Pete Sampras

Country	United States
Residence	Los Angeles, California, USA
Date of birth	12 August, 1971
Place of birth	Washington, D.C., USA
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg)
Turned Pro	1988
Retired	2003
Plays	Right; One-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	$43,280,489
Singles
Career record:	762 - 222
Career titles:	64
Highest ranking:	No. 1 (12 April, 1993)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	W (1994, 1997)
French Open	SF (1996)
Wimbledon	W (1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000)
U.S. Open	W (1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002)
Doubles
Career record:	64 - 70
Career titles:	2
Highest ranking:	No. 27 (12 February, 1990)
Infobox last updated on: N/A.

Peter "Pete" Sampras (b. August 12 1971, in Washington, DC) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from the United States. During his 15 year career, he won a record 14 Grand Slam singles titles in 52 appearances and finished the year as No. 1 on the ATP rankings for six consecutive years, a record for the open era and tying him for third all-time. Sampras won the singles title at Wimbledon seven times, an all-time record shared with William Renshaw. He also won five singles titles at the U.S. Open, an open era record shared with Jimmy Connors. He is generally considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Tennis career

Pete Sampras was born in Washington, DC, and is the third son of Sam and Georgia Sampras, Greek immigrants from Sparta. From an early age, Sampras showed signs of outstanding athletic ability. The young Sampras discovered a tennis racquet in the basement of his home and spent hours hitting balls against the wall. In 1978, the Sampras family moved to Palos Verdes, California, and the warmer climate there allowed seven-year-old Pete to play more tennis. The Sampras family joined the Peninsula Racquet Club. It was here that Pete's ability became apparent. By the age of 11, he had already learned the solid serve and volley tactic that would become the hallmark of his game. He was spotted by Dr. Peter Fisher, a pediatrician and a tennis enthusiast, who became his mentor for a long part of his career. He oversaw his training and arranged coaches. Fisher was later convicted on charges of child molestation, but Sampras maintained that Dr. Peter Fisher's behaviour towards him was normal and straightforward.

Sampras turned professional in 1988 at the age of 17. He won his first top-level singles title in February 1990 at Philadelphia. In August that year, he captured his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open. He defeated Ivan Lendl in the quarterfinals and John McEnroe in the semifinals, to set up a final with another up-and-coming American player, Andre Agassi. Sampras beat Agassi in straight sets to become the U.S. Open's youngest-ever male singles champion at the age of 19 years and 28 days. The rivalry between Agassi and Sampras became the dominant rivalry in tennis in the 1990s, with Sampras winning 20 of the 34 matches they played.

1991 saw Sampras capture the first of five career titles at the year-end Tennis Masters Cup. In 1992, he finished runner-up at the U.S. Open and played on the U.S. team that won the Davis Cup. (He helped the United States win the cup again in 1995.)

In April 1993, Sampras reached the World No. 1 ranking for the first time. His rise to the No. 1 spot was controversial at the time as he had not recently won any Grand Slam titles. But he justified the ranking three months later by claiming his first Wimbledon title, beating former World No. 1 Jim Courier in the final. This was swiftly followed by his second U.S. Open title. He finished the year as the clear No. 1 and set a new ATP Tour record that year by becoming the first player to serve over 1,000 aces in a season.

Sampras dominated Wimbledon for the rest of the decade following his breakthrough title in 1993. He won three consecutive titles from 1993 through 1995. He had a surprise quarterfinal loss in 1996 to Richard Krajicek, who went on to win the title that year. Sampras then won four consecutive titles from 1997 through 2000 to become the most successful male player in Wimbledon history. His win in 2000 also allowed him to break Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam men's singles titles.

Sampras' best surface was undoubtedly the fast-playing grass courts. He was also known, however, for his good all-round game and a strong competitive instinct. He won back-to-back U.S. Open titles in 1995 and 1996. He also won the Australian Open twice in 1994 and 1997. Sampras' only real weakness was on clay courts, where the slow surface tempered his natural attacking serve-and-volley game. His best performance at the French Open came in 1996, when he reached the semifinals, and his failure to win that title is the one blemish on his career record.

In 1998, Sampras' number-one ranking was challenged by Chilean player Marcelo Rios. (In 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1997, Sampras had dominated the ATP tour.) Sampras failed to defend his Australian Open title with a quarterfinal exit and won Wimbledon only after a hard fought five-set victory over Goran Ivanišević. Sampras lost a five-set U.S. Open semifinal to Patrick Rafter and another semifinal at the Tennis Masters Cup. Nevertheless, Sampras finished the year as the top ranked player for the sixth year in a row.

1999 also started out disappointingly, as he withdrew from the Australian Open and failed to win a title during the early part of the season. However, he then had a 24-match winning streak, including the Stella Artois Championships, Wimbledon (equaling Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam singles titles), Los Angeles, and Cincinnati. He was forced to retire from the RCA Championships and the U.S. Open because of a herniated disc in his back. However, he made a comeback late in the year to win the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup. He failed to finish the year as World No. 1 for the first time in seven years.

After winning Wimbledon in 2000, Sampras did not win another title for two years. He reached the U.S. Open final in 2000 and 2001, but losses to up-and-coming players each year (Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt, respectively) led many to speculate that Sampras would never capture another major title. At Wimbledon in 2001, Sampras lost to Roger Federer 7-6(7), 5-7, 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5 in the fourth round. The upset ended Sampras' 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon.

Sampras had a relatively poor summer leading up to the 2002 U.S. Open. Greg Rusedski, who Sampras had defeated in a long 5-set third round match at the U.S. Open, said that Sampras was "a half-step slow" and predicted that Sampras would lose his next match. Sampras, however, then defeated two young and upcoming stars of the game, Tommy Haas in the fourth round and Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. He then defeated Sjeng Schalken in the semifinals to reach his third straight U.S. Open final. This time, he faced Andre Agassi, who he had met in his very first Grand Slam final 12 years earlier. After a four-set battle between the two veterans, Sampras claimed a record 14th Grand Slam singles title and matched Jimmy Connors' record of 5 U.S. Open singles championships. The tournament turned out to be the last of Sampras' career.

Although he played no tour events in the following 12 months, Sampras did not officially announce his retirement until August 2003, just prior to the U.S. Open. Sampras chose not to defend his title, but his retirement announcement was timed to be able to say farewell at a special ceremony organised for him at the open.

Sampras played the first exhibition match since his retirement on April 6, 2006, in Houston, Texas against Robby Ginepri. Ginepri won the match 6-3, 7-6.

During his career, Sampras won 64 top-level singles titles (including 14 Grand Slams and 11 ATP Masters Series titles) and two doubles titles. He was ranked the World No. 1 for a record 286 weeks and was year-end No. 1 for a record six consecutive years from 1993 through 1998.

In 2006, Sampras announced he would be playing in World Team Tennis events.

Trivia

• In 2005, TENNIS Magazine named him the greatest tennis player of the open era, from its list, TENNIS Magazine's 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS Era[1]

• Sampras won singles titles in 11 different countries: Austria, Australia, Belgium, People's Republic of China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.

Playing style

Sampras was a serve and volleyer known for several facets in his game, in particular:

• an accurate and powerful first serve, one of the best of all time, leading to the nickname 'Pistol Pete';
• a second serve nearly as powerful as his first, possibly his most dangerous weapon;
• great disguise on both his first and second serves;
• his athleticism, footspeed, and court coverage;
• classic, almost throwback form on most of his strokes, including a classic eastern grip forehand and similar grip on the backhand;
• his forehand, and in particular his "running forehand" (a forehand hit on the run), was considered the best in the world;
• a reliable one-handed backhand, which he could hit with topspin or slice deep;
• his net game - Sampras' volleys were very good, and he arguably possessed the best overhead in the history of the men's game;
• his mental focus, allowing him to play his best at decisive moments, such as hitting second serve aces at break point down.

Sampras's classically smooth service motion gave him many easy points on aces or service winners. Overall, his serve had great disguise, very quick racquet-head speed, great back-arch, powerful leg-drive, and incredible forearm/wrist pronation. The speed of his serves was frequently 120-140 mph on 1st and 110-120 mph on 2nd serves. Sampras is considered by many to have had the best second serve in history. He was known for producing aces on critical points.

Opponents frequently played to his backhand, which was considered to his weaker side. To counter this, Sampras often camped on the backhand side while rallying from the baseline and often baited opponents for his great running forehand. Later on in his career, as his foot speed slightly declined, Sampras was forced to play closer to the center of the court.

His style changed dramatically between the early 1990s and the time he retired. Sampras excelled on hard courts. He served and volleyed on his first serve and frequently stayed back on his second serve. Towards the latter part of his career on hard courts, Sampras played a serve and volley game on both his first and second serves. On grass courts, Sampras served and volleyed on both serves throughout his career. When not serving in the early years of his career, his strategy was to be aggressive from the baseline, put opponents in a defensive position, and finish points at the net.

In his later years, he became even more aggressive and would either employ a chip-and-charge strategy—just chip back the return and run up to the net, waiting for a volley or try to hit an offensive shot on the return and follow his return to the net. Sampras' aggressive strategies worked best on fast surfaces—like hardcourts and, in particular, grass— but were weaker on slow surfaces like clay. As a result, he dominated Wimbledon (played on grass) but never won the French Open (played on clay).

Personal and family life

Sampras' older sister Stella is head coach at UCLA, and his younger sister, Marion, is a teacher in Los Angeles. His older brother, Gus, is tournament director at Scottsdale ATP event.

On September 30, 2000, Sampras married American actress and former Miss Teen USA Bridgette Wilson. On November 21, 2002, their son Christian Charles was born. On July 29, 2005, the couple welcomed their second son, Ryan Nikolaos.

Sampras has thalassemia minor, an inherited disease that causes anemia. Thalassemia minor limits physical and athletic endurance and causes those who have it to feel fatigued when forced to perform athletic feats. Sampras was generally able to control this condition, although he was not known for his endurance in extremely long matches. Sampras vomited on the court during his epic 7-6, 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 win in the 1996 US Open quarterfinals against Alex Corretja - a match that lasted 4 hours and 9 minutes.

Sampras' business-like attitude to tennis and cautious handling of the press led critics to bemoan his lack of charisma, but his natural talent and work ethic, combined with his introverted nature, led him to let his accomplishments speak for themselves.

Titles (66)

Singles (64)

Doubles (2)

Singles finalist (24)