Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Samprasis a retired American tennis player and former world No. 1 regarded as one of the greatest players in tennis history. He debuted on the professional tour in 1988 and finished his career at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating rival Andre Agassi in the final. He was particularly esteemed for his precise serve, earning the nickname "Pistol Pete"...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth12 August 1971
CityPotomac, MD
CountryUnited States of America
The difference of great players is at a certain point in a match they raise their level of play and maintain it. Lesser players play great for a set, but then less.
Success is walking out of here with the title, and anything less is not good enough in my book.
What I've done in the game is always going to stick, no matter what happens.
Anybody who has played sports and says they have never choked is lying to you.
You kind of live and die by the serve.
In tennis, you can make a couple of mistakes and still win. Not in golf. I played three rounds in that Tahoe event, and I was drained. Mentally, not physically
I let my racket do the talking. That's what I am all about, really. I just go out and win tennis matches.
I made it look so easy on court all those years. No one realized how hard I had to work. No one realized how much I had to put into it. They underestimated my intensity.
I loved Wimbledon and what it meant, but the surface felt uncomfortable. I just didn't like it, I was a hard-court guy, a Californian kid.
Baseball is America's pastime, and that record is absolutely huge in the States.
My goal one day is to be in the same sentence as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. If I can match them for 10 years, I'd be in their company. They were class acts. That's what I'd like to be.
It is nice to walk out on a court to have it packed.
I admire the way golfers handle themselves. But tennis players are a lot younger, as a rule. There aren't many teenagers on the golf tour.
All I cared about in tennis was winning.