LONDON, June 21: The tennis carnival rolls into Wimbledon on Monday but for the first time in 15 years Pete Sampras will not be walking through the All England Club gates.

The seven-times champion tops a list of notable absentees from this year’s event but having ruled the grasscourt grand slam for almost a decade, the American’s non appearance has left a gaping hole in the men’s competition.

Two other previous champions — injury-prone Goran Ivanisevic and Richard Krajicek, who retired on Thursday — have also joined the missing list.

Other major winners staying away from London over the next fortnight include 2000 US Open champion Marat Safin, former French Open winners Carlos Moya and Albert Costa, and 2002 Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson.

With Germany’s Tommy Haas, twice Roland Garros runner-up Alex Corretja, former world number one Marcelo Rios and Magnus Norman also absent, it is the first time since the 1973 Wimbledon boycott that so many top players are missing from the men’s field.

Thirty years ago more than 70 contenders skipped the event in protest over the Nikki Pilic affair but in 2003 the excuses run from the birth of a new baby, for Corretja, to a lack of expertise on the slick surface.

The women’s competition has also been depleted with the withdrawals of nine-times grand slam winner Monica Seles, last year’s semifinalist Amelie Mauresmo and Russian media darling Anna Kournikova.

Sampras, who captured his last Wimbledon title in 2000, decided in May to skip the tournament as he felt his form was not up to standard.

The American was left shattered 12 months ago when he was beaten in the second round by lucky loser George Bastl. At the time Sampras vowed that he was not prepared to leave the Wimbledon stage after such a demoralising loss on court two.

But following an unexpected and emotional charge to his 14th grand slam title at the US Open last September, the 31-year-old has lacked the motivation to play competitively.

Having been beaten only once from 1993 to 2000 — in the 1996 quarterfinals by eventual champion Krajicek — Sampras’s place in Wimbledon history is assured.—Reuters