There's no place like grass: Pete Sampras is likely to accept a
wild card to play in the Stella Artois grass-court championships
at London's Queen's Club next month, the seven-time Wimbledon
champion said on Thursday.
The winner of a record 13 Grand Slam titles had not been on
the entry list for the traditional pre-Wimbledon warm-up event,
but after losing in the second round of the French Open to
Spain's Galo Blanco he may have changed his plans.
"I guess there's a good chance I'll probably play Queen's,"
the American said. "I hadn't really been thinking about it but I
probably will play now."
Sampras has won the Queen's
tournament four times.
Unlikely bedfellows: The Williams sisters found an
unlikely ally on Thursday following their controversial decision
to pull out of the French Open doubles tournament.
Top seed Martina Hingis said it was quite understandable
that Venus Williams would want to return home after the second
seed's shock first-round singles exit on Monday.
"If you lose the first round I think you don't want to stay
around much longer," Hingis said after her second-round victory
over Catalina Castano on Thursday.
Hingis was more critical of the apparent lack of clay-court
preparation put in by the Williams sisters.
"I think it's difficult if you haven't played that many
matches to go into a clay tournament -- just come basically out
of nowhere, no match experience, then play good tennis," Hingis said.
"It may be different on hard court. That's what they're used
to. On clay you have to be more patient."
10 Burning Questions: Page 2 talked to actors Jane Kaczmarek of "Malcom in the Middle" and Bradley Whitford of "The West Wing" the husband and wife celebrity spokesteam for USA Tennis Month, which ends today.