Pete sampras

In the history of tennis, only three men have won Grand Slam singles titles in their teens, 20s and 30s. One is still active: Rafael Nadal. The second is the remarkable Australian, Ken Rosewall. The third turns 50 today. Pete Sampras won 14 Grand Slam singles titles and finished as year-end No. 1 a record six straight times. Of Sampras’ 14 majors, two were bookends to a brilliant career. In one sense, each was a surprise; in another, not at all. At the 1990 US Open, the 19-year-old Sampras was seeded 12th. Later he called what happened over the next two weeks, “a case of a pup going through a zone.” Sampras caught fire, most notably when, in the last three rounds, he beat three men who collectively won 23 Grand Slam singles titles. Down went Ivan Lendl in a five-set quarterfinal. In the semis, it took Sampras four sets to subdue John McEnroe. The spirit of improvement continued in the final, Sampras earning a straight-set victory over Andre Agassi to become the youngest man to ever win the US Open. Twelve years later, Sampras was 31, seeded 17th in New York and had not won a tournament for more than two years. Yet once again he turned Flushing Meadows upside down. And once again, Sampras' opponent in the final was the man who’d ultimately become his fiercest rival, the remarkable Agassi. This time it took four sets, Sampras winning what proved the last match of his career. But of course, it was the 12 majors Sampras won in his 20s that made him a titan. Over an eight-year ...

résumés, winning 14 Grand Slam titles – the most on the men’s side – when he retired after winning the 2002 And then he watched as the Big Three began slowly, inexorably, to hunt down his greatest achievements. But one achievement remains unmatched: For six consecutive years, from 1993-98, Sampras finished the year No. 1. It may never happen again. “I think,” Sampras said a few weeks ago, starting to laugh, “that’s the only record I’m going to have left.” Three times, Djokovic went back-to-back – in 2011-12, 2014-15 and now in 2020-2021 – but the first two reigns were interrupted by You May Also Like: “Now that I look back on it, knowing how difficult it is to finish No. 1 once or twice, but to do it six years in a row,” Sampras said, “The consistency that I had, the endurance, the will … I think it is one of my best achievements. “I always based my year on the majors and the bonus beyond that was to finish No. 1. Novak has seven, but not in a row. Over time, I think it will be tough to break six straight.” The core of Sampras’ success was winning seven In 1994, Sampras won “When I did it two, three, four times, I just felt like there was a minute there where I was just really mentally, physically dominating,” Sampras said. “I just felt like I was The Man, from Year Two to Year Five.” Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images This is the description from an athlete who is in the zone, utterly invincible. He was well aware that he had equaled the record set 29 years earlie...

This edition of The Rally discusses Steve Flink's new book, Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited . You can order it from Amazon Hi Joel, This morning I watched Coco Gauff struggle mightily with her serve in her loss to Garbiñe Muguruza in Rome—she finished with 15 double faults. At one point during that barrage of misses, Mary Carillo, commentating for Tennis Channel, said she wondered why more players don’t hire coaches for their specific weaknesses—a serve coach, a volley coach, a ground-stroke coach, etc. Carillo’s words rung a bell right away, because earlier this week I had read about how a young Pete Sampras did just that. His main coach, Pete Fischer, who didn’t play the game well himself, brought in specialists to fine tune Sampras’ forehand, volley and serve. It seemed to have worked out well. This was one of the nuggets I took from a new book on Pistol Pete, by our colleague, Steve Flink, called Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited. At first glance, with the tours in Rome, this might seem like an odd week to talk about a fast-courter like Sampras. But as Flink reminds us, Sampras actually won the biggest clay-court title of his career at the Foro Italico, in 1994. Coached by another U.S. player who had won the Italian Open, Vitas Gerulaitis, Sampras rolled over Boris Becker in the final that year. Unfortunately, as we know, he could never repeat that performance in Paris. Sampras serving at the Foro Italico, in 1999. (Getty Images) But clay or no clay, this is an inter...

Career finals Discipline Type Won Lost Total WR Singles Grand Slam 14 4 18 0.78 Year-end championships 5 1 6 0.83 ATP Masters 1000* 11 8 19 0.58 Summer Olympics - - – – ATP Tour 34 11 45 0.75 Total 64 24 88 0.73 Doubles Grand Slam - - – – Year-end championships - - – – ATP Masters 1000* 1 0 1 1.00 Summer Olympics - - – – ATP Tour 1 2 3 0.33 Total 2 2 4 0.50 Total 66 26 92 0.72 1) WR = winning rate 2) * formerly "Super 9" (1996–1999), "Tennis Masters Series" (2000–2003) or "ATP Masters Series" (2004–2008). The career of American former Sampras is 7–0 in Wimbledon finals and is the only male player to win 3 or more consecutive Wimbledon titles twice in his career (1993–1995, 1997–2000) . He is the first player to win 14 Grand Slam Men's singles titles, since surpassed by Federer, Grand Slam finals [ ] Singles: 18 (14 titles, 4 runner-ups) [ ] Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score Win Hard 6–4, 6–3, 6–2 Loss US Open Hard 6–3, 4–6, 6–7 (5–7), 2–6 Win Grass 7–6 (7–3), 7–6 (8–6), 3–6, 6–3 Win US Open (2) Hard 6–4, 6–4, 6–3 Win Hard 7–6 (7–4), 6–4, 6–4 Win Wimbledon (2) Grass 7–6 (7–2), 7–6 (7–5), 6–0 Loss Australian Open Hard Andre Agassi 6–4, 1–6, 6–7 (6–8), 4–6 Win Wimbledon (3) Grass 6–7 (5–7), 6–2, 6–4, 6–2 Win US Open (3) Hard Andre Agassi 6–4, 6–3, 4–6, 7–5 Win US Open (4) Hard 6–1, 6–4, 7–6 (7–3) Win Australian Open (2) Hard 6–2, 6–3, 6–3 Win Wimbledon (4) Grass Cédric Pioline 6–4, 6–2, 6–4 Win Wimbledon (5) Grass Goran Ivanišević 6–7 (2–7), 7–6 (11–9), 6–4, 3–6, ...

Share Tweet Copy Link Copied Pete Sampras is an American former tennis player who is currently the only man in the Open Era to have won the final Grand Slam tournament at which he competed. Sampras arrived at the 2002 US Open looking, at least to the world, like a man well past his prime. However, for one last time, the world marveled at the Wimbledon-conquering Pete Sampras as he swept away opponent after opponent on his way to his fifth US Open title. Sampras retired with 14 Grand Slam singles titles, a tally that seemed insurmountable, with seven of them coming at his beloved Wimbledon. Pete lives a quiet life with his wife and children in Beverly Hills Ron Galella, Ltd./Getty Images Pete Sampras loved his tennis and his triumphs, but he hated the publicity that followed. He often said no to press conferences, promotional appearances, sponsor parties, and other ‘superstar’ duties. It wasn’t about insecurity or Pete being a jerk; he simply didn’t like the publicity.“As uncomfortable as Pete would seem in public, I always got a sense he was as comfortable in his skin as anyone could be,”retired tennis player Todd Martin told In his last match, Pete faced Andre Agassi, his polar opposite. Agassi played to the tune of the crowd, as he loved being a public figure.“Pete would never want my life,”Agassi often said.“I would never want his life.” In the heat of battle, Pete temporarily slipped out of character, shouting,“That’s what I’m talking about!”The crowd went crazy, and a...

Relying on an overpowering serve (clocked at more than 200 km/hr [120 mph]), a ferocious forehand, and exceptional court coverage, Sampras laid claim to the top spot in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings in 1993 and remained there through 1998. During that time he won 11 major titles and was a member of the U.S. team that won the 1995 This article was most recently revised and updated by