now. It's difficult but it's a challenge. "It's definitely something I'm not used to. It's been a difficult week. You go through an emotional rollercoaster with your good days and your bad days. "I'll just try to get my energy up for [the semifinals on] Friday. Asked if he had resorted to acupuncture needles, he said: "I've tried a few things, yeah." Sampras seemed untroubled by the injury during Wednesday's win and in fact it was Gambill who struggled physically, first needing a thigh support and then a plaster for a bleeding nipple. "I was bleeding from the shirt rubbing up against my chest," he said afterwards. "It's not the kind of thing you want to happen to you on centre court." A solitary break in each of the sets he won secured Sampras's passage and he did not lose serve once, finishing off with his 26th ace after two and three-quarter hours on Centre court. "The leg's a touch sore," Sampras said. "If this was any tournament other than a Slam I probably wouldn't play." The defending champion paid glowing tribute to his 23-year-old opponent, who was making his first appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final and had defeated seventh seed Lleyton Hewitt and number nine Thomas Enqvist on his way to the last eight. "He's got a big game and a big future," Sampras said of Gambill, who held his own in the ace department, hitting 23 in an impressive serving performance. "I never really felt I was in control of his service games. You're looking at the future of American tennis. "He's a stand-out. He's got a big serve and grass is a surface he's going to get better on." Gambill lamented the double fault which gifted Sampras the first set and the fact that an unforced forehand error cost him the third set. "I made the errors, it was my own stupidity that lost me those games," he said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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