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Pete Sampras

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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.
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 Ivaniševic. 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.

Grand Slam singles finals