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Pete Sampras’ star turn for Paul Annacone

From Glasgow to Beverly Hills. The unlikeliest practice session of the tennis season, or perhaps even of the decade, took place in Los Angeles a few days ago, with Britain’s Jamie Baker, a 21-year-old from Glasgow ranked No 231 in the world, hitting for two hours with Pete Sampras, the winner of a record 14 grand slam titles, including seven golden trophies at Wimbledon. And it all happened on a court in the back garden of Sampras’ Beverly Hills home.

The last known practice-partner to have popped around for a hit at the Sampras mansion, where the retired American lives with his wife, the Hollywood actress Bridgette Wilson, was a certain Roger Federer.

So how did Baker manage to secure a private training session with Sampras? It was all down to the excellent contacts book of Paul Annacone, who yesterday signed a new three-year contract as head coach for men at the Lawn Tennis Association. When it comes to celebrity friends in the sport, Annacone cannot be faulted.

The American coached Sampras, and then went on to work with Tim Henman until the Briton’s retirement in September. So, with Baker in America for some second-tier Challenger tournaments, Annacone asked his old friend Sampras whether he would mind hitting with the British No 3. And Sampras happily agreed.

“The other day, I took Jamie Baker over to Pete’s house for a hit,” Annacone told The Daily Telegraph. “Pete said to me, ‘Bring him over’, and when I told Jamie where we were going his eyes immediately lit up, and he said. ‘That would be great’.

“Pete can still hit the ball pretty well, and it was great for Jamie to see Pete up close, to see what he’s like and how he does things. It was a nice couple of hours for Jamie, being on court with Pete at his house.”

With Henman now playing golf rather than tennis, the men’s rankings do not look so clever. Andy Murray is at No 11, but you then have to go all the way down to 161 in the list before you get to the British No 2, Alex Bogdanovic.

Baker is then third. “When you look at the rankings, it is disconcerting, as there’s Andy Murray and then there’s a big drop-off before you get to ‘Boggo’. Of course, we want more Andy Murrays, more players capable of getting in the top 10, but that’s not going to happen overnight,” Annacone said.

Source: Telegraph UK

Filed under: Archives 2003 to 2011

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