June 10, 1993 - World no. 1 Pete Sampras
was sensationally knocked out of the Stella
Artois tournament at Queens's last night,
throwing his preparations for Wimbledon into
chaos.
The joint-favorite for the All England
club title went down 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 to little
known South African Grant Stafford in the
second round and admitted: "I played
like an idiot."
Sampras complained afterwards of being
"tired, weak and lethargic."
And he added: "I have been in Europe
for five weeks and I am getting tired,
physically and mentally."
But the man who has risen to the No. 1
spot, despite not having won a Grand Slam
title since 1990, insisted he was still
capable of winning Wimbledon.
Favourite
"I could have done with more
matches on grass but I still think I'm one of
the favourites," said the American who,
before last night, was 4-1 joint favorite
with Stefan Edberg.
Meanwhile, injured Wimbledon champion
Andre Agassi won't pick up a tennis racket
until Saturday at the earliest and now looks
unlikely to make this year's Championships.
The American's personal physician, Dr.
Richard Westbrook, said: "I won't let
him on a court until Saturday. We are waiting
to see how a cortisone injection affects
him."
Agassi hasn't hit a tennis ball for two
months because of a wrist injury and 1991
champion Michael Stich said he doubted
whether Agassi would defend the title.
"if he is not 100 per cent fit, I don't
think he'll come." he said.
Stich was speaking after beating last
year's British Wimbledon hero Jeremy Bates
6-3, 6-2 in the second round at Queens.
Bates said: "If Michael serves huge,
he'll be in with a chance at Wimbledon."
Britain's surprise first round winner,
Ross Matheson went down 6-3, 6-4 to America's
David Witt
Witt now faces sole British hope Chris
Wilkinson
