Favorite Pete Sampras Match
I first heard of Pete in the late 1994 after the Soccer World Cup. I was so interested in soccer at that time that I paid attention to all sports news and TV programmes to avoid missing a piece of information. Each time I ran across the tennis segment, I always had the impression that the number 1 ranked player was Pete Sampras (and he was) but everybody was calling him boring, unlike his peer Agassi. Up until then I have never seen either of them so I followed the media's choice - Agassi. When I finally saw the two of them play on TV, I immediately chose Pete over Agassi almost at first sight and my feelings has strengthened as time goes by. From then on, I followed tennis and Pete although the local media coverage of tennis is so limited.
The match that first truly, madly, deeply impressed me was the Davis Cup final 1995, the US team vs Russia,in which Pete got all three winning points out of five. Our cable TV showed all five matches live. Pete played great and was stretched to his limit on his least favourite surface and almost single-handedly led the US team to the championship. I admired and loved him so much. The next Monday I returned to university, I went to the library searching the articles about the match and finally found a great one in the LA Times with a picture featuring Pete raising his arms up in the air after the victory. I copied down every word of the article in my notebook since a photocopier was not available. I read this over and over again and I will always treasure the memory. But it's a pity that I did not get that picture. (I would be grateful if someone could find it and send it to me!)
I think even if there's someone who plays better than Pete, no one could combine power and grace so perfectly in the game as he does. This is what I appreciate about him the most. I must confess that if I did not like Pete so much, I would not have bought the computer for surfing the internet for hours every night, on news about Pete. And I am fortunate enough to find this group and be a part of it. I even feel lost if I do not read your messages before I sleep. This group is the first community that I feel belonged to.