Last Monday, the day after he lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the Queen's final, Pete Sampras made the pilgrimage to Church Street in Wimbledon, England. He didn't have a practice session scheduled. He just wanted to replenish his competitive soul at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

	Pete Sampras' racket has served him well at the All England Club.

"You walk through the gates, you look at the plush grass and how green it is and there are no sponsors," Sampras said Tuesday during an international conference call. "Not a lot of horns and whistles that you see in other stadiums. It is our Super Bowl. You walk on Centre Court, it is like a cathedral. You just don't feel that many other places. You don't feel that really anywhere except for Wimbledon.

"I loved watching the tournament as a kid and now I have won here six times, and certainly I'd like to add to that over the next four, five years. I feel like the whole world is watching when Wimbledon is on TV. It is certainly an appreciation that I have. It's gotten greater and greater over the past number of years. I just love the place."

After six victories in the last seven years, the feeling is mutual.

Last year's win, a straight-set rout of fellow American Andre Agassi, was Sampras' 12th Grand Slam singles title, equaling the all-time men's record of Roy Emerson. This year, despite the emergence of young athletes like Australia's Hewitt (a tender 19), Magnus Norman of Sweden (24), Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten (23), Marat Safin of Russia (20) and Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero (20), Sampras is the favorite to break that record. All of them are ahead of Sampras in what the ATP Tour is calling the Champions Race 2000, but the man who turns 29 in August has the serve-and-volley tools and the accumulated wisdom to win at Wimbledon. If he does, he will equal William Renshaw's record of seven Wimbledon titles, accomplished in the musty 1880s, before tennis became a global enterprise.

Sampras begins his quest Monday with a first-round match against Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic. Certainly, Sampras will break Emerson's record. If not at Wimbledon, perhaps the U.S. Open. Sampras doesn't seem to be consumed with a sense of urgency as his biological clock ticks and his muscles, tendons and ligaments grow more brittle.

He was asked Tuesday if he was looking forward to setting the record and then moving on.

"No," Sampras said. "I don't look at the record as something I want to get over with. It's something you can't take for granted. I never, ever thought I would be in this position as a young pro. I have had two opportunities and I have come up short. Wimbledon is a place that I do pretty well.

"It is not like I feel any pressure. I look at it as an opportunity. I would love to one day break it."

A peace of sorts appears to have settled on Sampras. He was recently engaged to Bridgette Wilson (no date has been set). After winning the No. 1 ranking six years in a row to break Jimmy Connors' record, Sampras found a comfortable rhythm last year in sliding all the way down to No. 3. He started playing Davis Cup again. He won five tournaments, including Wimbledon, and produced a won-loss record of 40-8. It is a season he would probably welcome for, as he says, the next four or five years.

Sampras is ranked a pedestrian No. 10 in the ATP Champions Race 2000, which is now based on this year's results alone, not the complicated and ridiculous previous system that factored in a calendar year's worth of play.

"I haven't really been keeping up with how it has been perceived through the media and through the fans, but I do like the simplicity of it, where it's a race and everyone starts at zero," Sampras said. "I like that. I think after the U.S. Open, those next couple of months will be interesting to see who ends up in (the season-ending tournament in) Lisbon or who ends up No. 1. I think it is a step in the right direction the Tour has tried to make simplifying the ranking system."

This year, Sampras is 22-8, reached the semifinals at Australia and won the prestigious Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., before his annual early departure at the French Open. In reaching the Stella Artois Championship final last week where he saw lefties, righties, baseliners and net-chargers, Sampras showed he has already regained command of his grass game.

His health, which has been an issue in recent years, is reportedly wonderful. A herniated disc and related spasms cost him two months last year. So how is his back now? Fine, he said. His legs, which forced him to withdraw after reaching the 1999 semifinals at San Jose and caused an oh-so-slow start? Good, Sampras said.

Clearly, this does not bode well for all those young knuckleheads.

Sampras is 85-15 on grass for his career and a sporty 52-5 at Wimbledon. Really, it would be a bigger upset if Sampras doesn't win and formally place himself in the company of the greats of the game. Bjorn Borg won 11 Grand Slams before he retired at the age of 25, but never took the Australian Open or, despite reaching four finals, the U.S. Open. Rod Laver, considered the most well-rounded champion, won four Wimbledon titles, three Australians and two each at the French and U.S. Opens.

The stars -- and apparently, the vertebrae -- are aligned for Sampras. He was buoyed by the Los Angeles Lakers' win in the NBA Finals over the Indiana Pacers. Sampras, a huge Lakers fan, attended the seventh game of the Portland semifinal series.

"I was there," Sampras said. "I believe in destiny and fate and I believe they were destined to win it this year. Hopefully, we can keep the L.A. luck going over the next three weeks."