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An athlete for the ages
Sampras' 7th Wimbledon singles title should bump him into elite club

July 9, 2000

WIMBLEDON, England (July 9) -- He was out of sorts. So was the weather.

Pete Sampras couldn't stop Pat Rafter.

What they were calling the Millennium Wimbledon seemed likely to go on to another millennium because of delays and darkness. The All England Club has its famed grass courts, but it doesn't have lights.

But somehow, six hours after the first ball was served on Sunday, with weariness and disappointment working their spells, there was Sampras basking as a champion without precedent.

Now, we must seek perspective. We must ask where Sampras ranks among the greats -- not merely among the people in his sport of tennis, but among the people in any sport.

The other day Sampras referred to Michael Jordan, the best basketball player ever, and Wayne Gretzky, the best hockey player in history. He was alluding only to their staying power, their longevity, not implying that he belonged in their company.

So perhaps we must make that implication, or more specifically, that contention. Perhaps we must suggest that Sampras belongs among the great athletes of all time, among stars such as Willie Mays and Joe Montana and Jack Nicklaus.

What a magnificent few weeks it has been in sports. Tiger Woods turned golf inside down and upside out. Then another young athlete from Southern California, Sampras, won his seventh Wimbledon, tying a record, and won his 13th Grand Slam singles title, setting a record.

You've got to appreciate how difficult it was for the 28-year-old Sampras to beat Pat Rafter of Australia, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2, when truly, down three points in the second-set tiebreaker, he could just as well have lost.

In the end, there was Pete, waving at his parents, Sam and Georgia, who had flown in from the Los Angeles area on Saturday and who had witnessed him win a Grand Slam.

There was Pete, bent over with emotion, wiping away tears, moments after he had raised his hands in triumph.

There was Pete, climbing up into the stands to hug his mom and dad, who tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible by not joining Pete's fiancée, Bridgette Wilson, in the very conspicuous friends and family box.

"I thought I had let it slip away," said Sampras. "I lost my nerve in the first set. We all choke, no matter who you are."

But the best ones overcome that failure. They ignore the interception and throw the touchdown pass. They produce the big shot at the critical time.

W.C. Renshaw also won seven Wimbledon men's singles, but that was in the 1890s. And Roy Emerson, "Emmo" the Aussie, won 12 singles championships in the Slams -- the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon -- in the 1960s.

Sampras developed tendinitis in his left shin the first week of the tournament. On Sunday, Sampras started hitting double faults at the most inopportune times.

The nasty weather that Wimbledon had escaped the previous 12 days came roaring in from the north with such force and staying power that it first didn't seem the match would start. Later, it didn't appear it would end.

There was an hour rain delay before the first shot. There was a 26- minute delay in the seventh game of the first set, when Sampras almost got run over by a kid sprinting to help roll out the tarpaulin. There was a 2-1/2 hour delay in the ninth game of the first set.

Play finally restarted at 6:33 p.m. British Summer Time, and not until 8:57 p.m., when it was almost too dark to play, did Rafter hit the final shot, a wide return of serve.

"It didn't matter if were played until midnight," said a bemused Rafter. "I couldn't return his serves anyway."

Nor, for the longest time, could Sampras return Rafter's serves.

Pete had nine chances to break Rafter's service, but not until the 10th attempt, in the fifth game of the third set, did that actually take place.

"I don't plan on breaking records," said Sampras. "This hasn't hit me. It's amazing how this tournament panned out. I didn't feel I was going to win here."

"With everything that happened," affirmed Sampras, "I would say this is one of my best moments. These two weeks were the most difficult and the most satisfying. The fact my parents were here, it was a great script and it worked out well for me."

Considering that the match ended on the day it started, it worked out well for everyone, except maybe Pat Rafter.

Copyright (c) 2000 SportsWritersDirect

 

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