Pete Sampras's hopes of capturing the one Grand Slam title that has eluded him so far in his career were dashed today when he suffered a humiliating 7-6 6-3 6-2 defeat to Spaniard Galo Blanco at the French Open. The fifth seed was outclassed and outplayed by his young opponent, and despite having won a record 13 Grand Slam titles, his collection remains incomplete without a Grand Slam victory on this surface. Now 29 years of age, time is running out for Sampras to lift the French Open trophy at Roland Garros.
Although the 29-year-old American matched Blanco's efforts in the opening set, losing the tie-break affected his game while the Spaniard's confidence rose with every point he won. Blanco soon had Sampras running all over the court and his skill and finesse proved too great a weapon against Sampras's power. Sampras has only ever reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros once, five years ago, and since then he has failed to progress past the third round.
However, Sampras said afterwards that although winning at Roland Garros remains one of his career ambitions, he would not swap his Wimbledon titles for a French Open victory. "I take something out of Wimbledon - the years that I've won and lost - something pretty great. I wouldn't trade any of those for one French. To have won seven is quite a lot. I wouldn't trade it for anything," he said.
The American is still in the dark about why success has eluded him in Paris. "I feel over the course of my career I did everything I could possibly do to do well here. I've tried different schedules, tried playing a lot on clay, tried playing a little less. So far, nothing's happened. You need some breaks, you need to be playing well. All you can do is keep trying and come back next year, prepare as best you can and hopefully things happen," he explained.
Sampras was also full of praise for his opponent, Blanco. "Today was unfortunate. As the years go by it gets more and more difficult. But you have to give him credit. I lost to a better player on clay. He played better than I did, plain and simple. He really played great," he added.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
