Once he dropped his sons off at school, Sampras might play golf, often at Bel-Air Country Club, where he has been a longtime member. He might play cards with friends. With a tennis court in the backyard, he might pick up a racket as well. Ryan, 15, is a junior tennis player of some distinction. He and Bridgette might collect the kids and head to their weekend home near Palm Springs. For all the stability in his personal life, his historic record has proven to be sadly fragile.
Two years after that, a swashbuckling Spaniard won the French Open for the first time. Three years after that, a steady Serb won the Australian Open for the first time. There are greater sports tragedies, sure. But this is something akin to Michael Jordan—who also played for the last time in the early aughts—being suddenly absent from most GOAT conversations.
But just as he was during his career Sampras has been extraordinarily, even jarringly, gracious about recent history. In , as Federer was poised to win his 15th major, Annacone went golfing with Sampras at Bel-Air, and wanted to see how his former charge was handling the assault of history. What do you think? Certainly Roger has been the best player.
Rafa is up there with him. Djokovic is pushing. He also takes pains not to discount the past. Beyond that, Sampras is friendly with all three of the men who have passed him. He has known Federer the longest. They played each other once in pro competition, a memorable passing-the-baton match at Wimbledon in They have been bracketed together ever since.
A different kind of warmth passes between Sampras and Nadal. They may be separated by language, culture and a dominant hand, but they have found a kind of game-respects-game common ground. Ironically, perhaps, Sampras is also close with Djokovic. The Serbian seeks to involve himself in politics and envisions himself sometimes to his detriment as a global figure, and is, unmistakably, more front-facing than Sampras ever was or wants to be.
Djokovic spends considerable time in Los Angeles, and has been known to visit Sampras when he does. Hoping to rekindle memories of Sampras before they fade like an old photo, the longtime tennis writer Steve Flink recently wrote a book titled, fittingly, Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited. It appears to me that it is quite the opposite; he is proud of what he did, and he still believes he could have competed favorably against anyone in history including Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal.
But he also appreciates their greatness and the way all three have represented themselves. He gives them full marks for breaking his record at the Slams. In the course of his research, Flink spoke with Sampras about the operatic Wimbledon final in which Federer held match points but ultimately lost to Djokovic in a match that will have historical implications for decades.
Or so we think, anyway. Perhaps tennis history is not quite as durable as previously thought. Sampras watched the match with his family and told Flink how wrenching he found it. Like all athletes, Sampras gets asked the predictable question: Do you miss tennis? Part of the stress also came from being a public figure. For almost two decades now, Sampras has led a quiet, private, homebound life that might bore some people, Agassi included.
But to plenty of others—most important, of course, Sampras himself—it veers close to meeting the definition of charmed. He may no longer hold the all-time majors record. But he went out on top. More Where Are They Now? The U. Weston McKennie's yellow card accumulation and Miles Robinson's red card vs. Sampras had a lot of success throughout his career. He started his professional career at the age of Throughout his career , Sampras continued to improve, and he would become a name that people would not forget in the tennis world.
When Sampras started his career as a teenager in , he finished the year ranked No. Sampras made a lot of improvement in his first year playing against players older than him. In his first professional match, he lost to Sammy Giammalva, Jr.
Pro Indoor in Philadelphia. The next year Sampras won his first Grand Slam match wins of his career. In the final round of the U. Open, he matched up against fourth-ranked Andre Agassi. Sampras beat Agassi in straight sets and became the youngest male to win the U. Sampras retreated into his Beverly Hills home, where he would spend months without coming out.
The couple welcomed their first son, Christian, in , and their second, Ryan, in Pete is now very much a family man, living off the fortunes he earned as a player.
After dropping off his children at school, Sampras might play golf at the Bel-Air Country Club or play tennis in his backyard. His second son, Ryan, looks destined for a bright future in the sport. In July , a young Roger Federer denied Sampras the opportunity to win his fifth straight Wimbledon title.
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