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1997 ARTICLES

Sampras: The Year of Salvation PISTOL WHIPPED: Sampras shows why he is No.1 Sampras Strikes a Blow for his Mentor Great isn't good enough for Sampras Sampras looks unbeatable Sampras' win? Easy as A-T-P Sampras bores through foes Happy Birthday Pete: You're the Best Ever Pete Sampras's Love Interests Sampras Is at the Top Pete Sampras Unmatched

1996 might have been Pete Sampras' annus horribilis. The year was marked by the death of his coach, the break-up of a six-year
relationship and the loss of the title he treasures most - Wimbledon. Yet he finished in his usual place at No.1, and with a newer,
brighter outlook on life on and off the court, as he explains in this exclusive interview with Ashley Browne.

January 20, Melbourne

Melbourne Park, Australian Open third round.

This is not the place Pete Sampras has come to know and love. The fairness and impartiality for which Melbourne crowds are renowned are nowhere to be seen this night. They are baying for the blood of an American.

On the other side of the net is Mark Philippoussis, a teenager from the Melbourne suburb of Williamstown - a player the city has taken to its heart. To steal an Australian football analogy, Sampras is kicking into a seven-goal wind.

"It was very similar to a Davis Cup match," Sampras remembers of the third-round Australian Open meeting. "The crowd seemed very loud. It was like they were on top of me. He was the up-and-coming player with a lot of talent, and there was a lot of media hype coming into the match. I remember the roof was closed and that, in the first couple of games, he was really strong."

Philippoussis gives Sampras a straight-sets dunking that sparks headlines around the world. But there are mitigating factors. Only weeks before, Sampras led the United States to victory in the Davis Cup final in Moscow. It left him feeling as jaded as any time in his career. And before he really had the chance to wind down, he was preparing to come to Melbourne. Then a virus knocked him off his feet and, by the time he arrived, he was almost a spent force.

"I just remember talking to Paul [coach Paul Annacone] afterwards in the locker room, and again at the hotel, and he said: 'He just played great. Let's chalk that one up as a loss; it's not a great start to the year, but let's try to rebound'."

Of course, it hurts. A stickler for tradition, there are only four tournaments that really count for Sampras each year, and the Australian Open is one of them.


May 7, Chicago

Sampras attends his first funeral.

With Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Mary Joe Fernandez and Aaron Krickstein, he mourns the death of Tim Gullikson, who died of brain cancer at 44. All were close to Gullikson, but none closer than Sampras, for whom Gullikson was coach, mentor and best friend.

"You know, for so many months I was preparing for him to pass away... I knew he was never going to make it. When he finally did and I went to his funeral - my first ever - I was just taken aback. I was totally overwhelmed with everything. It hit me all of a sudden that this was real. This is really happening."

It is a time that draws Sampras closer to his own family. There are long chats with his father, Sam, about what it all means, but it takes months before his feelings are clear. "It was hard at first and still is difficult. I think about it a lot during the day. I see things happen and I think of him, but now they're the good times. When he first passed away and with the pain of it all, they were the bad things."

Subsequent trips to Melbourne, Sampras says, will always offer a small but painful reminder. For it was during the 1995 Australian Open that learned of Gullikson's illness, prompting his breakdown on centre court during an extraordinary five-set quarter-final victory against Jim Courier.


June 7, Paris

Roland Garros, Paris. French Open semi-final.

Win it for Tim. It is the thought and passion that consumes not just Sampras but all who have walked through the gates of Roland Garros during the past 12 days.

If there is any surface on which Sampras is reduced to the status of a mortal, it is clay, yet here he is, barely a month after Gullikson's death, just two matches away from the French Open title. They just don't make sporting fairytales like that any more. Destiny appears to be on his side. Handed a brutal draw, he beats former French Open champions Sergi Brugera and Jim Courier, and Todd Martin, in five -set stoushes to set up a semi-final with Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

"I was playing for Tim at the French, I really was. Perhaps that's why I came through all those tough matches. I was riding on so much emotion. All those things he said to me, all those conversations with him kept on ringing in my head in the fifth set against Courier. I believed I could win all those matches."

This is no fairytale. Kafelnikov wins in a canter, with Sampras suffering the ignominy of 6-0 second set. The French Open trophy is all that remains missing from Sampras' mantelpiece. Sometimes it is so close, he can taste it.

"When you go home and take a step back from everything, I felt that I made some good gains on the clay, and beat some players that have beaten me there in the past, but I keep getting back to being just two matches away from winning it. It was so close and it would have been such a great, great story..."


July 5, London

The All-England Tennis Club. Wimbledon semi-final.

Sampras is missing something as he steps into the courtesy car for the ride back to the hotel for the last time. He checks his bags and all is there. He feels through his pockets and they're filled with the usual stuff. And then it hits him: there is no trophy.

It is the first time in four years he has departed Wimbledon sans the winner's trophy. Richard Krajicek, the gangly Dutchman with a game not unlike his own, has routed him in straight sets in a match that took two days to complete because of rain.

Sampras says the right things in defeat, but the pain of ending his 25-match winning run burns deeply. It still pisses him off.

"I was playing well the first week and then ran into a very hot player. It was such a tough, tough couple of days because of the rain. I never felt like I was really into the match and he was really hot."

Wimbledon remains Sampras' most treasured tournament. The one he and his childhood coach honed his game around from the time he first knew he was good.

At 25, he still finds himself lying awake at night thinking about Wimbledon, particularly the one that got away. "It's the agony of defeat, it really is. I tried to sleep but I think about the set points I had... the match keeps playing in your mind and it takes time to come out. That was the toughest match to get over because I worked so much for it and because Wimbledon's the one for me."


September 4, New York

Flushing Meadow, New York. US Open quarter-final.

The crowd is going ballistic as only New Yorkers can when Pete Sampras is issued with a delay-of-game code violation. His crime? Vomiting on the court.

Harsh mob, these umpires. Sampras is in the midst of a four-hour, nine-minute battle against his body, mind and a gallant Spaniard named Alex Corretja. Most thought Sampras would blow him away with ease. Except Sampras. "I knew it would be a dogfight. Believe me, he can play on anything, except perhaps for grass."

On this night, the diminutive Spaniard has come to play.

By the fourth set Sampras starts to worry. By the fifth set his legs start to buckle. He hangs on grimly going for the winner every time to conserve energy for the tie-break to decide the match.

"I was just trying to make it quick and not get into these long, drawn-out rallies. I was just overwhelmed by what was in me. I just started throwing up."

The code violation barely registers.

"I didn't know what to think. I didn't really hear it... you know, it's the worst feeling in the world to be throwing up. It was like, 'God, what's wrong with me?' I was trying to hold it in, but I couldn't. It was weird."

The tie break is manic. Corretja gets to match point only to be foiled by a lunging Sampras volley. Corretja's mistake is to play across court. Anything down the line would have left Sampras stranded. Sampras is next to serve. First comes a fault and then an ace, which sails 60cm past the bewildered Spaniard. A second serve ace.

"I just wanted it to be quick. I didn't want to get into a long rally. Win or lose, I was going to do something, and not let him hit big, heavy forehands. I wasn't going to win it unless he missed."

Corretja then double faults to lose the match. In his dazed stupor, Sampras tries to remember the Spaniard's last double fault. He can't.

"Maybe the whole year came to a head there. Tom [Tim Gullikson's twin brother] was sitting beside the court there, maybe it came to a head... I don't know. Everyone asks me if I had to win the Open for Tim. I tell them I didn't have to do it for anybody but me. But perhaps it closed the book on Tim."


November 16, Hanover

Hanover, Germany. ATP Championships final.

Sampras is a big basketball fan. He knows what it's like when the great rivals of the US National Basketball Association - the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, or the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls - visit each other's courts. Only the great players can cope in such a hostile environment.

This is the same. Sampras versus Boris Becker on German soil. It was their third match in Germany in a month, and the German had won both. German fans love Sampras' work and admire his artistry, but on this occasion they are our for just one result - a sweep.

"I've never been at an event with an atmosphere like that. Not Wimbledon, not the US Open.... walking out there with Boris, even though they were for him, it was just phenomenal."

The 15 000 fans are witnesses to one of those great matches.

There are three tie-breaks in the five-set match, including a 13-11 scoreline to Becker in the fourth set that should seal Sampras' fate. But he strives on.

"The last couple of games in the match, the match point... all the electricity in the stadium is something I'll never forget. That's what it's all about. I was telling Paul [Annacone] in the locker room that this was going to be fun."

And it is.


December 31, Tampa

Tampa, Florida.

Sampras' off-season is just about complete. So is his introspection.

"From a tennis stand-point, 1996 was great. I finished No.1 again, won a number of tournaments and won the US Open, so I have no complaints. It was a good year."

Off the court is another matter.

"Losing Tim, breaking up with my girlfriend [Delaina Mulcahy] after six years... I had to deal with things, real life things that I never had to deal with before. As an athlete you kind of lose touch with things, at least I know I have. When things like this happen, it just wakes you up a bit about life."

Sampras is no fatalist. But he has become a thinker.

"Tennis is this great game that you love to play but, really, it's not the most important thing in life. Being healthy and happy is. I've got the second half of my life to look forward to, and I've thought about that a lot more than I once did since Tim passed away."

Taking into account the game of tennis and the game of life in 1996, Pete Sampras probably broke about even. Yet he emerged from it all as a winner once more. Such is the lot of a champion.

Yesterday's Australian Open final victory was Pete Sampras' ninth Grand Slam title, edging him closer to Roy Emerson's record of 12.
Gerard Wright reports.

His press conference was over and the interviews awaited: several television networks as well as Sports Illustrated and The New York Times, and then one more photo call with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup. Pete Sampras didn't care. The wide, unaffected grin that appears once every other grand slam tournament was switched on, full force.

"It's over, man," he told an American acquaintance. "I can rest." It was an excited, end-of-school-term voice. The last class went quickly - an hour and 26 minutes in temperatures that touched 33 degrees - one of the three fastest Australian Open finals of the past 15 years, along with Ivan Lendl's straight-sets win over ninth-seeded Miloslav Mecir in 1989 and Johan Kriek's rapid-fire dismissal of unseeded Steve Denton in 1982.

The lesson, as Carlos Moya learnt, was "who is No.1?"

It is and remains Pete Sampras, all but peerless on these occasions against any company - he beat world No.2 Michael Chang in straight sets at last year's United States Open final.

Yesterday's was his second Australian Open victory and the ninth Grand Slam title of his career from 11 finals appearances.

The occasion got the better of unseeded Spaniard Moya, as it did in White City 16 days ago when he lost to Tim Henman in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the Sydney International.

There, he was an object of curiosity and, as it turned out, close attention from the Sampras camp, which divined the nerves he felt then would return for this, a much bigger occasion.

Moya obliged, dropping serve in the fourth game of the match.

By varying the length and direction of his shots, Sampras was more than a match for Moya in the strongest part of his game - baseline rallies. Rather than allowing the Spaniard to settle himself at the advantage court end of the baseline and dictate terms with his forehand, Sampras kept him lunging and moving.

Likewise, when he approached the net, the No.1 seed did so with the knowledge that he need only to cover two-thirds of the court, with the breakdown of Moya's game showing that his passing shots were invariably aimed at the forehand.

Sampras might have come in cold, with only the vaguest recollection of having played Moya in an exhibition match tie-breaker in Barcelona two years ago, and still won.

The story of this stage of his career, though, is that nothing is left to chance. He will not rely on ability alone to get him through a match or a tournament.

That lesson was reinforced during a gut-wrenching quarter-final of last year's US Open, which saw Sampras physically ill during a fifth-set tie-breaker against another Spaniard, Alex Corretja.

Among other things, Sampras learnt not to take Spaniards lightly on hardcourts, but also that, if he were to survive a fortnight of Australian Summer, he would have to pay more attention to his diet and fitness.

The sole element not within his control was luck. It was that intangible that gave Boris Becker an indoor match and invaluable momentum for his quarter-final against Yevgeny Kafelnikov at last year's Australian Open.

Likewise, it allowed Sampras to escape from 2-4 and 15-40 down in the fifth set, against the then unknown Slovakian, Dominik Hrbaty, in last Monday's fourth round.

"I've always had, in the slams that I've won, one or two bad matches, and the Hrbaty match was the one I had to get through," he said.

On the face of it, this was another typically efficient, unfussy Sampras demolition job to complete a tournament that had discovered two new stars - Hrbaty and Moya - to go part of the way of replacing the ones who were missing: Agassi, Kafelnikov, Krajicek and  Philippoussis, among others.

The Sampras of old, though, was attached. This one is available - "I love you, Pete," a female fan called during the trophy presentation, "I love you, babe", he replied - vulnerable, and more introspective than he would once have let on.

Apart from being the venue for two of his Grand Slam victories, Melbourne remains the place where his former coach, Tim Gullikson, fell seriously ill two years ago with the cancer that ultimately claimed his life.

"It all happened here in Australia, and I thought about it when I woke up today, and before the match," Sampras said. "I'm sure he was looking down, very happy that I fought through some tough matches, because that was what he instilled in me - attitude, not quitting."

The death of Gullikson in April last year persuaded Sampras there was life outside the lines of the tennis court.

"Tennis is a great game and you love to win every match you play but, ultimately, it's not the most important thing on your life, and that's your health," Sampras said. "It really woke me up and sobered me up to some things that I have never really had to deal with before."

That is what Pete Sampras has become - more than the pre-eminent player of his generation - a man with ghosts, dreams and knowledge, hard-won and wisely used.

Amid the euphoria of victory, an emotional Pete Sampras acknowledged that his victory in the Australian Open yesterday helped to heal his deepest wound.

Sampras revealed he almost quit tennis last year following the death from brain cancer of his mentor Tim Gullikson.

But after a period of deep reflection, Sampras found a renewed determination to "play for Tim".

"He will always be in my mind when I play, especially in a moment like today," Sampras said after his straight sets win over gallant Spaniard Carlos Moya at Melbourne Park.

As a tribute to Gullikson, Sampras will donate $100 to a cancer foundation for each ace he serves this year. Pete Sampras disclosed yesterday how he nearly quit tennis when his best friend and coach Tim Gullikson died last year.

After being crowned Australian Open champion for the second time, the world No.1 dedicated his 1997 success to Gullikson and donated $10 000 of his $585 000 prize money to a cancer research unit in America.

Cranking up his fames power game for the final, Sampras gunned down Spaniard Carlos Moya 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in what amounted to a Melbourne Park mismatch.

As the credit flooded in for the ninth Grand Slam tournament win of his career, the 25-year-old Florida ace revealed he did not want to play tennis any longer after Gullikson died of a brain tumour in April last year.

Sampras learnt of his coach's illness when Gullikson collapsed during the 1995 Australian Open. Every time he plays in Melbourne, memories of his mate come flooding back.

"Winning majors brings a lot of memories, for sure," said the emotional top seed. "Memories of Tim and everything. It all happened here in Australia and I thought about it when I woke up today.

"I'm sure he's looking down very happy that I fought through some tough matches, because the one thing he instilled in me was attitude, not quitting. That's one thing I will always take away from Tim - the attitude he instilled in me. He will always be in my mind when I play, especially moments like today."

Sampras said the ordeal he went through last year - in which he finished up No.1 - had been character building. "I really learned a lot about my tennis and my life in general," he said.

"So I was really praying that everyone around me stayed healthy. It was tough when he passed away, I didn't want to play tennis, but time heals things.

"Tennis is a great game and you love to win every match you play but ultimately it's not the most important thing in life - that's your health.

"Tim's death woke me up and sobered me to some things I have never really had to deal with before. You can't be consumed with thoughts like that. You live every day like it means something..."

It took the white-hot Sampras just 97 minutes to subdue the Spaniard who had probably played his final long before this duel. Big wins over Boris Becker and Michael Chang thrust the man from Majorca into the Grand Slam spotlight but he virtually died of stage fright.

The man known to all as Pistol Pete fired down 12 aces while the hapless Spaniard's guns could only produce puffs of smoke and blanks.

Fans who shelled out $79 for Centre Court tickets might have revelled in the atmosphere of a Grand Slam final, but the main event was never close.

Sampras looked pretty much like Superman while Moya was forces to play the role of shy, retiring Clark Kent.

The American's pin-point serve, the variety in his play and his ability to hit winners on the big points gave Moya no chance at all.
Sampras spelled out the yawning gap between the players.

Sampras' first delivery produced 12 aces and 14 service winners. Moya's racquet produced just two aces and three winners.

In the break-points department, the American converted six from six while Spain's latest heartthrob only managed two, with one conversion.

MASON, Ohio (Aug 6, 1997 - 10:15 EDT) -- Pete Sampras is a tennis maestro whose place in history will likely surpass his status in current popular culture.

And Sampras, himself a tennis history aficionado who grew up watching tapes of Rod Laver, is perfectly content with that.

This week, Sampras,  the sport's No.1 player, will bring his talent to the Cincinnati area for the $2.3 million Great American Insurance ATP Championship at the ATP Stadium. He joins eight other top 10 players to comprise the best field on the ATP Tour this year.

Although Sampras hasn't played a competitive point since his championship run throough the Wimbledon field a month ago, he's considered the favorite at any tournament he enters. Many American sports fans may not have recognized that tennis player on the cover of Sports Illustrated last month, bust Sampras doesn't mind he's a Nike-wearing athlete who's definitely not Tiger Woods.

"It's like I kind of prefer not being the center of attention, " Sampras said during Wimbledon. "I'm happy the way things are and the way I'm playing."

While the flashier Andre Agassi attracts the spotlight, Sampras' low-key lifestyle helps keep the public from appreciating his skills. He is nearing one of tennis' most mpressive records, Roy Emerson's 12 Grand Slam singles titles. Bjorn Borg won 11. Ivan Lendl and Jimmy Connors have eight each. John McEnroe has seven.

Sampras won his 10th at Wimbledon this year. At age 25.

"That's the kind of rarified air up there," said Tom Gullikson, who coaches  the U.S. Davis Cup team. "I'd say he's four-fifths of the way up the mountain and when he gets there, he'll be sticking the American flag in the top. I just think he's done a lot for the sport. But there's only so much one person can do. One person can't rescue tennis from golf."

Even if the American sports public is generally blase about Sampras, his peers and predecessors are enthralled by his achievements.

"He can do basically whatever he wants to do with the ball when he's out there," said No.4-ranked Alex Corretja, who learned all about that last year after holding a match point against Sampras in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open before falling in a memorable four-hour match.

"He's one of the greates players ever in tennis. And hes' the best player in the world at this moment."

Said Frech Open champion Gustavo Kuerten: "Of course, I watched Pete as I was growing up. For me, he is the best right now. And he proved it by finishing no.1 four years in a row."

Others gained more popularity than Sampras despite similar demeanor and talent. Borg was beloved with his silent Swedish mystique, and Laver was a flashy shotmaker but hardly an on-court comedian.

"I don't know what it is about Americans that they always have to be entertained, said Harold Solomon, a former ATP pro now playing seniors and coaching Jim Courier. "Pete is a as good a player as you can possibly get, but it doesn't seem to be enough for them. I guess people get bored quickly. But Pete is an enormously talented athlete, and he's surrounded himself with good people from the beginning. God knows how many Grand Slam titles he can win."

Bud Collins, author of the "Tennis Encyclopedia", commentator for NBC-TV and writer for the Boston Globe, also can't understand the lack of passion for Sampras.

"It's a mystery to me why he doesn't captivate," Collins said. "He captivates me. He's a marvelous shotmaker. Tennis has had some yellers and screamers who have been tremendously popular. People seem to expect a freak show from tennis. But you don't know what you're missing if you haven't seen Pete Sampras play tennis."

Sampras turned pro in 1988 at 17 and rose quickly to the top. He finished his first year ranked No. 97 and two years later won his first ATP Tour title in Philadelphia. Later in 1990, he became the youngest man to win the U.S. Open at 19 years, 28 days.

He concentrated on winning Grand Slam titles, and with those came the top ranking. He has outlasted short-lived rivalries witht eh players he grew up competing againsts -- Jim Courier, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang -- and now he's beginning to face a new group of challengers.

"This is what it's all about, the major titles, " Sampras said after winning his fourth Wimbledon title. "You know to have won 10 by the age of 25, I never really thought that would happen. I was pumped. To hold the trophy again, and look at all the names on the trophy, and to see mine four times, is something I'll always remember."

Sampras will turn 26 on Aug. 12 and shows no sign of burnout or chronic injury that would hinder his Grand Slam title stockpiling.

"As long as I stay healthy adn enjoy it, I'm goin gto keep on playing until there comes a day where I feel like I'm not going to be in contention for Slams," he said. "That will be the day I'll stop. And I am nowhere near that day."

Publication date: 08-09-97

MASON, Ohio - Yevgeny Kafelnikov is the No.7-ranked player in the world. He won the 1996 French Open title. He is one of only 10 active players to have won on all four surfaces - clay, hard court, grass and carpet. Last year, he became the first player since John McEnroe in 1989 to finish in the top 5 in singles and doubles.

On Friday at the ATP Stadium, Kafelnikov looked like a novice compared to Pete Sampras.

Sampras, the top seed, breezed past Kafelnikov, 6-2 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Great American Insurance ATP Championship to advance to the semifinals fo rthe first time since 1993.

"I didn't expect it to be this easy,"Sampras said. "I played as well as I could. I couldn't play any better."

Sacry isn't it? Sampras takes a month off after winning Wimbledon championship   and is better than ever.

"I'm match-tough," Sampras aid. "I just played today as wll as I could."

Sampras, who won the 1992 ATP Championship title with a three-set victory over Ivan Lendl, holds a 7-2 advantage over Kafelnikov in nine career matches.

His next opponent is Albert Costa, who knocked off Sergi Bruguera, 4-6 6-3 5-2, retired, in the other quarterfinal.

Sampras is 2-0 lifetime against Costa, beating him in five sets, 6-3 6-7 6-2 3-6 6-2, in their latest match, January's Australian Open.

"He's proved that he can win on hard courts because fo the guys he's beaten here, " Sampras said. "He has that good kick-serve and I have to keep the ball away from his forehand. I don't want to play long, baseline to baseline rallies. That's his game."

Not that Sampras can't, or won't, do it, but he is at his best when he lets loose his overpowering serve, which led to nine aces, and covers the court like a tarp.

"I didn't play my best match," Kafelnikov said, "but on the other hand, he didn't let me play my best. He was too good on serve, very good off the ground. He was very, very difficult to shake off his game."

Kafelnikov had one chance. He earned a break point on Sampras' first service game, but Sampras quickly showed he was in top form, winning hte next three points.

Despite his stellar play, Sampras did not fell comfortable until he put together back-to-back breaks of Kafelnikov's serve to go up 4-1 in the second set.

"I knew that was pretty much the match," Sampras said. "But not until that point did I feel like I had him because he has the game that can come back."

Not on Friday.

Publication date: 08-11-97

MASON, Ohio - Pete sampras finished the week the way he started it at the Great American Insurance ATP Championship - No.1 and unchallenged.

Sampras, the top seed in the $2.3 million event, came here after a month off and a Wimbledon he dominated. He expected to take a little time to work his way back into form.

But his form was right where he left it when he put the rackets on the shelf, and he never dropped a set all week en route to a 6-3 6-4 victory in Suday's ATP final against No.5 seed Thomas Muster.

It was the first time since Stefan Edberg a decade ago that a player had gone through this tournament without dropping a set.

"The past couple months, I think the confidence is there and that's what you need," said Sampras, who is ranked No.1 on the ATP Tour computer. "I don't think I've played a bad match in a couple of months. The field here, it's just like a Grand Slam. Everybody was pretty much playing here. To come through it and play like I did this week, it's just great for your confidence."

From the first point of Sunday's match - a 130-mph ace - Sampras made it clear it was going to be a tough day for Muster in the one hour, 10 minute match. And Muster, who averaged two hours, 13 mintues per match this week, just wan't up to it after his 6-3 4-6 7-6(2) upset of No.2 seed Michael Chang in Saturday night's semifinal that lasted until almost 11 p.m.

"I was up until 2:30 in the morning, and there's no way you can sleep in at the hotel with everybody moving around in the hall, so I only had about five hours fo sleep," Muster said. "It's not an excuse, but my concentration was off and I wasn't as sharp. And he doesn't give you anything on his serve, so I had to concentrate on myown serve. But it probably wouldn't have mattered if I had 24 hours' sleep."

Sampras' serve, the best element of his game, has been almost untouchable since the start of Wimbledon. He has held serve 161 times in 166 games during that span. So it was understandable that, when Muster broke Sampras in the seventh game of the first set, he leaped in the air and did a little jig.

"When I broke his serve, I thought this could be a point I could possibley put pressure on him," Muster said. "But I didn't take advantage of it. He doesn't allow you to do any mistakes."

Things were gong so well for Sampras, he even was the beneficiary of Muster's generosity. In the sixth game of hte second set with Sampras leading 40-15, Sampras' serve was called a fault. Muster, having had a clear look at it, just began walking over to ask the ballboys for the balls to start the next game, having conceded the pint to Sampras as an ace.

"The ball was clearly on the line," Muster said. "Why should I take it away from him?"

Said Sampras: "I was a little bit surprised, but I think we both knew it was in."

For Sampras, this was his second title here, having won in 1992. He won $337,000 and Muster made $177,000.

More important to Sampras than collecting his fifth title of the year (along with the Australian Open, San Jose, Philadelphia and Wimbledon) is what it tells him about his game and his chances of winning the third of four Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open.

"I've had times in my career where I've won 27 straight matches, and earlier this year I had a 17-match winning streak. But I don't think I've played this consistent."

Sampras, who turns 26 Tuesday, tied Boris Becker witht he most titles (49) among active Tour players. Muster isn't far behind with 44, but he'll turn 30 in October and Becker turns 30 in November. becker already has announced his retirement, and the next on the list, Andre Agassi (34), looks like his retirement might not be far off.

Has Sampras lost his competition?

"If I'm playing well like I played this week, as far as the game, it comes pretty easy to me," Sampras said. "But there are weeks and days that I don't play well, and there are guys that are hungry to beat me. Thos are the challenges that I have to face every week."

Just not this week.

Publication date: 08-11-97

MASON, Ohio - The best tennis player in the world isn't a jerk or a sideshow, and we can't deal with it.

He's not a flake or a freak. He doesn't despoil his body with tattoos or stick it full of earrings. He doesn't change his hairstyle every other week, cram out TVs with his commercials or whine about officials. He's not Dennis Rodman, and he doesn't play for the Dallas Cowboys.

Pete Sampras just plays tennis better than anybody else on the planet, better than anyone ever has. But that's not enough anymore.

Sampras, closing in on five years as the world's No.1-ranked player, needed a mere 70 minutes to put No.5 Thomas Muster away Sunday afternoon wo win his second ATP Championship, 6-3 6-4. He cruised through the tournament without losing a set and lost his serve only three times.

Muster's chances of beating Sampras on Sunday were roughly equal to his chances of getting a package delivered by UPS.

"I don't think he's unbeatable, but it's very difficult," Muster said.

Muster's one brief flam of expectation flared when he broke Sampras at 4-3 to get the first set back on serve. He was so excited, he jumped in the air and clenched his fist. All this because he had drawn even.

What would he have done if he had actually own a set, passed out cigars?

Sampras immediately doused Muster's celebrating bu breaking back on the next game at love, effectively crushing any psychological momentum Muster had built.

Muster could have faced a more difficult Sunday than facing Sampras and his 125-mph serve, but only if someone had forced him to use one of those old wooden racquets.

He was coming off a Saturday semifinal match that lasted three sets, and he didn't get to bed until 2:30 Sunday morning.

After five hours of sleep, he rose to begin to prepare to face the best player in the world, a player who had played one fewer set on Saturday adn whose matches lasted an average of 70 minutes all week.

Not that a good night's sleep would have made much difference. "It probably wouldn't have changed anything if I had slept 24 hours," Muster said.

The Sampras litany of domination now includes five titles this year; 49 titles overall, tying him with Boris becker among active players; and 10 Grand Slam titles, two off the record.

Next to Michael Jorda, he is the most dominant professional athlete of our era. And yet, he takes a back seat in the national sports psyche to Tiger Woods, who wins one major golf tournament and becomes a world savior.

Could someone please explain this?

Compared with waht Sampras does for a living, Woods might as well be playing billiards. Sampras doesn't get all afternoon to line up a shot. When he hits the ball, someone on the other side of hte net hits it back. Sometimes.

But instead of being revered like Woods, Sampras is vilified for being personality challenged, which is OK with Sampras.

"I don't know if I'd be happy if I was as big as Tiger Woods," Sampras said. "He's to the point where he can't go anywhere. I don't want a life like that. He's huge. He's like Michael Jordan. That's tough to deal with sometimes."

Somewhere along the line, guys like Smapras, who excel at their sport and keep quiet, stopped being heroes and became oddballs. Beacuse he's not Jay Leno in a press conference and because he's neither brat nor buffoon, Sampras has been declared the national bore, barely edging Al Gore and Bud Sellig for the title.

The label was first affixed to Sampras in London a few years ago when the tabloids had a slow news fortnight. At the time, Sampras was sutnned. He was operating under the outlandish notion that winning tennis tournaments was the most important part of his job.

He still believes that, only now he doesn't care if anyone agrees with him.

"The way I an play and some of the shots I'm able to hit, that's what I'm all about," Sampras said. "I'm not going to do anything different out there to please the media, to make your jobs easier. I'll make you guys write about the tennis."

The strategy is working. Slowly the realization is setting in that Sampras is the best player the game has ever seen. He's so good, he's even strating to overcome his charisma shortcomings.

But he still has a long way to go. Someone asked Sampras how it feels to be called the best player ever. "I don't look at myself as on eof the best ever," Sampras said. "I feel like I'm in the middle of my career, and I'm doing quite well."

Quite well? Sampras is doing quite well in his field the way Bill Gates is doing quite well in his. But Gates has more charisma. Everybody does.

Pete Sampras turns 26 Tuesday (Aug. 12), a milestone he no doubt will ignore completely as he prepares to defend his title Saturday at the RCA Championships in Indianapolis. But as Sampras puts the first quarter-century of his life behind him, let's consider his career  accomplishments to date and ponder an oft-asked question: Will Sampras go down in history as the greatest tennis player of all time?

I recently posed this question to 23 current and former players, coaches, tour personnel and tournament directors in an e-mail survey conducted exclusively for CBS SportsLine. Fifteen answered in the affirmative, four waffled and four answered no. Here are a few of their comments:

Brian Gottfried, the 1977 French Open finalist who lists Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe among his past U.S. Davis Cup teammates: "Sampras should be mentioned in the same breath with all of his idols: Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson. He makes the game look so easy due to his effortless style that it is hard to get the feeling that what he is doing is so difficult."

ATP Tour pro Patrick Galbraith: "To be labeled as the greatest player of all time, Sampras needs to win the French Open. My feeling is that he will before his career is over. Pete has shown time and time again that he's a big match player. No one has yet to combine speed and strength like Pete."

Paul Annacone, Sampras' coach and former ATP Tour player: "I think to compare different eras is extremely difficult. I will say, though, that in my opinion he's the best of the guys from my era. Records can be argued, but I feel he has the best all-around game."

WHEN PETE SAMPRAS WAS 11 YEARS OLD, he traded groundstrokes -- actually, he tried to trade groundstrokes -- with the legendary Laver, considered by most experts as the greatest player to ever grace the game. "Pete was so nervous," Sampras' childhood coach, Pete Fischer, once said, "he couldn't get the ball over the net."

Pistol Pete is well on his way to supplanting The Rocket at the top of the greatest-player-in-history ranks. Laver was the best of his time; Sampras, who will attempt to equal Laver's 11 career Grand Slam titles at the U.S. Open later this month, will be the best of all-time.

I believe Sampras' historical place at the top of the sport is a done deal. When Sampras notches two more Grand Slam titles onto his belt, equaling Emerson's all-time best of 12, and ends another year at No. 1 in the world rankings, as he's almost certain to do this season, he'll deserve the greatest-ever moniker. In fact, he'll probably accomplish these goals within a year -- and still be looking at another half-dozen productive seasons on tour. His best tennis still is ahead of him.

"I don't look at myself and think of myself as the best ever or one of the best ever," Sampras said Sunday after securing his 49th career singles title -- tying him with Boris Becker among active players -- at the ATP Championship in Cincinnati. "I feel like I'm in the middle of my career."

Laver's two Grand Slams, when he swept all four major tennis titles, were unique, but he beat a bunch of relative stiffs in 1962 when the amateur ranks were devoid of top players such as Rosewall, Lew Hoad and Pancho Gonzalez. Even Laver later admitted as much. "I didn't find out who was the best," he said, "until I turned pro and had my brains beaten out for six months at the start of 1963."

AND LET'S PUT CAPTURING A GRAND SLAM IN 1969, a year after tennis entered its Open Era, into proper perspective. Laver's toughest competition in the majors were his fellow beer-loving Aussies, a handful of Americans and Andres Gimeno.

Today, more than 50 countries are represented by players in the rankings, with 127 countries participating in Davis Cup this year compared to 49 in 1968. To go four-for-four at the Slams today, you would have to beat a seemingly endless supply of Spaniards on clay, countless Americans raised on hard courts and a big-serving German or two on grass. Heck, Sampras sent two of his most feared opponents, Boris Becker and Michael Stich, into retirement at Wimbledon this year.

You want more numbers? Laver won nine of his eleven Grand Slam titles on grass, two on clay. The Slams of the '90s are played on four different surfaces (Rebound Ace, Clay, Grass and Deco Turf II). If Sampras played three majors on grass every year, the entertainment cabinet at his Tampa, Fla. home would hold more silver plates than Tiffany's.

I don't feel it's imperative that Sampras eventually win the French Open to establish his place as the best of the best. Laver never would have won the French if he had to face the proliferation of clay-court specialists and baseline bashers that Sampras must try to derail every spring in Paris. These guys today live year-round on clay and venture to the net only to shake hands.

"As a kid, I really didn't look at the French Open," Sampras says. "It wasn't something realistic that I thought I could win growing up. But over the past four or five years, it is something that is realistic. It's going to be difficult, a challenge for me as far as the rest of my career is concerned.

"AND THAT WILL KEEP ME WORKING HARD and motivated for that one goal, to one day win the French."

Laver, at 5-foot-7, was two inches shorter than Michael Chang. Think about it. The Rocket packed a powerful punch for a little guy, but he's no match for a smokin' Pistol.

Sampras not only has established himself as a legendary figure in the sport of tennis, but he's also now among a very select group of elite and enduring athletes who have raised the standards of their respective games.

Not bad for a 26-year-old California kid.

Tennis Is Everything to World's No.1 Player, but It's Not the Only Thing

Thursday, September 18, 1997
Washington Post, page C01

Pete Sampras has just announced that he is doing yoga. And eating quiche. And going to nightclubs, and partying wildly...and he is laughing at himself, laughing so hard that the woman from the nearby California Pizza Kitchen -- the woman who is so smitten with Sampras that she can't help but keep coming back to bring him free food, and free root beer, and more autograph requests -- that woman is starting to stare at him in total confusion and wonder if this is the real Pete Sampras after all.

"No! No! I'm kidding," Sampras eventually says, as he composes himself on the low couch in the lobby of Chevy Chase hotel. "You can't change the spots on a leopard, you know."

The spots, however, are not always what they seem. Sampras is in Washington this week to play for the United States in the Davis Cup semifinal against Australia. He was born here, played his first tennis here, as a 5-year-old, not that many would know it. Sampras always has been rather reclusive -- mostly because his life is rather simple. He plays tennis. He lives in Florida and likes to play golf in his down time. He's not flashy in the least.

"What, you don't think I'd go to clubs?" Sampras says, laughing at the though himself. "You don't believe that?"

So, maybe he won't be spotted in Adams Morgan clubs this week. And maybe tennis is the most important thing in his life. But even Sampras thinks it's funny that the world sees him as a one-dimensional figure. After all, as he puts is, "I've got a pretty great life."

That life includes 10 Grand Slam titles and the world No.1 ranking and millions and millions of dollars in prize money and endorsements. It also happens to include some fun.

Sampras has been trying out a few new things lately -- although quiche and yoga are not among them. He went on his first hike. He went to his first Broadway play -- actually, he went twice. And when he was upset in the fourth round of the U.S. Open earlier this month, Sampras did not hop on the first place back to Florida and hole up in his exclusive house, near his exclusive country club, in his exclusive neighborhood in the Tampa Bay area. He didn't go home and agonize about how he had lost in a Grand Slam, about how he had just been bounced from one of the tournaments around which he bases almost everything in his life.

He stayed in New York. He hung out with his girlfriend, actress Kimberly Williams. He went to the movies. Went to East Hampton to play golf. Went to see Williams in her Broadway show, "Last Laugh at Bally Hoo." He visited backstage. He didn't pick up a racket for a week.

"I think I needed it," Sampras says now that the loss is a few weeks into the past. "After a tough loss and a long summer, I just needed to get away from the game. I wanted to recharge, get some time offf. I guess usually I would have just gone to Tampa and played some golf or whatever."

Actually, according to Tom Gullikson, Sampras's Davis Cup captain and close friend, Sampras usually "would have had the helicopter hovering over center court, ready to get him out of there." He wouldn't have stayed anywhere near a tournament in which he already had lost. This time, things were a little bit different.

"Well, I spent time in New York," Sampras explains. "Y'know, um, my, um, girl...um...girlfriend, she's in this show so I was in New York. Just kinda hung out."

Ah, the girlfriend. Sampras had another girlfriend for seven years -- they eventually broke up -- and all people knew about her was that she was older than he, attended law school, and always wore dark glasses when she sat in his box. Sampras almost never talked about her, about anything really personal.

Now he's dating Williams, perhaps best know to the public as the bride in the "Father of the Bride" movies with Steve Martin. And for some reason, he just happens to be in the mood to discuss the new woman in his life.

"We're getting really personal here, talking about Kim and the play," Sampras says, mock accusingly, when he is asked how he met Williams. Then he continues anyway.

"Okay, we were set up. It was some friends of hers and some friends of mine. So we met and, um, that's it."

Only that isn't it, not yet. He agrees to discuss the all-important first date.

"Okay, the only thing I'll say is we went on a hike."

A hike?

"It was an athletic first date, to see if she can keep up with me," he says, then starts laughing. "Actually, it was her idea. We were trying to figure out what we should do. And she said, 'Let's go on a hike!' And I said, well, okay, I've never been hiking before, so I was open to that. I would have said, 'Let's go play golf, let's go hit some golf balls.' "

"Anyway, we just went on a hike in L.A. And that's it. I got away from the smog. It was after Lipton."

That was in late March, just after Sampras lost in the semifinals of the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla., and while the about-to-be-secretly married Andre Agassi was off playing the quarterfinals of the Davis Cup for the United States. Sampras, who does not play Davis Cup until the semifinals because of his hectic schedule, was taking that week off, and was supposed to go to Asia for two tournaments afterward. Instead, he hurt his wrist and couldn't play. All of a sudden, he had a lot of free time. And, as it turned out, the timing was perfect.

By May, Sampras and Williams were serious enough for him to invite her to accompany him to Europe for a few tune-up tournaments and the French Open. And they were serious enough for Williams to get her first tennis lesson. On Court Central. At the French Open's famous Stade Roland Garros.

"She doesn't play tennis," Sampras is explaining now, months after, "so I had a lot of help from the real coach, Paul Annacone."

And Sampras was nice. He kept his big serve in his racket bag and hit her some soft lobs.

"You never serve 130 on the first date," advises Gullikson, who has arrived in the hotel lobby.

Sampras nods in agreement. "Can't do that," he says. "No big serves."

Despite his courtly behavior, the lesson was not exactly a raging success.

"I think she'll stick to her acting and I'll stick to the tennis," Sampras says, prudently, wehen asked about his girlfriend's game.

Then he tries to change the subject.

"Um, weren't we talking about history and Nike? Wasn't that the question?"

Actually, it was. Sampras has a current Nike commercial in which he describes his major opponent as "history" and the match they are playing as "late in the fourth set." Though it admittedly embarrasses Sampras a bit, the ad could not be more accurate. Sampras is on a seemingly unstoppable climb to becoming the world's greatest tennis player ever -- some already think he is -- and the number that would solidify that standing is 12. As in 12 Grand Slam titles, tying him for most ever with Roy Emerson. Currently, Sampras has 10.

But he refuses to predict the next two. The first one could come at the Australian Open in January, a tournament he already has won twice, including this year. And the second could be there for the taking at -- dare we say it? -- the French Open, the only Grand Slam Sampras never has won.

"Oh," Sampras says, groaning, because he finds it so hard to talk about how good he it without worrying about being arrogant. "You can't think of yourself in that grand scheme, you really can't, but the realistic part of it is, sure, it is something I'd like to do and if I stay healthy and continue to play well, it's something I think I can do.

"I think everything in my life -- I think I downplay a lot of things, try not to make a big deal of things, and this is something that I just can't downplay. People talk about me being the Michael Jordan of tennis. People ask me if I'm that and I'm like, 'Okay, what am I going to say to that?' "

He is not so humble, though, that he will not admit, out loud, that he is capable of proving that he is the best.

"I didn't think that I would have won what I have won by the age of 26," he says. "I didn't think it was realistic. But obviously, it is realistic, And it's realistic that I can [get the Grand Slam record]. That and the French Open, are the only things left in my career that I can achieve. That's what I want -- the record and the French."

To suggest that Sampras's post-U.S. Open sojourn in New York indicates that he was not incredibly unhappy with his loss -- or that he takes tennis any less seriously than he has in the past -- would be ridiculous. He takes the Grand Slams very, very seriously. And his losses very seriously. Sampras is different from your average tennis player, very different. There is no tournament that he enters that he does not expect to win. The semifinals are not good enough. The final is not good enough. Nothing is good enough but the trophy.

"I take the losses hard, but I don't get too high when I win -- I'm not on this emotional roller coaster that I've seen other guys go through, I'm not going to be like Pat Rafter when he wins one," Sampras says. "I gues it's because I have very lofty goals. I expect to win Wimbledon when I enter. I expect to win the majors. I really do."

Sampras's reference to Rafter is not unprompted. He has heard that Rafter -- who has admitted that he celebrated his first U.S. Open title with what he called five days of "hard partying" -- thinks that Sampras doesn't look like he really enjoys his own Grand Slam victories. And Sampras finds that statement more hilarious than annoying. He finds it so hilarious, in fact, that while he's sitting in the hotel lobby he can't stop telling people "I'm Pete Sampras, and I don't drink!" when they stop by.

And people stop by.  One of the things Sampras likes best about being a top tennis player in the United States is that he's not overwhelmed by the public. He gets to go to the Waffle Hous near his house for breakfast and the other customers don't recognize him. Even though he drives up in a Prosche Turbo S.

Of course, he's not anonymous. That much is obvious. Just take the woman who is supposed to be waiting tables at California Pizza Kitchen, but seems far more interested in sitting on the edge of the couch next to Sampras.

"Would you like something to drink with that pizza?" she asks, in what serves as a good excuse for her to make a third visit to Sampras's corner of the lobby.

"I don't drink!" Sampras announces, grinning broadly, then asks for a root beer.

Sampras does drink upon occasion. And he had a big party at a sports bar in London to celebrate his Wimbledon title this summer. To his unending amusement, though, people still tend to think that he never has any fun.

"It doesn't really offend me," Sampras say, referring to Rafter's opinion. "Everyone's different. I celebrate wins in my own way, and he did something different. It's weird. People see me and they don't think I'm having fun or I'm happy because I pretty much keep to myself."

He is asked if he really believes that people think he is unhappy.

"I really have no idea what people think of me," he answers. "I look at my career, what I've done, and I shouldn't have to explain anything to anybody about the way I am."

Then he pauses, because he apparently does feel compelled to explain one thing.

"I'm Pete Sampras!" he says. "I don't drink!"

© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

Monday, September 22, 1997
Washington Post, page C1

I'm guilty of underappreciating Pete Sampras, and I'm not alone. It's a club with far too many members. Since Sampras is still just 26 years old, there's time for us to adjust our attitudes, time to really appreciate one of the greatest tennis players of all time while he's at the top of his game. We were reminded of that yesterday, because with a spot in the Davis Cup finals up for grabs, and having to play the U.S. Open champion one day after losing a four-set doubles match, Sampras played as well as he can play. And that's a mouthful.

If you can't have extreme drama, the next best thing you can see in professional sports is a champion on fire, precise to the point of being near perfect. It's something most of them don't like to admit, as if the mere acknowledgment might be a jinx. But Sampras had no way around it after a 6-7(8-6) 6-1 6-1 6-4 victory over Patrick Rafter at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center. Not only did Sampras never allow his serve to be broken, but also never even faced break point. He was more effective on his second-serve points than Rafter was on first-serve points. Sampras won more points at the net than the arguably the best serve-and-volley player in the game. He hit 62 winners to Rafter's 33. In the second set, which Sampras won in 25 minutes, he didn't make a single unforced error.

Pressed about whether he could have played any better than he did, Sampras finally conceded: "No, I couldn't play any better. I did everything I can do very well. ... It's not easy to play at that level for an entire match. But I pretty much did in the second, third, and fourth sets."

And just like that, he dismantled the most recently crowned Grand Slam king. Torched him. I keep hearing American men's tennis is dead. I know this because Tony "Catgut" Kornheiser keeps saying it over and over. And he has plenty of people singing backup for him, too. Except here's the problem: Sampras is an American. He's one of ours. And he's killing people. He's won 10 Grand Slam titles, which is three more than the man we 30- and 40-somethings believed was a tennis genius, John McEnroe.

Sampras has a well-chronicled problem: He's boring.

Translated in today's sports lexicon, "boring" means he doesn't dye his hair some stupid color, doesn't scream at linesmen like some Neanderthal, doesn't make persumptuous commercials about his image, doesn't swear in public or otherwise make an ass of himself. If you consistently behave with class and dignity these days, it makes you a bore. No controversy, no hype, no sizzle.

Former U.S. Davis Cup player Donald Dell, for many years, friend, then agent, to Stan Smith and Arthur AShe, has finallly run across somebody who reminds him of his old friends. "Sampras", Dell said yesterday, "is a throwback. He's a gentleman first. As a culture we've become so wrapped up in controversy and hype. Arthur used to say, 'I don't do it with my mouth, I do it with my racket.' Sampras is the same way. The way he wants you to judge him is by his results. You could see he was a little embarrassed running around out there with the flag during the celebration. He's getting a little more extroverted because everyone keeps telling him he has to be."

Sure enough, even though Sampras looked like he was somewhat eager for the postmatch news conference to end, when he left the microphone, he stopped and chatted comfortably with a smaller group of reporters for another 30 minutes. Earlier in the week, during a conversation with The Post's Jennifer Frey, Sampras said, in essence, of the general way that he's perceived, "What else am I supposed to do?"

The answer, of course, is, "Nothing."

Ten Grand Slam titles and winning Davis Cup matches for your country ought to be enough for the tennis public. As a member of the media, I'll shoulder some blame for showing less interest in Sampras than he deserves. In the ideal media world we overdose on the Barkleys and Deions, world-class performers and showmen. But we've grown too concerned with the sizzle, which is why the moment somebody enjoys 10 seconds of athletic success he runs out and hires a PR person to maximize marketability, which is how Andre Agassi winds up getting more attention than Sampras. Does a guy necessarily have to wear a wedding dress or start his own line of athletic apparel to be fully appreciated? The only athlete more dominant in a sport than Sampras is right now in men's tennis is Michael Jordan. End of list. And as Dell pointed out, "Sampras, I think, is young enought win several more Slams."

The record, in case you're wondering, belongs to Roy Emerson, who won 12 Grand Slam titles. For many years, Dell has been a member of the club that subscribes to the view that Rod Laver is the greatest tennis player of all time. "I'm not so sure anymore," Dell said. "Sampras has me thinking." He may not have the fastest serve, but look at the placement. Sampras's greatness is in his controlled power. That's the secret. And he's got the best second serve in the game, bar none. Jack Kramer always said you're only as good as your second serve." Dell didn't know it as he spoke, but Sampras won 21 of his 31 second-serve points (68 percent) yesterday against Rafter.

Asked what advice he might have for the ascending Rafter, Sampras smiled and said: "Over the next year, he's going to feel the pressure. After winning the U.S. Open, he's something of a marked man. It's something that comes with the territory."

It's a territory Sampras has negotiated better than any male tennis player of his generation. And as he continues to pile up tournament championships and international victories that suggest a higher place in history than many of us thought, it's possible Sampras will be moving into unchartered territory.

© Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company

He is different now, this man who was once a mere kid named Pete Sampras. Different from the genial, lanky youth who so nonchalantly sowed aces on the tennis courts of four continents, different from the boy who met the world with an unfurrowed brow, a slightly crooked grin and a mild air of wonder that occasionally bordered on bafflement.

These days, there is an aura about him-a gravity that makes it impossible not to watch and study Pete Sampras as he strolls from his chair to the baseline between games. It is as if one of those highlight dots used in TV perma-
nently surrounds him, demanding your attention, insisting that as unlikely as it may seem and as difficult as it may be to grasp, this man is different from you and me.

With 10 Grand Slam singles titles in hand at the age of 26, just two shy of the all-time record held by Roy Emerson, Sampras is on the fast track to becoming the best player ever, period. Of course, three Grand Slam titles are no gimme for any player. So we shall see.

But as we wait for Sampras's quest to continue at the Australian Open in January, we might stop to consider a richer and more complex issue: Just what exactly has made Sampras the most prolific male winner of major titles in 25 years, during an era when the conventional wisdom suggests that no man can ever dominate the contemporary game in the manner of a Don Budge, a Roy Emerson or a Rod Laver?

One key lies in the thoughts on greatness articulated by Big Bill Tilden, no slouch at tennis himself, in his fascinating book, Tennis A-Z. In a chapter titled simply "Courage,'' Tilden wrote: "Confidence and belief in one's self are almost essential to success, but conceit is the one certain poison to kill all chance of it. Take your victories and defeats in your stride, and keep your feet on the ground and your head a trifle smaller than your hat. ''

Pete Sampras has lived those words; it is the flip side of that so-called "boring'' personality that few pundits have bothered to explore. But humility alone will not win you even one Grand Slam title, as any number of egomaniacs have demonstrated. To win 10 requires not only a game touched by genius, but by a capacity for greatness.

True greatness is never about humility, or craftsmanship, or even talent. It is first and foremost about vision, the acute long-distance vision that enables a genius to pursue his art with the patience of a laborer, the vision that remains safe from corruption. Fame or fortune are destinations; true greatness is a journey. And it is a voyage to which Pete Sampras, the insouciant son of a hard-working Greek immigrant, is especially well-suited.

Say what you will about the thunderbolt forehand, or that service action of unsurpassed grace and simplicity. Lots of guys have big strokes and earth-shaking serves. Pete Sampras's greatest gift, and his greatest weapon, is his capacity for evolution, for taking the journey to greatness, if you will. Barbra Streisand may have been correct in calling Andre Agassi a "highly evolved" human being, but Pete Sampras is a different breed of cat. He is a highly evolved tennis player, in utter harmony with his life's work.

We take this harmony for granted now, as we take for granted so many extraordinary aspects of Sampras's record and person. But it is impossible to appreciate what Sampras has become without contemplating two incidents that transpired early in his career, when the jury was still out on whether this enormously talented but apparently nonchalant youth would become a dominant player.

In 1991, just 20 years old but already the defending champion at the U.S. Open, Sampras surrendered his title to Jim Courier in the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows. Follow-ing the loss, Sampras truthfully if unwisely conceded that he felt as if "a ton of bricks'' had been lifted from his shoulders.

All kinds of players, from Sampras's friend Courier to the elder statesman Jimmy Connors, dropped no less a heavy load on Sampras in the form of stinging criticism of his attitude. Looking back on the incident, Sampras now says: "If there's one quote in my career that I wish I could take back, it's that one. But the truth is that at that stage my game and certainly my personality were pretty undeveloped. That quote reflected the truth of how I felt. I wasn't sure then that I really could win another Grand Slam title.''

At the next U.S. Open, Sampras lost in the title match to a man at the absolute peak of his considerable powers, Stefan Edberg. It wasn't a bad loss for Sampras; it was a devastating one. "Up to that point, getting to the finals was a good result for me," Sampras says. "But when I lost that match, I was surprised to feel how it burned inside of me. I kept thinking about that match, and I realized that I had given up in it. Just a touch, but enough to lose.

"And I kept thinking of the fact that they only engrave one name on the championship trophy. It all sank in there, pretty deep. I came to this realization that getting to finals wouldn't be good enough anymore. It didn't matter who I beat, or what surface the match was on. I had to go through the shock of that loss to realize that semifinals or finals would never be good enough for me anymore. That match changed my career. It really did.

"From then on, I knew what I wanted and I went about getting it. I've come to learn that the only real pressure is the pressure you put on yourself, and for me that's the pressure of winning big titles, not beating this guy or that guy on a match-to-match basis. Now I expect to win every match I play, period. That's it. I'm not kidding. And I don't really care what the experts or analysts or media say, not because I don't respect their opinions, but because I kind of have what I want. You can say I'm boring or whatever, but the titles are there. I never wanted to be the great guy or the colorful guy or the interesting guy. I wanted to be the guy who won the titles.''

Since that loss to Edberg, Sampras has been nearly invincible in nonclay Grand Slam events. And just as significantly, he has been nearly impervious to all of the heralded pitfalls and dangers created by his swelling status. In our time, only Edberg and the re-doubtable Ivan Lendl had comparable capacities for resisting conceit and continuing to grow. But neither of them have Sampras's record.

Reflecting on this conditon, Boris Becker says: "Pete has a unique, perhaps unconscious, way of dealing with all of the distractions that cause problems for some of the rest of us. He has this way of keeping at arm's length the issues that could threaten his love for the game, and his dedication to it. That says a lot about his pure passion as a tennis player. And it makes life as a tennis player easier for him.''

Indeed. Early in 1996, following the tragic death of his coach, Tim Gullikson, Sampras held firm against the shock and sorrow of that loss. He reached the semifinals of the French Open, and later he won the U.S. Open. Later in the fall, two weeks after severing his longtime relationship with Delaina Mulcahy, Sampras beat Boris Becker on the German's home court to win the ATP Tour World Championship.

"Through all that time, Pete was truly hurting,'' says Gullikson's successor, Paul Annacone. "But he has a way of sifting through things and moving on. He can shut things out as a competitor, even though as a regular, everyday guy he is just as affected by them as anyone else would be. An inability to grow while playing at the highest level may have been one reason that a guy like Bjorn Borg felt compelled to quit at age 25. Or maybe the lack of growth ended up exacerbating the pressure.''

If times have changed for tennis players since the heyday of Borg, they have only gotten more difficult and complicated, both on and off the court. Yet at age 26, Sampras is not only wildly successful, he also appears to be fresh. As Australian coach Bob Brett observes, "Pete is busy proving that all the limitations and distractions people began talking about when Borg quit, and when McEnroe more or less disappeared while he was still on top, aren't necessarily legitimate concerns. Get somebody good enough and mentally capable of handling the climate in today's game and there's no reason why he can't play until age 30 or 32, and win 15 Grand Slam titles.''

If anyone appears designed to shatter the clichés surrounding the game today it is Sampras. Even his game is resilient, and in a state of evolution. As Brett says, "Most of the guys out there bring a game that they keep and use. Pete brought a game that he's developed, and one that contains even more room for development. It isn't just talent that distances Pete from the other guys. It's his ability to use and expand his talents.''

Sampras joined the pro tour with a formidable basic arsenal, but since then his game has taken on increasing tone. Early on, he was fundamentally an aggressive baseliner who relied on a booming serve and a lethal forehand whose potency was slightly diminished by the need to protect a conservative topspin backhand. Since then, Sampras has improved his backhand substantially, freeing it up from the worthy but narrow task of setting up a forehand placement. This has only made his forehand even more devastating. And using the flat or sliced backhand or the chip-and-charge return strat-egy has allowed Sampras to attack opponents more effectively and with increasing frequency.

Although Emerson's Grand Slam record is formidable, the man against whom Sampras will be measured is that other Aussie that he was taught to emulate: Laver. "Lately, Pete has been realizing the same thing that us old guys worked out in our careers,'' says Laver, who fully expects Sampras to break Emerson's record. "If you have superior tools, putting pressure on opponents causes them to make more mistakes. Then you not only win more, you win more easily.''

According to Annacone, Sampras possesses the greatest form of knowledge available to a tennis player: a deep understanding of his own game. "Pete can play different styles at the highest of levels. He knows his tools and he knows his options. So he plays his return games better than ever before. And his game is so well integrated that you can't attack one aspect of it and cause the rest to break down. Combine that with Pete's basic love of competition, his ability to play a third-rounder against an annoying guy on a lousy day with his own mind completely and totally there, and it's a pretty unbeatable package.''

For historical purposes, Laver's status as the only man ever to win the Grand Slam twice (1962 and 1969) may be unassailable, even for Sampras. But then the Grand Slam is different today from what it was even 20 years ago. In Laver's time, three of the four Grand Slam titles were played on the grass that was most suitable not only to the game of Laver, but Sampras as well.

As former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Stan Smith says, "If three of the four majors were still played on grass, you'd actually have to like Pete's chances to get a Grand Slam. He's that good on the stuff. The other thing is that while Rod's achievements were awesome, I bet that in either year that he won the Grand Slam you could count on the fingers of both hands the number of tough matches he had to play. Today, almost every match Pete plays is losable. I don't think Pete has to get a Grand Slam to be considered the greatest player ever. But I do think that he has to win at least one title on the clay in Paris to be put right up there with Laver.''

Nobody doubts that Sampras has the tools to continue winning on any surface, despite the growing, diverse number of legitimate challengers. And pretty much everyone believes that Sampras must win in Paris at some point not merely as a final proof of his greatness, but because it would represent his completion as a player. Sampras himself has played a curious cat-and-mouse game with the challenge of winning at Roland Garros, and the issue represents one of the few key areas in which the insouciance of his youth was a handicap.

"I didn't grow up thinking I could win the French,'' Sampras concedes. "In fact, watching Lendl and [Mats] Wilander play a match for eight hours, doing nothing with the ball, made me feel like, 'Why would I even want to win this event?' I see it differently now, even though I refuse to get obsessive about winning in Paris. I would love to have it, I admit that. It would complete my career, even though I don't think I'll feel that I had a lousy career if I never accomplish that. Still, I would hate to have all these majors and then a big, fat asterisk: 'Did Not Win French.' "

Sampras obviously feels ambivalence about the importance and value of the French Open.

According to Annacone, that may be his best weapon. "The biggest reason that he may go on to win Roland Garros is because he will go about it exactly the opposite way that Lendl went about trying-and failing-to win Wimbledon. Pete knows what he has to do; how could he not? But he won't put extra pressure on himself or obsess about it. What happened two years ago, when shortly after Tim's death and with no real preparation, Pete beat three great players [Courier, Sergi Bruguera and Todd Martin] to get to the semifinals, was the best thing that could have happened. In his heart, Pete knows he can win the French. That's got to make you confident that you will.''

Next year in Paris, Sampras may be prone to show more emotion, which may help him.

Despite sustaining his basic antipathy to showmanship-and to the critics who insist that Sampras should more frequently vent his feelings-it is also true that as players get older they tend to draw more and more on every potential reserve of emotion, and self-expression on the court is one such resource. Still, do not expect Sampras to begin hurling his racquets or sniping with the
gallery any time soon.

"People,'' he says, "have this perception when I win majors that I don't look like I'm very ecstatic about it. I guess it isn't my way to look ecstatic. By the same token, if you just look at what I have to give up and sacrifice in my daily life to compete at this level, it would be very weird if in my own way I wasn't feeling ecstatic about winning.''

Fortunately, more and more observers are letting go of their preconceptions and misconceptions as Sampras continues to win them over to his cause with the most powerful and absolute argument of all: his record. Fittingly enough, this was something that Laver, whose only noticeable emotion on the court was a frosty disdain for the expression of emotion, saw coming.

"I said it early on and I keep saying it,'' Laver says. "You can get attention lots of ways, but the best way to build a name and the respect that comes with it is over time. The name you end up with then is something nobody can ever tear down, or forget.'' The name is Pete Sampras. It will last.

email me at: tovariche@aol.com 

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