Pete Sampras’ horrible year got worse yesterday when he received a dreadful draw for the U.S. Open. According to Patrick McEnroe, Sampras has only himself to blame.

Seeded 10th after not winning a tournament this year, Sampras, Patrick Rafter and Andre Agassi were bunched into one quarter of the 64-man draw. That means Sampras may have to face Rafter, the No. 6 seed, in the Round of 16, with the winner potentially meeting the second-seeded Agassi in the quarterfinals. For the 30-year-old Sampras to beat Rafter and Agassi back-to-back just to make the semifinals seems impossible.

“Sampras had a miserable year by his standards,” said McEnroe, the U.S. Davis Cup coach on hand Flushing Meadows yesterday. “These are the breaks. If he was ranked three in the world, where he should be, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Sampras, a four-time Open champ, hasn’t won at Flushing since 1996.

“That’s the way the cookie crumbles,” Sampras said last night after advancing to the Hamlet Cup quarters with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 203rd ranked Alexander Peya.

“It’s a tough draw for everybody. It doesn’t matter whom I’m playing as long I’m playing well. If I take care of business, I feel I have a pretty good shot.”

No one can remember one quarter of an Open draw being so jam-packed with past Flushing greatness. Sampras, Agassi and Rafter have combined to win eight Open titles. The Sampras, Agassi and Rafter survivor could meet third seed Marat Safin, the defending Open champion, in the semifinals. Counting Safin’s 2000 title, nine Open titles are contained on one side of the draw, none on the other.

In the women’s draw, No. 2 seed Jennifer Capriati and No. 4 Venus Williams could be headed for a semifinal showdown. McEnroe called that a “disappointment”. They clearly are the two hottest players on the tour and a showdown in the first-ever prime-time women’s final could have been a further boon to the more popular female game.

Of course, an all-Williams Final would be smashing, too, with No. 10 Serena Williams and Venus are on opposite halfs. But the struggling Serena faces a tough road, with No. 3 Lindsay Davenport slated in the quarters.

McEnroe, who predicts Agassi will win the Open, believes the aura surrounding Sampras has dissipated. McEnroe doesn’t think Sampras will get past Rafter.

“He isn’t a favorite anymore, he’s a contender,” Little Mac said. “The holes in his game are there, his backhand. Players are taking advantage of it. Certainly players go in there know they have a real shot at beating him.”

McEnroe says Sampras has lost his old grit. “He used have to gut out a lot of wins, scratch and claw,” McEnroe said. “Maybe he’s forgotten about that after having success.”

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U.S. Open Seeds

Men

1. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil

2. Andre Agassi, United States

3. Marat Safin, Russia

4. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia

5. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain

6. Patrick Rafter, Australia

7. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russia

8. Sebastien Grosjean, France

9. Tim Henman, Britain

10. Pete Sampras, United States

11. Alex Corretja, Spain

12. Arnaud Clement, France

13. Roger Federer, Switzerland

14. Thomas Johansson, Sweden

15. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia

16. Tommy Haas, Germany

17. Carlos Moya, Spain

18. Andy Roddick, United States

19. Thomas Enqvist, Sweden

20. Jan-Michael Gambill, United States

21. Fabrice Santoro, France

22. Andrei Pavel, Romania

23. Dominik Hrbaty, Slovakia

24. Sjeng Schalken, Netherlands

25. Albert Portas, Spain

26. Nicolas Lapentti, Ecuador

27. Guillermo Canas, Argentina

28. Hicham Arazi, Morocco

29. Nicolas Kiefer, Germany

30. Greg Rusedski, Britain

31. Nicolas Escude, France

32. Guillermo Coria, Argentina

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Women

1. Martina Hingis, Switzerland

2. Jennifer Capriati, United States

3. Lindsay Davenport, United States

4. Venus Williams, United States

5. Kim Clijsters, Belgium

6. Justine Henin, Belgium

7. Monica Seles, United States

8. Amelie Mauresmo, France

9. Nathalie Tauziat, France

10. Serena Williams, United States

11. Elena Dementieva, Russia

12. Meghann Shaughnessy, United States

13. Amanda Coetzer, South Africa

14. Jelena Dokic, Yugoslavia

15. Magdalena Maleeva, Bulgaria

16. Silvia Farina Elia, Italy

17. Anke Huber, Germany

18. Sandrine Testud, France

19. Barbara Schett, Austria

20. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, Spain

21. Elena Likhovtseva, Russia

22. Iroda Tulyaganova, Uzbekistan

23. Magui Serna, Spain

24. Paola Suarez, Argentina

25. Henrieta Nagyova, Slovakia

26. Tamarine Tanasugarn, Thailand

27. Angeles Montolio, Spain

28. Chanda Rubin, United States

29. Amy Frazier, United States

30. Lisa Raymond, United States

31. Cristina Torrens Valero, Spain

32. Francesca Schiavone, Italy