One of the questions he parries at this time of the season is if it might make a difference if he hired a specialist coach for clay."Paul [Annacone] is my coach, and I definitely have the confidence in what we're trying to do together," Sampras says "He knows what I need to do to play well. Just because I work with someone else, it doesn't mean I'm going to do great on clay. It's not a magic pill." Andre Agassi, leader of the ATP Champions Race, seems a better bet to beat the Spanish/Latin American challenge, although the Las Vegan may have hoped for a less dangerous first-round opponent than Sweden's Thomas Johansson. Lindsay Davenport, the 1999 Wimbledon champion, was the latest top player to withdraw from the women's singles tournament yesterday, joining Monica Seles, Mary Pierce and Anna Kournikova on the causality list.Davenport, the third seed, suffered a recurrence of an injury to her right knee which had caused her to retire during a match against Russia's Elena Dementieva in the quarter-finals of the Ericsson Open in March. "I am going back to the United States now to see my specialist and hope to be fully fit for Wimbledon," Davenport said.The women's draw was revised, projecting Amelie Mauresmo, the French fifth seed, to play Jelena Dokic in the fourth round and Dementieva in the quarter-finals. Mauresmo cannot meet Venus Williams, the second seed, until the semi-finals.SAMPRAS'S FRENCH OPEN AND MONTE CARLO OPEN RECORDFRENCH OPEN1989 Second round: lost to Michael Chang (US) 6-1 6-1 6-11991 Second round: lost to Thierre Champion (Fr) 6-3 6-1 6-11992 Quarter-finals: lost to Andre Agassi (US) 7-6 6-2 6-11993 Quarter-finals: lost to Sergi Bruguera (Sp) 6-3 4-6 6-1 6-41994 Quarter-finals: lost to Jim Courier (US) 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-41995 First round: lost to Gilbert Schaller (Aut) 7-6 4-6 6-7 6-2 6-41996 Semi-finals: lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) 7-6 6-0 6-21997 Third round: lost to Magnus Norman (Swe) 6-2 6-4 2-6 6-41998 Second round: lost to Ramon Delgado (Par) 7-6 6-3 6-41999 Second round: lost to Andrei Medvedev (Ukr) 7-5 1-6 6-4 6-32000 First round: lost to Mark Philippoussis (Aus) 4-6 7-5 7-6 4-6 8-6MONTE CARLO OPEN1992 Third round: lost to Carl-Uwe Steeb (Ger) 6-3 6-41995 Third round: lost to Paul Haarhuis (Neth) 6-4 1-1 ret1997 Third round: lost to Magnus Larsson (Swe) 3-6 6-2 6-31998 Quarter-finals: lost to Fabrice Santoro (Fr) 6-1 6-1. It came down to stress management, and Amelie Mauresmo – France's best hope for a French Open title – cracked under the pressure.
It came down to stress management, and Amelie Mauresmo – France's best hope for a French Open title – cracked under the pressure. "I never really felt I could relax I couldn't overcome it," Mauresmo, the No. 5 seed, said after losing 7–5, 7–5 today to 56th–ranked German Jana Kandarr.Expectations were high for Mauresmo, especially after fellow Frenchwoman and defending champion Mary Pierce dropped out last week with an injury."I kept trying to think about how I could loosen up, but I couldn't collect my thoughts," Mauresmo said."It's not an easy thing to put into words It was a feeling of powerlessness in addition to stress. You feel as though you're being overwhelmed."In the one–hour, 17–minute match, Mauresmo committed 37 unforced errors to Kandarr's 30. The 24–year–old German came back from a 5–1 deficit in the second set to take the match.It was their second meeting and the second time Kandarr won in straight sets.Mauresmo's ouster came alongside the opening–day elimination of No.
2 seed Venus Williams, leaving the tournament with only two of its top five seeded women. Lindsay Davenport, seeded third, withdrew on Sunday with a knee injury Top–seeded Martina Hingis and No. 4 Jennifer Capriati are scheduled to play on Tuesday.Mauresmo, 21, came into the tournament as one of the tour's hottest players, with 31 wins and only three losses for the year.But none of that had prepared her for the French Open, where she made it to the fourth round last year."It's a different event It's a dream as far as I'm concerned," Mauresmo said She paused. "I should try to put it more into perspective."Her coach, Alexia Dechaume–Balleret, described the match as difficult to watch."I was very sad for Amelie," Dechaume–Balleret said "She had a lot of pressure on her She was very tense She was nervous. She wanted to do really well here."Disappointed by Mauresmo's early–round elimination, the crowd in Paris mixed hisses with applause as she exited the court."I've learned to manage different situations. But I was never in this position, the position I was in today," a reflective and soft–spoken Mauresmo said.
