Sampras and Agassi still hungry for more

You would have to delve back more than a decade to find a year in which neither Pete Sampras nor his great rival Andre Agassi won a grand slam title.

Since a long-haired Agassi wowed Wimbledon in 1992 either he or Sampras have lifted the silverware at one or more of the tennis majors each year.

Sampras, with 13, holds the record for grand slam titles, while Agassi is member of an elite club of players to have won all four grand slams.

He secured membership with his French Open triumph in 1999, joining only Don Budge, Rod Laver, Fred Perry and Roy Emerson in completing the feat.

Sampras has won more prize money than any other man in tennis history, more than $42 million at the last count.

Agassi's $23 million-plus puts him in third place.

Whichever statistics you use, the pair of veteran Americans' stranglehold on the sport has been impressive.

They continue to silence the doom-mongers and sceptics who annually write them off, spectacularly so in the case of Agassi who bounced back from a ranking of 141 in the world four years ago to world number one in 2000.

Agassi will be 32 in three months' time and Sampras is 30 but just days before the Australian Open kicks off in Melbourne, both men have made it clear that it would be madness to write them off now.

YOUNG PRETENDER

Sampras says he has three or four good years in him while Agassi, despite the receded hairline and recent fatherhood, looks fitter than in the early years.

His red-hot demolition of Taylor Dent at the warm-up event in Kooyong served notice to any young pretender with their eyes on his Australian crown.

"It's going to get tougher as I go along," he smiled, relishing the challenge. "I think this event will serve its purpose for me, as it does every year."

Younger players hauling their strapped and taped-up bodies around the circuit must be envious but Agassi puts in a lot of work.

"I feel unless I work hard in a day I don't end my day feeling as good about things so it is easy for me to put in the work," he said.

"I enjoy doing something each day, physically, it helps my own peace of mind.

"It's a lot of effort and it gets tougher each year but staying in shape is something that has come pretty easily for me."

After finishing last year without a grand slam title for the first time in nine years, Sampras is determined to put that right and he, too, is stepping up the workload.

"I've just spent a lot of time in the last couple of months getting in the best shape possible, putting in a lot of time on and off the court...trying to play a little bit more this year," he said.

"I think I realise that I play better when I play more."

That realisation was also behind his decision to return to the U.S. Davis Cup fold. "There have been certain times over the years where I have had a hard time getting going...that's where Davis Cup at those times means something.

"There is that added pressure out there which I need to keep me inspired," Sampras said.

"That's why I will play Davis Cup in weeks I would normally take off. The days of me taking four or five weeks off are over."