Pete Sampras biography

Synopsis

Early Years

Widely considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Pete Sampras was born August 12, 1971, in Potomac, Maryland. His parents, Sam and Georgia Sampras, were both Greek immigrants who embraced their son's early passion for athletics.

Sampras first began playing tennis at the age of seven, shortly after he moved with his family to Southern California. His talent for the sport was immediately apparent, and working with Peter Fischer, an amateur coach and pediatrician, Sampras soared to the upper echelon of the American junior circuit.

At the age of 14 Sampras and Fischer radically altered his game. Scraping his familiar baseline play, Sampras, who idolized Rod Laver, moved to become a serve-and-volley player. The approach proved frustrating initially, but ultimately helped him dominate Grand Slam tournaments such as Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

Early Pro Years

In 1988 Sampras turned professional. He arrived on the pro circuit along with several other talented young American players—Michael Chang, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier—who secured the country's dominance of the men's side of the sport for much of the 1990s.

High hopes certainly accompanied Sampras' young career, but few, perhaps even the player himself, could have expected success so soon. In 1990, Sampras, the fifth ranked player in the world, powered his way through the U.S. Open, defeating Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe on his way to the finals. There, in a showdown of America's young guns, Sampras beat Agassi in straight sets to become the tournament's youngest-ever champion.

Tennis Dominance

Sampras' next Grand Slam victory came nearly three years later, when he captured his first Wimbledon title, in 1993.

From there, Sampras, who decimated opponents with a powerful first-serve, dominated the sport. He furthered his Wimbledon success that same year at New York City's Flushing Meadows, capturing the U.S. Open's singles title. The following winter, he won the Australian Open.

For six straight years, between 1993 and 1998, Sampras was named the ATP Player of the Year, all the while winning seven more Grand Slam titles. His success was most pronounced at Wimbledon, where Sampras won a career record, six singles titles, including four consecutive championships from 1997 to 2000. 

Sampras' reign over his sport was accompanied by a quiet, matter-of-fact approach to the game.  His lack of color and wild exuberance hurt his standing with some fans, who gravitated toward the more charismatic Andre Agassi.  

"He was always the argument you couldn't win," wrote one Sports Illustrated writer not long after Sampras' retirement in 2003. "Tennis purists loved his skill, naturally, and they will unhesitatingly declare Sampras' second serve, his running forehand and his leaping overhead as treasures that belong under museum glass. But for a public that didn't grow up playing, tennis becomes charismatic only when rackets are flying or fists are pumping or new ground in fashion is being broken."

Sampras, of course, offered none of the latter. Instead, he quietly and efficiently rose to become one of the game's all-time greats. In 2000 he came from one set down to defeat Patrick Rafter at Wimbledon to win the singles title and move past Roy Emerson as the sport's greatest winner with 13 major titles. In 2002 he capped his career with a 14th Grand Slam victory when he defeated Agassi in dramatic fashion in the final of the U.S. Open.

The win not only ended a two-year Grand Slam drought for Sampras but, at age 31, made him the oldest Open champion since 1970. Deciding to go out on top, Sampras made the tournament the last official tennis match of his career.