Sampras contemplates Wimbledon farewell

In the aftermath of the United States Open, Pete Sampras is resting on his laurels and Greg Rusedski is resting his injured left foot. Sampras will not play again this year and Rusedski, whom the American defeated in five sets in the third round a month ago en route to winning his 14th Grand Slam singles title, yesterday withdrew from an event for the third time since returning from New York.

Rusedski, 29, who missed Britain's Davis Cup match against Thailand and this week's tournament in Moscow, will continue to have treatment instead of competing in Vienna next week.

Today, as Britain go into the draw for February's first round of the Davis Cup World Group, the hope is that Rusedski will not need surgery.

The British No 2, who trained at the start of the week, is still entered for the Masters Series tournament in Madrid on 14 October.

Sampras, 31, is torn between ending his career on the high note of his triumph against Andre Agassi in the US Open final or preparing for one more season in which to say farewell to Wimbledon in a manner befitting a seven-times champion rather more than his second-round defeat by George Bastl, a Swiss "lucky loser" on Court Two last June.

"Tennis is something that I love to do," Sampras says, "and once it's over, it's over. Besides, I would love to play Wimbledon one more time and say my goodbyes there. I'm weighing up my options at this point."

The ATP Tour confirmed yesterday that Sampras would not be travelling to Europe for the indoor season and therefore could not qualify for the Masters Cup in Shanghai next month. Sampras's wife, Bridgette, is expecting their first child in December.

In the second round of the Japan Open yesterday the world No 1, Lleyton Hewitt, overpowered Michael Chang 6-2, 6-2. The Australian's projected path to the final was eased by the defeat of Carlos Moya and two other top seeds. Moya fell 6-4, 7-5 to Alexander Waske, of Germany, while another Spaniard, the fourth-seeded Alex Corretja, succumbed to Karol Kucera, of Slovakia, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.