FORGET THE REST, SAMPRAS IS BEST.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Pete Sampras' semifinal victory Saturday in the Mercedes-Benz Cup earned him 43 ranking points and a return to No. 1, confirming that he's the best in the world at the fine art of belting a fuzzy yellow ball with a paddle of synthetic cat gut.

In other news, a courtside thermometer indicated the sun was shining, the march of the shadows proved the earth was spinning and a $7.75 cheeseburger suggested this is no game for the poverty-stricken.

That is to say, if you watched Sampras sweep the cocky James Sekulov off the UCLA pavement in less than an hour, or if you've paid much attention over the past six years, you hardly need a mathematical formula to know there's no better tennis player on the planet.

As if we might otherwise think the distinction belongs to Jens Knippschild, Gaston Gaudio or Attila Savolt.

``When he's playing like that, nobody in the world can beat him, I think,'' young Sekulov said of Sampras following the 6-0, 6-2 humbling.

I think, too.

So must any of the four other players who have borrowed the No. 1 ranking from Sampras for short spells this year - Patrick Rafter, Carlos Moya, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and this afternoon's finals opponent, Andre Agassi.

The whole notion of the ATP Tour rankings, introduced in 1973, might seem unnecessary nowadays, in the Sampras Era.

But without the rankings, the tour publicists couldn't roll out such statistical niceties as the fact that Sampras now is No. 1 among the No. 1s, having sat in the top spot for 271 weeks in his career, one more than Ivan Lendl and three more than Jimmy Connors.

Does that matter?

Well, it matters to Pete, who just reclaimed the lead from Rafter. That it seems superfluous to you and me might explain why he's No. 1 and we're not.

And it might also explain why he's held onto the title for nearly half his professional career while the Moyas, Marcelo Rioses and Thomas Musters make No. 1 and promptly look for a place to sit down.

``Life would be easier if I was (No.) 5 or 10,'' admitted Sampras, who went to the top of the Monday-morning rankings for the first time in April 1993, the year of his first Wimbledon title.

Life would feature more vacations if he were No. 5 or 10. Life would include fewer stretches of work like the seven consecutive tournaments he played at the end of 1998 in a successful bid to finish at No. 1 for a record sixth straight year.

``Everything kind of explodes when you're No. 1. You're the man to beat. Instead of five people in your press conference, there's 12 or 20. Some guys run away from it. Some guys love it. There is no recipe (for handling it).

``For me,'' he said, ``it's strictly ego.''

Sampras, now 27 and on the job for 11 years, traces his drive to a four-set loss to Stefan Edberg in the 1992 U.S. Open final.

He'd already won an Open (in 1991) and been ranked as high as No. 6. He was, though, still dogged by the mixed reputation of his junior days.

``I was considered a kid with a lot of talent and not much heart and not much mind,'' Sampras said Saturday. ``I guess I've been out to prove myself ever since.''

In the loss to Edberg, he felt he ``gave in,'' confirming his fears about himself.

``Before that, I didn't really hate to lose,'' Sampras said. ``I was good enough to get to the final but not good enough to win it.

``There wasn't anything a coach could do. It was up to me, a matter of looking in the mirror and deciding what I wanted to do with my career.''

What he wanted, it turned out, was to be No. 1.

But how much longer is he determined to stay there?

The system for identifying the world's best player will undergo its first major changes in 2000, and although Sampras said he likes the new math, believing it will be more exciting for tennis fans, it will force him to work even harder.

Instead of basing the weekly rankings on points earned in the past 12 months, the ATP will begin counting on Jan. 1 and name a champion Dec. 31, after which the process will begin again. Also, point rewards will increase for the so-called Mercedes Super 9 tournaments, of which the Newsweek Champions Cup in Indian Wells in March is one but this week's event at UCLA is not.

Sampras has entered only three of the five Super 9 tournaments played so far in 1999 and isn't thrilled about stepping up his schedule next season. Maybe after 271 weeks on top, it's time to smell the roses.

``I've cherished every year I've been No. 1,'' he said. ``We'll see what happens in the next few years.''

As far as we're concerned, any way of picking a champion will do, as long as it picks Sampras.

Just as long as they don't ask sportswriters to vote, in which case Anna Kournikova would be No. 1 on both tours.

HE'S NO. 1 AMONG NO. 1s

Pete Sampras has held the top ranking for more weeks than any player since the ATP introduced its points system in 1973.

PLAYER (REACHED NO. 1) WEEKS

Pete Sampras (April 12, 1993) 271

Ivan Lendl (Feb. 28, 1983) 270

Jimmy Connors x (July 29, 1974) 268

John McEnroe (March 3, 1980) 170

Bjorn Borg (Aug. 23, 1977) 109

Stefan Edberg (Aug. 13, 1990) 72

Jim Courier (Feb. 12, 1992) 58

Ilie Nastase (Aug. 23, 1973) 40

Andre Agassi (April 10, 1995) 35

Mats Wilander (Sept. 12, 1988) 20

Boris Becker (Jan. 28, 1991) 12

John Newcombe (June 3, 1974) 6

Thomas Muster (Feb. 12, 1996) 6

Marcelo Rios (March 30, 1998) 6

Yevgeny Kafelnikov (May 3, 1999) 6

Carlos Moya (March 15, 1999) 2

Patrick Rafter (July 29, 1999) 1

x- Connors holds the record for consecutive weeks (160) at No. 1.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: Pete Sampras: No. 1 for record 271st week.

Charlotte Schmid-Mayback/Staff Photographer

Box: HE'S NO. 1 AMONG NO. 1s (See text)