Passion for Pete Sampras
When I was younger I was playing tennis myself, but I never actually watched it on TV. Of course I knew who Sampras was, but that was pretty much it. It all began one evening as I was going through all the channels on TV, I came across a tennis match. Pete was playing Courier at the 1995 Australian Open QF, when he had just found out that Tim Gullikson was ill. I knew nothing about it then and you can imagine I was surprised to see that he was crying. First I wondered if he cried because he was loosing (forgive me I was about 12 at that time). But as I continued to watch him, it became obvious to me that this was about something more than just tennis. He showed so much emotion that night...I couldn't help but fall in love with him. I began watching tennis, I even started playing it again - thanks to Pete.
I live in Poland. there are no big ATP tournaments here, so I've never seen Pete play live. I'm so jealous when I read other people's stories about meeting him. When they broadcast tennis matches here, they never show the interviews. Even this Wimbledon, they finished the broadcast before his on-court interview.So it gets frustrating to be his fan at these times.
Pete gives me a lot of happiness too. My friends think I'm obsessed - I
once argued for an hour with my English teacher who said he looked like
a monkey! It's good to know I'm not the only one! This group is great, and
so is this website. Thanks for everything