By Jay Jennings, New York Times columnist
August 27, 2003
Pete Sampras retired a year too late for some spoilsports: he should have done it last year, they said, after his improbable victory over his long-time rival, Andre Agassi, in the United States Open final. This is part of the rap leveled against Sampras for years: no drama, no emotion, no courting of the crowd.
American tennis fans have always loved the combustible brats like Jimmy Connors, the tortured perfectionists like John McEnroe, the showbiz kids like Agassi. Let the Swedes and Australians be the consummate sportsmen. This attitude, however, does Sampras a great disservice.
Far from being a one-dimensional serve-and-volley player, Sampras had a complete game. The grace of his court coverage disguised his speed. As the novelist David Foster Wallace described it: "Sampras has a way of making it look like he hits a shot and dematerializes and then rematerializes someplace else in perfect position." He also developed a running forehand so lethal that he lured players to hit into the open court on that side, simply so he could unleash it.
As for his being emotionally remote, he gave us two of the most charged moments in sports. At the 1995 Australian Open, after his coach, the late Tim Gullickson, had to return to America because of a brain tumor, Sampras lost his composure in the quarterfinals against Jim Courier, alternating tears and aces, yet won the match. And at the 1996 United States Open, against the tireless Alex Corretja, Sampras fought exhaustion, dehydration, nausea (unsuccessfully) and seemingly the law of gravity to win a quarterfinal match he had no right to. Afterward, naturally, the critics questioned his fitness.
How much the criticism hurt, only those closest to him can say. But I do know that fame held little allure. I was at a group dinner with him once at a tour event when he was still in his early 20's and had only a couple of Grand Slam titles under his belt. A man approached and introduced himself as being from Paramount Pictures. Later, as we headed home in the van (no stretch limo here), Sampras gave a sardonic laugh. "Did you get a load of that guy? `I'm from Paramount Pictures.' " Sampras mocked. "What's he going to do ? make me famous?"
Nothing could have interested him less.
Jay Jennings is editor of the anthology "Tennis and the Meaning of Life."