Sampras might pull curtain on miserable season

Pete Sampras hinted he might bring his miserable season to an end after a shock defeat in straight sets to qualifier Max Mirnyi at the Stuttgart Masters Series tournament on Friday.

"I'm not quite sure what I'm going do," said the troubled seven-times Wimbledon champion, who was only the shadow of his brilliant self on the purple court of the Schleyer Halle.

The 24-year-old from Belarus had brushed him aside with a merciless 6-4 6-2 win in their quarter-final match.

Sampras said he was now hesitating whether to take the wild card offered to him by the organisers of next week's Swiss indoor tournament in Basle.

Asked if he would go straight back to the United States if he decided not to go to Switzerland, the former world number one said: "Yes."

In that case, Sampras would probably stay home and not return to Europe for the Paris Masters Series starting on October 29, meaning he could no longer qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup next month in Sydney.

"I would not come back," he confirmed.

Sampras, who has not won a title since Wimbledon last year, was playing his first tournament since his defeat in straight sets to young Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the U.S. Open final.

The American showed only glimpses of his old form this week, looked rusty and even lost his cool, narrowly escaping a code violation for hitting the ball off the court after a controversial line call in his second round victory over Austria's Stefan Koubek.

SORE ARM

There was some improvement in a hard-fought victory over Chilean Marcelo Rios in the next round but weeks out of action took their toll and he ended that match with a sore arm. "I had the dead arm," he said after looking helpless at times against Mirnyi. "I just couldn't serve. It wasn't fun."

Sampras said he had come to Stuttgart only because he wanted to qualify for the Masters Cup where the top seven players in the ATP Champions Race and Wimbledon Champion Goran Ivanisevic, who is set to qualify as a Grand Slam winner, will battle it out.

"I definitely want to try to go there, play against the best players in the world and end the season on a high note," Sampras said earlier this week. "That's why I'm here."

But his defeat to Mirnyi left the 30-year-old, who has featured in the season-ending event every time since 1990 and has ended the year at number one a record six consecutive times, facing a struggle to qualify.

Sampras was seventh in the Race standings but Britain's Tim Henman, two spots and just 11 points back, would overtake him if he was to beat German Tommy Haas in his quarter-final here later on Friday.

"I'm going to think about it tonight, make a decision on what the best thing is to do at this point," said Sampras, suggesting his final word might depend on the outcome of the Henman match.

If he did choose to bring his season to a premature end, he would finish the year without a title for the first time since 1989.