Tom Steps Up for Sampras
January 6, 2002
MELBOURNE holds a bittersweet place in the hearts of the most dominant tennis player in history, Pete Sampras, and his new coach and old friend, Tom Gullikson. It was in this city just over seven years ago that both their lives changed forever. For Sampras, it was a very public transformation; for Tom Gullikson, it was intensely private.
Sampras's coach and Gullikson's twin brother, Tim, collapsed in the Melbourne Park locker rooms at the1995 Australian Open. He was rushed to Epworth Hospital, spent several days undergoing tests and was told he was suffering from two brain tumors. In the early hours of one stifling January morning, Sampras's supposedly granite facade crumbled in an emotionally charged, epic quarter-final with friend Jim Courier.
As the Gullikson brothers winged their way across the Pacific Ocean, on their way to Tim's home in Chicago, the then-world No. 1 was having his soul bared in front of 14,000 uncomfortable witnesses on centre court, and millions more across the world on television.
When a well-meaning fan yelled out "do it for your coach" early in the fifth set, Sampras wept uncontrollably. With the scores locked on 1-1 in the fifth, he paused while serving to wipe the torrent of tears away. Courier graciously offered to finish the match at a more suitable time.
Somehow Sampras found the nerve, and the composure to fight on. More than that, he cannoned an ace past Courier on his way to a remarkable 6-7 (7-4), 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory.
"It was an incredibly traumatic time for all of us," Tom recalled this week.
"The night before the match against Jim, the hospital let Tim out for the night. We got a bunch of folks together to have dinner with Tim -- Jim Courier, Pete, myself and few others. The next day we flew home to Chicago and Pete played Jim. We did not get to hear about it (the match) until we got back.
"Pete has been unfairly portrayed as a non-emotional, boring brand, and I think that was the first time people understood there is a lot more to him than just being a great tennis player. "He is human. He has emotions. He cares deeply about a lot of things other than tennis."
Sampras lost the final that year to Andre Agassi, but won fans the world over for his rare display of emotion and for his genuine concern for a man who had steered the course of his career. Sixteen months after that extraordinary quarter-final, Tim Gullikson died, aged 44. Sampras and Tom Gullikson dealt with their grief as best they could, going from good friends to great friends, deeply reliant on each other on an emotional more than on a tennis level.
Generally they kept themselves busy.
Sampras, under coach Paul Annacone, took his grand slam titles to a record 13 -- including the 1996 US Open, which was won on what would have been his former coach's 45th birthday, and the 1997 Australian Open, which he dedicated to Tim. Tom Gullikson committed himself to his role as US Davis Cup captain, a position he held until 1999, and as the United States Tennis Association's director of coaching, where he worked until August last year. Tom was instrumental in US Davis Cup success, an achievement he ranks higher than his own tennis accomplishments, including making the 1983 Wimbledon doubles final with his twin.
Both helped to establish the Tim and Tom Gullikson Foundation, a charitable organisation set up to assist the families of brain tumour sufferers. "Pete has given the foundation great support over the years," Tom said. "When Tim was diagnosed he said to me, 'I'm lucky because I have great family support, I have friends virtually all over the world, and I have got the best medical support you can possibly get, most people who get that diagnosis don't have that kind of support.' "To this day, we are still doing good things and thatleaves a warm spot in my heart."
So far, the organisation has raised more than $8 million. Sampras and Tom Gullikson are on the board of directors, as is Jim Courier. Then, in December, Florida-based Tom took a phone call from Sampras. There was no surprise in that, as they talk regularly. But this time Sampras was asking his old mate to take over as coach after parting company with Annacone.
Sampras had endured his most frustrating year on the ATP tour since he was a shy, skinny kid with big dreams and an even bigger game. For the first time in nine years he failed to win a grand slam event. For the first time in 11 years he failed to win a tournament. For the first time in 12 years he dropped to world No. 10 at year's end. So, for the second time in his tennis career, Sampras turned to a Gullikson for rejuvenation.
It was a call that Tom hoped might come. He had initially hooked up brother Tim with the young prodigy in late 1991, a year after Sampras had won his first US Open.
"Back then, I said to him, 'Pete, if my circumstances were different I would love to coach you'," Tom said. e was then working with the USTA. "But I said, 'I have got a guy who looks just like me and talks like me and I'm sure he would say pretty much what I would say.' " So began the Sampras-Tim Gullikson partnership where the former blossomed from a player of enormous talent to one of the greats. Tom hopes his new partnership with Sampras can be half as successful as his brother's.
He knows the doomsayers are doubtful. They are all too eager to write Sampras off as a legitimate grand slam contender. They say he is too old at 30 (even though he contested the last slam final of 2001), and figure he is vulnerable against the new wave of tennis tyros such as Lleyton Hewitt, who beat him in New York in September.
Tom is keen to do everything in his power to ensure Sampras will hit back, and hit back hard, in 2002. "It seems like everything has come full circle for us and that makes it even more special for me," Tom said of the partnership. "All the great work that Tim did with Pete and what a great association they had really makes me personally more determined than ever to try do my best, to help Pete out and hopefully finish his career in the style he wants to."
The pair had preliminary discussions last month about goals and ambitions for the year ahead, but will let it develop further on the road this year.
"I got a good feel for his goals and what he wants to accomplish this year, and it is up to both of us to sit down and come up with a bit of a game plan together," he said.
Their first outing together, this week's AAPT Championships in Adelaide, was not as successful as either would have liked. A first-round loss to Todd Martin had those same doomsayers out in force again, suggesting Pete's Australian Open chances were slim at best. "That's just ludicrous," Tom said. "The guy is 30 years old, he is in good shape, he is still one of the best athletes on the tour and he has still got a great game. "So if I was betting on Pete, there is no way I would give up on him yet, he has a lot of good tennis left."
Tom bases his assessment on several key points.
One, Sampras still has career goals, despite the fact he has won 63 career titles, more than $80 million prizemoney and an incredible 79 per cent of his matches over 13 years. Two, Sampras desperately wants grand slam 14 and, perhaps, No. 15. Tom said: "They (grand slam events) motivate him and there is no question in my mind that Pete can win another slam or two. Agassi was No. 1 at 31, and Pete is 30, he's fit and healthy and he plays easy tennis."
By easy tennis, Tom is referring to the fact that Sampras still possesses a killer serve. "He is not someone like a Lleyton Hewitt or a Michael Chang who has to roll themselves at every point," his new coach said. "The way Pete can serve means he can get through fairly comfortably a high percentage of the time. Over the long haul that definitely helps." Then, there is the hunger factor. Tom knows Sampras as well as anyone, and maintains Pete would not be putting himself through another 12 months of the gruelling ATP tour if he did not have the hunger.
He also is convinced Sampras is excited by the fact here is a core of young exciting players threatening to dominate world tennis, such as Hewitt and American teenager Andy Roddick. I think for years and years and years Pete has been the standard to which everyone else aspired," he said. "He has been a target his whole career and he has handled that incredibly well. "In my view, Pete can do a little hunting this year. e has always been thehunted. I think it would fun for him to go out and hunt some of the top-ranked guys, knowing he has got the game to do some damage."
Sampras's hunger excites Tom, but does not surprise him. He rates him as "the Michael Jordan of tennis". "There is no doubt about that," he said. "He has the career grand slam record, he finished No. 1 in the world six straight years, he has helped the US win the Davis Cup a couple of times, and his tennis is nice to watch. "He has matured and evolved over time. Pete is just a quality guy. He goes about his own business, he does not belittle opponents or talk badly about people. Instead of idolising (John) McEnroe and (Jimmy) Connors, he grew up idolising Rod Laver."
Then, there is Sampras's burning ambition to win the French Open. To win at Roland Garros would provide both Sampras and Tom with the perfect script ending to his tennis story. It is the only slam that has eluded him. It was also the event he promised the dying Tim Gullikson he would win in 1996. Sadly, Sampras lost in the semi-final to eventual winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov, his best performance at the French Open. "I'm sure Pete would love to win the French Open," Tom said. "Certainly this year we are going to talk about his clay court season. We are definitely going to talk about trying to be as prepared for the French Open as we ever have been, whatever that means."
But neither Sampras or Tom will rule out another Australian Open title. Regardless of the events that changed both their lives n 1995, Tom said they love Melbourne. "It is a special place for him. Pete obviously plays well here and gets great crowd support. There is a big Greek community behind him here. The weather is nice, the people are friendly, we all speak a similar brand of English and we are in the same war together in Afghanistan."
There would be a certain symmetry in another Melbourne Park victory, too. They know if Pete can score a cushy draw, get on a roll, he would be a real threat to win his third Australian Open. No one would begrudge a few tears if the Sampras-Gullikson team Mark II manages to triumph at Melbourne Park on January 27.
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