Highs & Lows of being a Sampras Fan
Sonja posted this message after Pete lost to Thomas Enqvist in the quarterfinals of the Tennis Masters Series 2000 at Indian Wells. She also tapes all of Pete's matches and has over 800 hours in her video library.
I have learned that a day after Pete loses a match, we can all be realistic again and accept what has happened. We all know that Pete hates to lose and we feel the same way. The first moment after the match ended, it may feel like a personal attack, "How can he do this to ME???!" But that's nonsense of course. And after the initial disappointment has worn off, reality settles in and you feel positive again.
Pete himself is able to handle his loss at the moment better than we do. As you can read in his press conference a while ago, he was even joking despite a bit of sarcasm, quite funny and relaxed. It is so hard to realize that he CAN lose sometimes especially after having "escaped" like he did before. You think it ALWAYS has to be like that. Although he is our "Greek God", he is human. Thank heavens! :-)
During these last days, he gave us once more the opportunity to figure out the highs and lows of being his fan. Those tight wins made us euphoric. He seems invulnerable, hence the more we felt upset over the loss.
Just one word concerning the tapes: I save all the tapes of Pete's matches win or lose. IMO, if you want the Highs, you also have to stand by the Lows. And besides, I never could tape over them. He is always cute and also playing great points even when he does not win.