Pete Sampras debuts in Houston on his best surface
March 30, 2002
Pete Sampras, arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, was scheduled to come here in late April for the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships but pulled out because of his renewed commitment to Davis Cup.
In a twist of fate, Westside Tennis Club owners Jim and Linda McIngvale landed the quarterfinal tie between the United States and Spain. Rather than seeing Sampras play on his worst surface, clay, Houston tennis fans have the rare opportunity to see him play on a surface that sets him apart from all others: grass.
The numbers are impressive: a record 13 Grand Slam titles; No. 1 in the world a record six years; one of two players (along with Bjorn Borg) to win at least one Grand Slam title for eight consecutive years; seven Wimbledon titles; and 63 tour titles, fourth behind Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe.
"Sampras is the greatest of all time, and I have to give him a pat on the back for getting there because the tournaments are a little deeper these days," said Australian Roy Emerson, whose Grand Slam record Sampras broke at Wimbledon in 2000.
Sampras' path to becoming one of his sport's all-time greats wasn't a walk in the park. He was a rare serve-and-volleyer who had been using a one-handed backhand just over a year when, at 17, he played his first ATP event in Philadelphia in 1988, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Houston's Sammy Giammalva.
"I remember walking off the court and saying to myself, `This guy has a better forehand than me, he's got a better backhand, he's got a better serve, he's a better athlete ... every part of his game is better than mine,' " said Giammalva, now owner of Giammalva Racquet Club in northwest Houston. "I was very impressed when I played him. I remember calling my dad after the match and saying, `This guy's going to be a great player.' His talent was pretty obvious even then.
"He was very loose and confident, like, `I'm just going to go for my shots because I know they're going to fall.' "
Sampras smiled when asked his memory of his first professional match.
"I had just come through (qualifying) at a club in Philadelphia and then suddenly I was in the Spectrum and it was kind of overwhelming, even though there were about 15 people in the crowd," said Sampras, who never won a national junior title. "That first match wasn't pretty.
"Just starting out, you're just trying to play well and trying to learn ... not be too critical of wins and losses because you're just trying to get better. As the years went on, I got more experience playing some bigger matches, but it takes time. The way I play with the serve-and-volley game, it took me a few years to feel confident and more secure in myself."
Sampras' breakthrough came at the 1990 U.S. Open, where he won his first major and became the youngest player (19 years and 28 days) to win the tournament. In the quarterfinals he gave Lendl his first loss at the Open before the finals in eight years, then ousted McEnroe in the semis before beating Andre Agassi for the championship.
That title, however, did him little good on grass. Although now regarded as the greatest grass-court player ever, Sampras originally hated the surface with a passion.
"For me, it was strictly mental," Sampras said. "I went over to London (in 1989) thinking grass was going to be like a walk in the park because of my serve-and-volley (game), but I learned pretty quickly that you needed to return serve and be able to move and adjust.
"I thought it was an unfair surface and didn't enjoy it. I felt the bounces were tough and just mentally went out (on the court) pretty negative because I was losing to guys (in tiebreakers) that had no business beating me."
Rather than get discouraged and avoid the surface, as Agassi did early in his career, Sampras made a concerted effort -- pushed by late coach Tim Gullikson -- to improve his footwork and second serve, but most importantly to chip his service returns.
"I took big cuts playing on the California hard courts and I learned pretty quickly on grass that you can't do that, especially in today's game because it's pretty quick," Sampras said. "In working with Tim Gully, I just shortened everything up. I was more compact using the chip, where you take (the racket) back real short.
"That's the key to grass because you don't have time to take a long swing. Guys are serving too big to do that."
The transition wasn't easy. Sampras lost again in the first round at Wimbledon in 1990 and won only one match in 1991.
"When I broke through to the semis (in 1992, where he lost to Goran Ivanisevic in four sets), I was suddenly more positive out there," Sampras said. "I returned a little better and felt more comfortable, and the next year I won it and it's just kind of exploded from there."
Since 1993, Sampras has won seven titles and has gone 56-2 at Wimbledon. His last title, when he rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the second-set tiebreaker to beat Patrick Rafter 6-7 (10), 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-2, gave him the Grand Slam record and fueled the debate about where he ranks in tennis history.
"Sampras is the best player in the past 20 years," said U.S. Davis Cup coach and Sampras peer Jim Courier. "It's not too strong a statement to say he is in the mix when talking about the best. It's open to debate on that one.
"When Sampras' game is on, you'd have to find somebody with everything in their package if they are going to beat him."
If anything keeps Sampras from being unanimously regarded as the greatest ever, it's one tournament: the French Open. Sampras has only reached the semifinals at Roland Garros once.
"If he had won the French Open, he would be the best of all time," said U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe. "The way it is, he's right up there. You can make the case for Pete being one of the top three.
"Rod Laver won all four Grand Slams in two different years (1962 and '69). Pete at his best was better than Jimmy Connors at his best, and John (McEnroe) was right around Connors."
But Sampras had his greatest Davis Cup while playing on the indoor clay in Moscow in the 1995 final against Russia, In the first rubber of the tie on Friday, Sampras collapsed with severe leg cramps at the end of a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 win over Andrei Chesnokov and was dragged off the court by USTA trainer Bob Russo and USTA team doctor George Fareed. After bouncing back the next day to win the doubles rubber in straight sets with Todd Martin to give the United States a 2-1 lead, Sampras outdueled Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Sunday to clinch the title and become the first American since McEnroe in 1982 to win all three points in a final.
"Having to play on a pretty difficult surface against two pretty good players and coming back and playing the doubles was not just one of my best Davis Cup memories, but one of my best tennis memories," Sampras said.
Sampras' legacy can't be measured just by titles, either. His on-the-court demeanor, labeled dull by some, is praised by those who yearn for the days when sportsmanship was expected, not criticized.
"He's just a nice guy," Giammalva said. "He and Courier and (Michael) Chang and (Todd) Martin brought class back to tennis. McEnroe and Connors and Lendl hated each other. It was a real dislike and I think it's there to this day, and there was a lack of respect for the game that Sampras and Agassi had.
"All of them in that generation returned sportsmanship to tennis and that's really a big part of the game. I have a lot of admiration -- and it's grown over the years -- for how they've conducted themselves and handled the pressures of being at the top of the game. They handled it with such grace and class, and I think tennis has benefited."
The question now is if Sampras can add to his remarkable résumé. After being ousted in straight sets by qualifier Fernando Gonzalez in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 Open earlier this week, Sampras has not won a tournament -- 24 in all -- since Wimbledon in 2000. He made a remarkable run at the 2001 U.S. Open by beating Rafter, Agassi and defending champion Marat Safin in consecutive matches to reach the final, but for a second consecutive year was routed in straight sets by a younger and obviously fresher opponent (Lleyton Hewitt).
"I need to work on some things," Sampras said after a tough second-round win over Jarkko Nieminen at the Nasdaq. "There's no doubt that I feel like I can play better. I know what I'm capable of doing out there, but as the competition gets tougher, I have to be sharper."
With that in mind, Sampras has hired his third coach in as many months. Jose Higueras, who worked with Sampras and Chang early in their careers, helped Chang and Courier win French Open titles.
"He's just at the point of his career that everybody reaches," Higueras said. "When you get to 30, people start saying that you're on your way down because you don't have as much desire or your body starts to break down. It seems to me that his desire is still there, so if his body holds up, he's very capable of doing well again."
Higueras is best known for his tough practice routines, which Sampras believes will augment the added conditioning work he's put in since losing the 2001 Open final to Hewitt.
"I take my hat off to Pete because you look at what he's done and he's still willing to listen to someone who's going to tell him some things that maybe other people didn't tell him," Patrick McEnroe said. "That says a lot about his mentality and wanting to get the most out of these last couple years of his career, and really pushing himself to do that.
"He certainly doesn't need to because he's proven everything he needs to prove."
And if history is any gauge, time isn't on Sampras' side. Only Arthur
Ashe, Ken Rosewall and Laver won majors in the Open era at 31 or older,
and Sampras has only one Slam left -- Wimbledon -- before he hits that mark.
Yet Sampras insists that the fire to win a major
still burns in his belly.
"I think the drive, if anything, has increased because of having not gotten that success last year," Sampras said. "When you taste victories so many times and you win majors consistently, then you have a year where you don't win a major, you want to get back up there even more. That's why I put in a big effort with the training, and that's why a loss in a Slam like Australia (in the fourth round to Safin) makes it tougher.
"So the drive and focus is still there. It's just a matter of going out there and winning tennis matches, and I hope to have it click a few times this year and win a major or two."
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