Sampras Weighs In on the State of U.S. Tennis TORONTO - For the first time in 40 years, there will be no Americans in the top 20 of the A.T.P. rankings when they're released on Monday. This after No. 20 John Isner lost to the Canadian Vasek Pospisil in the first round of the Rogers Cup on Tuesday. Pete Sampras, the winner of 14 Grand Slam singles titles and the year-end No. 1 ranked player between 1993 and 1998, feels complacency has set in with American tennis. "I just think the world's got a little better," said Sampras, who will be inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame on Saturday. Maybe in the U.S. we've got a little complacent. I think a lot of these other countries, their best athletes are playing tennis. Our best athletes are playing other sports, other than tennis. Sampras added that what happened with himself, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier in the "90s was unlikely to happen again. "It was just a rare time where everything clicked," Sampras said. Now people are wondering where the next Andre is or Pete or whatever. It doesn't happen every 10 years. Hopefully we can get a crew of young kids coming up that are hungry, that want to do well. Sampras also addressed the move by Roger Federer, the world's fifth-ranked player, to use a larger racket at the upcoming Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati beginning Aug. 11. Federer, who turned 32 this week, intends to move from the 90-inch racket he's used since 2002 to a prototype 98-inch racket. "I think a bigger racket can help in certain areas, maybe on the high backhand," said Sampras, who played here on Friday in an exhibition against James Blake. That's the shot I feel like it's helped me. Roger's forehand is such his bread and butter, and if he's thinking twice about it, that's not a good thing. Federer, who dropped out of the top four of the A.T.P. rankings after his Wimbledon loss, withdrew from this week's Rogers Cup in Montreal due to a suspected back injury. He native is 30-10 this season with just one title, an off-year for the winner of 17 Grand Slam singles titles. "I don't think Roger, he's lost a few matches, I don't think he needs to panic and feel he needs to change everything," said Sampras. He's still a great player and always will be. I will be curious to see if he plays with it at the Open. The United States Open begins Aug. 26 at the National Tennis Center in Queens, and Andy Murray, the defending Open champion and reigning Wimbledon winner, is Sampras's pick to win the final major of the season. Murray, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, was bounced by No. No 38 Ernests Gulbis at the Rogers Cup this week. "He's always been a good hitter of the ball, been a great mover," said Sampras. I think mentally he's a bit better now. Now he feels like he belongs, like he's up there with Roger, up there with Rafa. He's on his way to doing great things.