Old Man and the Court: Sampras Draws on Glory Past
September 9, 2002
The greatest men's tennis player in history sat in the president's box early at the United States Open, watching his closest pursuer narrow the gap. While the men in blue blazers and women in evening wear waved their wine coolers and shouted their delight at what Pete Sampras was accomplishing on the court below, Sampras's role model, Rod Laver, remained calmly in his chair - his dexterous hands folded neatly in front of him - and gazed intently and silently as Sampras won the U.S. Open for his 14th Grand Slam title.
Laver, an Australian
and the only player to complete two Grand Slams, had tossed the coin before
this unexpected, much-appreciated final and then somewhat sheepishly posed
with Sampras and Andre Agassi for a photograph. You are a tennis legend
forever, but Laver did not want to intrude. He knows his time is over, and
until this tournament, it seemed Sampras's time was over, too.
He had not won a title in more than two years. He had lost his confidence; lost his devastating rhythm on his remarkable serve; lost his way and, seemingly, his relevance. But he did not, would not lose in New York, and on Sunday, playing on the same grounds and against the same opponent as when he burst to prominence as a skinny 19-year-old champion in 1990, Sampras turned up his game and turned back the clock to beat Agassi once more by the score of 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
It was a nostalgia-drenched moment and when it concluded, after nearly three hours, with a straightforward backhand volley cross-court, the 31-year-old Californian showed how much his life, if not his tennis, has changed by climbing into the stands to embrace his wife, Bridgette Wilson, who is pregnant with their first child.
"I never thought anything would surpass what happened at Wimbledon a couple years ago," Sampras said. "But the way I've been going this year, to kind of come through this and play the way I did today, it was awesome. I peaked at the right time against Andre."
Agassi has long inspired him to climb. Agassi, with his remarkable groundstrokes and reflexes, has dominated Sampras at times, but, in general, he has been a fine, charismatic foil who has long been better at analyzing and explaining their rivalry than the less articulate, more introverted Sampras.
Asked if he had ever thought Sampras was finished, Agassi responded: "I've said the same thing for years now; that his game is able to raise itself at the right time. While the discipline and the daily grind of what it takes to be the best have obviously gotten tougher for him, there's still danger in the way he plays and how good he is. Anybody that says something different is really ignorant. They don't understand the game of tennis, because Pete has a lot of weapons out there."
What is less obvious than the whip in his forehand or the potential for power and precision in Sampras's wickedly difficult-to-read serve is the reason why he pushed himself to this latest high.
After finishing No. 1 for a record six consecutive years, from 1993 to 1998, and then breaking the record for Grand Slam singles titles at Wimbledon in 2000, there were no major goals left beyond winning the French Open, which has long seemed beyond his reach because of his discomfort on clay. But Sampras still enjoyed playing the game; still enjoyed the adrenaline rush of competing in majors. So he decided to reduce his schedule and play well into his 30s.
“ There's still danger in the way he plays and how good he is. Anybody that says something different is really ignorant. They don't understand the game of tennis, because Pete has a lot of weapons out there. ”Andre Agassi
But as the victories stopped coming, Sampras lost his ability to intimidate. Younger men who will never challenge him in the history books were soon beating him with regularity. This year at Wimbledon, he lost in the second round to a Swiss qualifier, George Bastl. On changeovers during that match, Sampras sought inspiration in a letter from his wife and when even that most uncharacteristic tactic failed, he sat - disconsolate and adrift - on his chair before leaving Court Two.
"It was just an empty feeling," he said of his trip home to California. "I was working so hard; I was doing all the right things. It wasn't clicking. I had a little anxiety creeping in."
At least it was obvious that he still cared: someone who did not would not have changed coaches three times in a year. If he was lacking motivation after winning No. 13, at least he now had incentive again: He needed to save his reputation and to prove that he knew much more about his limits than peers and critics who were hinting that he was not doing his career justice by continuing. He might appear mild-mannered, but those who have worked with him over the years agree that he is stubborn.
"I wanted to stop on my terms; that was one thing I promised myself, even though I was struggling this year and hearing this and that," Sampras said. "I deserved to stop on my own terms, and I've done too much in this game to hear the negative things and start believing it. Because there was a point where I was believing it. But I still felt like I had one more moment; maybe a couple more moments."
Sampras said he would decide whether to continue in the next "couple of months."
"To beat a rival like Andre in a major tournament at the U.S. Open, a storybook ending, it might be nice to stop," he said. "But I still want to compete, you know? I still love to play."
He has never been known for his sterling practice habits, but five days after coming home from Wimbledon, he called his fitness coach, Brett Stephens, who was still in London, and told him to fly to California because he was ready to start working. The payoff came Sunday, and winning means that Sampras will no longer have to hear that his marriage to Wilson two months after his last Wimbledon title was part of the reason the titles stopped coming.
"That wasn't fair; I just felt like I was at a point in my career that it was a tough place to be after winning 13," he said. "I was happy. I was happy being married. I met the woman of my dreams and now we're going to have a child. That's what life's all about, but she's a big reason why I've been able to get through this tough period. She lives with me every day. Trust me, it's not easy. When you're struggling, not having fun, it's a burden. Just showed me that I met the right woman."
According to the Rudyard Kipling poem on display at Wimbledon, a champion
with the right stuff meets with victory and defeat and treats them both
the same. Those are pretty words yet daunting to live by. Sampras has not
managed it of late. The defeats left Sampras reeling, but this victory,
perhaps his finest, left him in a much more comfortable place. Perhaps only
another champion could understand just how comfortable. When it ended, and
the blue-blazered men leaped to their feet to cheer, Laver remained in his
seat, unclasped his hands and clapped slowly and respectfully, his eyes
fixed on the American who may not be chasing him much longer.