On Wednesday night, Sampras found an equilibrium of sorts. He throttled a young Austrian named Alexander Peya, 6-4, 6-2, in a match that required less than an hour.

"[Tuesday] I struggled a little bit, but once you get through a tough match like that, you feel relieved that you're still around when it's 6-all in the third," Sampras said. "[Wednesday] I just felt a lot more comfortable out there.

"I'm very happy that I'm here and that I have somewhat arrived. I've got to remember who I am and the type of player I am."

A matter of concentration
Is it that simple? Is it within Sampras' once-incredible powers of concentration to be the dominant player he has been for so long?

	Pete Sampras reacts after being hit by a 136 mph serve from Andy Roddick during the third round at the Ericsson Open. Roddick went on to win 7-6 (2), 6-3.

It depends on the night.

Against Rochus, his serve sometimes sizzled, once as fast as 128 mph. Sampras also rendered some exquisite volleys and a number of blistering passing shots. It was consistency -- in the form of bad decisions and unforced errors -- that was lacking. In the end, Sampras was just good enough to win, a level of play that hasn't been enough to carry off another Grand Slam title.

After finishing as the world's No. 1 ranked player for an unprecedented six years in a row from 1993-98, Sampras cut back his schedule and said he was going to concentrate on the Grand Slam events. There are fleeting moments when Sampras looks as good as he did in the mid-1990s, but he has had difficulty sustaining that momentum over the grueling two weeks a Grand Slam event requires.

When Sampras lost the 2000 U.S. Open final in straight sets to Russian Marat Safin there was a palpable sense that a torch had been passed. If not to Safin then to the next generation.

"He was too good," Sampras said then. "It's a bit of a humbling feeling to have someone play so well for so long. It isn't often that I get carved, waxed like that."

At this year's Australian Open, an event he has won twice, Sampras reached the round of 16 before losing to fellow American Todd Martin. After winning the opening set in an easy tiebreaker, Sampras collapsed, losing three straight sets. All of his previous three matches had gone beyond the minimum three sets. He looked tired. On the clay at the French Open, the only major he has never won, Sampras was similarly extended to five sets in his opening match against Cedric Kauffmann before losing to Blanco in straight sets.

Wimbledon, Sampras' most phenomenal canvas as an artist, was predictably kinder. Sampras, who had won seven of the previous eight titles, lasted into the quarterfinals, where young Swiss star Roger Federer outlasted him in five sets. That broke a string of 31 consecutive victories there. It was, under the circumstances, an encouraging performance.

While injuries -- a cranky back, a tender hip flexor and a leg problem all sidelined him for periods last year -- Sampras has been reasonably healthy this year from a physical standpoint. Mentally, Sampras has had difficulty jumping into tournaments; in four of this year's 13 tournaments, Sampras lost his first match.

At the Ericsson Open in March, Sampras lost in straight sets to 18-year-old Andy Roddick, prompting U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe to observe: "He's more vulnerable. His motivation is not there week in and week out."

A month ago in Los Angeles, his residence of late, Sampras made the transition, dispatching Chris Woodruff, Michael Chang, Magnus Norman and Xavier Malisse before encountering Agassi in the final. Two weeks later in Cincinnati, Sampras unstrung Nicolas Lapentti in the first round, but fell to Alberto Martin in the second.

Sampras, who had planned to play the following week in Washington, D.C., withdrew and later accepted a wild-card berth in the Hamlet Cup. After surviving Rochus, Sampras acknowledged that his resum´ no longer wins him matches.

"There's not quite the fear factor there was five years ago," he said. "But I still feel like I can hold my own. I knew I'd be a little bit rusty. Your first match in a couple of weeks -- just trying to feel it out, get a rhythm."

Where is the motivation?
Last September, after the U.S. Open, Sampras married actress Bridgette Wilson. There was widespread speculation that Sampras would follow Grand Slam champions Boris Becker and John McEnroe, whose love of tennis was significantly diminished by the love in their lives.

	“	At 21, you get fazed and want to work harder. At 29, you wonder if you're enjoying tennis so much. You wonder if you're able to play guys who take big cuts on every ball. It's difficult. ”
		— Todd Martin

Certainly, Wilson is a factor in Sampras' reduced schedule, but can she be blamed for his wandering concentration on the court? During the Indian Wells final against Agassi, Sampras committed 49 unforced errors. Agassi had only 10. After hanging tough in the first two sets, Sampras lost the pivotal frame, 1-6.

"Andre came up with good stuff at the right time and I slowly wilted away," Sampras said later. "It's disappointing, but I'm not sad."

Taken at his word, why isn't Sampras sad or even mad? Because he already has achieved everything he ever hoped to on a tennis court. He desperately wanted to break Jimmy Connors' record of five straight No. 1 rankings, and so he did. He ached to break Roy Emerson's total of 12 Grand Slam championships, and so he did. Is it really any great surprise that Sampras has difficulty summoning the competitive energy necessary to win at the highest level?

It happens to any champion on the downside of his career, particularly one that has reached all of his lifelong goals.

Todd Martin, a long-time Sampras observer, points to the Safin match as a pivotal marker.

"I don't think it was very comforting for Pete," Martin said recently. "I think he was fazed by it. At 21, you get fazed and want to work harder. At 29, you wonder if you're enjoying tennis so much. You wonder if you're able to play guys who take big cuts on every ball. It's difficult."

Opponents believe that Sampras' lack of matches -- he averaged 85 matches per year in his run at No. 1, but over the past three years the number is closer to 50 -- has forced him to rely too heavily on his serve. Not only does that lack of conditioning lead to injuries, but opponents note that he isn't moving as well at the net as he once did.

'I still feel I can hold my own'
If Sampras doesn't win this year's U.S. Open, which begins Monday, it would end an eight-year streak of winning at least one Grand Slam event, an impressive record he co-owns with Bjorn Borg. It wouldn't shock anyone if Sampras won the 2001 title at the National Tennis Center, but it would constitute at least a mild upset.

For the record, Sampras is seeded No. 10, based on his uneven play this season. That's his lowest seed here since he broke through in 1990 with his first Grand Slam victory.

"It's still my ability against their ability," Sampras said of the Galo Blancos of the world. "I still feel I can hold my own and beat these guys pretty consistently.

"When I was coming up at 19, 20, playing the Lendls and McEnroes and Connorses, those guys were legends. So when I played them, I had nothing to lose, came out swinging and next thing I know I'm in the Open finals. It's a fun time in your life and that's what these guys are going through."

The implication: This, perhaps, isn't a fun time to be Pete Sampras -- at least on the tennis court.

"I've had a bull's-eye on my chest for a pretty long time now," Sampras said. "But everything progresses."

Or, by nature, digresses.

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.