10 Things we've served up on the new King of Wimbledon
July, 1993
- Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras has reached the top by NOT eating his
greens. He hates vegetables, particularly Brussel Sprouts.
- He was coached for nine years from the age of nine by children's doctor
Pete Fischer, who works at a hospital near Los Angeles.
- Fischer told SunSport exactly how they first met. "I was just hitting
balls at the Jack Kramer Tennis Club when Pete's father asked me if I
would coach his son."
"I pointed out that I not a professional coach, but a paediatrician. He asked what I charge. I said "Nothing" and he replied, "The price is right."
- Pete is now the seventh all-time biggest earner in men's tennis and
he's still only 21. He has won GBP5 m in five years.
- Last year he won more than GBP20,000 a WEEK and winning Wimbledon has
brought him a further GBP305,000.
He has made more in the past fortnight than Prime Minister John Major will earn in FOUR YEARS for running Britain.
- Pete (and yes it's Pete, not Peter) Sampras was born in Washington DC
on August 12, 1971.
His dad, Sam, son of Greek immigrants, is an engineer at a NASA Space Centre in California. His sister, Stella, is a tennis coach at UCLA University.
- Fischer transformed Sampras from a school-boy with a lot of promise
into a world-beater, but he admits he is not a particularly good player
himself.
- In 1990, Pete became the youngest player to win the US Open at just
19 years 28 days.
- The match that had the biggest influence on Sampras was a classic between
Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, which coach Fischer insisted he watched several
times on old black and white film.
Fischer recalls: "He only watched it a few times. Pete's attention span isn't that long."
- Fischer reckons Sampras's failure to display emotion is one of his great
strengths. "I always told him that you don't want opponents to know
what you're thinking."
Pete unwinds by playing golf and supports the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.
(Special thanks to Georgia Christoforou for supplying this article)