Posted on: July 19th, 2007
Sampras one to savor
- petepageBy Brian, Ettkin
July 19, 2007 -- This is how it always should've been: Pete Sampras as most popular guy in the room, every seat taken because everyone's come to see him. All those years he was brandishing a tennis racket as masterfully as a Jedi Knight swings his light saber, Sampras should've been a magnet for tennis fans, an irresistible attraction.
He had all the pull Wednesday night, people who'd never set foot in Schenectady's Central Park, much less attended a World TeamTennis match here, trying to score Buzz tickets that were all accounted for.
Pete Sampras should be nearly as iconic a sports figure as Tiger Woods. But he's not, in part because he was stolid Tim Duncan when people wished he had a little ill-tempered Rasheed Wallace in him.
He was known for decency and consistent excellence, not flamboyance and spiking emotions, and for that the British tabloids christened him Sourpras.
Jimmy Connors used obscenities to tell umpires to do things that seemed anatomically impossible. John McEnroe threw more tantrums than a class of preschoolers. Both were as volatile as Kilauea. They were showmen and street fighters, puckish and glib. They didn't dominate the show. They became the show.
Sampras wasn't merely his predecessors' equal; he was better than them, the best player of his time, if not all time. He dominated tennis like Woods now lords over golf. Fourteen Grand Slam singles titles. Seven Wimbledon singles championships. Six year-end No. 1 rankings. A 203-38 record in majors. Sampras should've been beloved for it. But he wasn't, because of this:
He was a gentleman.
"You have to understand I went right after Connors and McEnroe and (Ivan) Lendl," Sampras said. "Those guys hated each other. They had personality -- some great, some not so great. It depends what kind of fan you are and I was right after those guys. Part of the press wanted me to be a nice guy and part of the press wanted me to be a jerk, so I couldn't win. But I wasn't going to compromise any of that to market myself or to make more money. I was going to be true to who I was and how I was raised and I wasn't going to change for more marketing or more notoriety."
Fans admired but didn't embrace him. They respected his vaporous serves and thunderous forehands, how he focused like a laser beam to close out matches and covered a tennis court as completely as a tarp. They marveled at his supremacy, but they didn't enjoy it.
He was the foil in the Agassi-Sampras rivalry. Fans gravitated toward Andre Agassi because he was the rebel who later in life found his desire and cause. It wasn't until age, injuries and defeats made Sampras seem more human than automaton that fans warmed to him. They rooted for the 31-year-old Sampras and 32-year-old Agassi equally in the 2002 U.S. Open final, when Sampras improbably won his 14th and final Grand Slam singles title as the 17th seed.
Before fans pulled Sampras closer to their breastbone, they needed additional time and perspective. Not all sports greats are fully appreciated at the peak of their powers. Only in retirement did Muhammad Ali become a universally beloved figure. Only when he no longer played Goliath did we more fully understand and appreciate Wilt Chamberlain. We didn't much care for Jack Nicklaus when he was pulling the throne out from under Arnold Palmer; we like him just fine now.
"I think as you get older and in the last couple years when I was losing a little bit more people started to cling on to me," Sampras said. "But in my prime when I was No. 1 and winning majors pretty handily I wasn't controversial, I wasn't outspoken, so maybe I didn't get that sort of media attention that some of the guys in some other sports might get.
"I was understated, I was pretty humble when it came to breaking records."
He still is. When Buzz owner Nitty Singh spoke to the crowd between matches and called Sampras the best player of all time, Sampras corrected her.
He was only one of the greatest, Sampras said.
How could we not appreciate Sampras' humility -- or him?
"As I got older ... being retired a certain appreciation has happened that I was a great player, and the way I did it was a positive thing," Sampras said.
He would lose his singles match and win his men's doubles match Wednesday night, his backhand betraying him, his game and fitness now tailored to his retirement, but it didn't matter.
The fans were his.
Source: Times Union
Recent Headlines
April 01, 2012
November 20, 2011
October 29, 2011
October 01, 2011
July 13, 2011
- "Li Na and Friends" to square off with Sampras and others at two-day tennis event in Wuhan - petepage
June 18, 2011
May 04, 2011
Back to News