"Pistol Pete" turns 50: (Not) a star for the big stage
Pete Sampras is one of the greatest players in tennis history, his 14 Grand Slam titles once seemed out of reach. The American turns 50 today, Thursday.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit:
Aug 12, 2021, 10:48 am
"Pistol Pete" only loved the big stage with the bat in hand. A crashing serve, rapid advancement to the net and finishing the point with a precise volley - Pete Sampras' powerful game was show enough in his prime. The 14-time Grand Slam winner was only too happy to leave the headlines beyond pure success to the more extroverted competition.
This has not changed until today, until his 50th birthday on Thursday. Former stars like Boris Becker, John McEnroe and Mats Wilander are still in the spotlight as sought-after TV experts and are still part of the big tennis circus. Sampras has made itself rare and rarely gives interviews. He is still considered one of the best players in history.
When the man from Washington DC does comment on current events, as he did recently in the New York Times, he is impressed by the generation of his successors. He could never have imagined the dominance with which Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic would dominate the scene for years: "If you had asked me whether three players would overtake me in the next 15 to 19 years, I would have said: Up no way."
"Big Three" overtake Sampras
Hardly anything is left of his records. The "big three" have long since left the previous record in the Grand Slam titles, and after his Wimbledon triumph, Djokovic is now with 20 major successes and will receive another record from Sampras at the end of the year. Between 1993 and 1998, the man from Washington DC was always number one at the end of the year, more often than anyone before or after him. Djokovic will catch up in 2021, but Sampras will keep the record for the number 1 year in a row.
The current number one in the world from Serbia, who will be able to perfect the Grand Slam at the US Open from August 30th, i.e. the triumph in all four major tournaments of the year, has certainly been inspired by Sampras in his work.
Retired at only 31
He couldn't claim that he copied Sampras "because my game is completely different," said Djokovic, who dominated more from the baseline: "But I admired the way he dealt with pressure situations. That he played his best tennis when he needed it most. He always met his first service and always kept his nerve. "
The result was seven Wimbledon titles, five US Open Championships and two wins in Australia, only in Paris it should not work.
Sampras won his last title in the New York final against Andre Agassi in 2002; it was the brilliant end of an outstanding career - already at the age of 31. The distance to Federer, Nadal and Djokovic would probably be much smaller today if Sampras had continued a little.