‘Pistol Pete’ reloads

Some would say that Pete Sampras is the greatest tennis player to ever play the sport.

Even legends can get rusty. Sampras showed that at times last season while playing for World Team Tennis’ Newport Beach Breakers, when he went 2-5 in regular-season singles sets.

The showing probably wasn’t what many would expect from Sampras, who won a professional tennis record 14 Grand Slams from 1990-2002, including seven championships at Wimbledon and five at the U.S. Open.

Last year with the Breakers was his first professional competition since winning the 2002 U.S. Open. But Newport Beach, which advanced to the WTT championship match before losing to the Philadelphia Freedoms, was 0-6 at one point with Sampras in the lineup.

Still, part of the stuff that made Sampras legendary — his resolve — remains strong. After Sampras won a Boston senior series event in May, another tennis legend, John McEnroe, said Sampras could still be a top-five seed at Wimbledon some five years after retirement.

And, during a telephone conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Sampras said he expects to do well when he debuts for the Breakers in a home match July 10 against the Sacramento Capitals.

“I hope to perform better this year at the Team Tennis than I did last year,” Sampras said. “Last year I wasn’t very good. But I have been playing. I have been hitting three days a week for the past six months. It’s amazing what a little bit of practice will do for you, so my tennis has gotten a little bit better.”

Sampras will also play three road matches with the Breakers: July 18 in Schenectady, N.Y., July 19 in Philadelphia and July 24 in St. Louis. The 35-year-old who resides in Los Angeles did improve as the season went on last year, winning a set in the playoffs for the Breakers.

It promises to be a fun summer for Sampras, who will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on July 14 in Newport, R.I. He said he enjoys the World Team Tennis format and wants to give the fans their money’s worth.

“I enjoy the night,” Sampras said Tuesday. “It is actually a fun night. It is competitive tennis. It is real tennis. It is definitely an environment that I want to play well, I want to win.

“Actually, not playing well, I enjoyed the experience last year and a lot of them have been friends of mine for many, many years and I hope playing helps the tour out and helps their cause … And it is summer. It is a great time to be outside playing tennis.”

Sampras finished the year ranked No. 1 in the world six straight years from 1993-98, which is also a record. But he was criticized by then-Breakers Coach Dick Leach last season for being out of shape.

“You can’t put down your racquet in 2003, then pick it up three months before you play a match,” Leach said to the Daily Pilot last July. “That’s too hard. He’s a great guy, great to his teammates and the fans love him. But [with him in the lineup] we can’t win.”

New Breakers coach Trevor Kronemann, also the men’s tennis coach at UC Irvine, has no such reservations.

“That’s going to be a lot of fun [to coach players like Sampras and Maria Sharapova, who will play a home date on July 25],” Kronemann said. “The great thing about being a coach of people like that is that they know what they’re doing. They’re professionals.”

But regardless of how much he has he has improved over the past year, Sampras remains a big draw. He helped the Breakers sell out his debut with the team last July, and the team expects another big crowd this July 10.

After all, there are only so many chances to see possibly the greatest player in history.

“Last year was great,” Sampras said. “ … People look forward to seeing me play again, and it has been a while. I think this year will be the same; I’m inducted into the Hall of Fame right before I play some of these matches. That’s the icing on the cake for having a good career and I will just hopefully play well.

“That’s kind of my goal. People want to see me play well and hopefully I will perform this year better than last year.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.