Hard-to-impress tennis icon John McEnroe is prepared to advise now-retired Pete Sampras to step back into the mix with a one-off return to Wimbledon this summer. "To tell you the truth I'm sort of tempted to push him to play it, because it would be interesting," said MacEnroe, a three-time champion on the lawns.
"You forget until you see him because he hurts you with one shot." The 48-year-old McEnroe, playing this weekend in Rome at the Black Rock Masters seniors event at the Foro Italico, cites personal experience that the 35-year-old Sampras still has game after losing to him at a seniors event this month in Boston.
Sampras, who played in a serious tournament for the first time since his 2002 retirement, said he was not interested in changing his post-tennis life.
"I wouldn't play Wimbledon just to play - I would play to win. There needs to be a reason to come back, and there really isn't a reason," said the 14-time Grand Slam winner who lifted seven of those trophys at the All England club.