Victory and Redemption for Sampras
September 9, 2002
NEW YORK - Pete Sampras had made his leap over the photographer's pit, climbing the steps of Arthur Ashe Stadium on a search for his wife, and people's hands reached over the aisle to touch him - the way the game's greatest champion had touched them Sunday.
He had never been the people's choice until late in the game, late in his tennis life, and there was Sampras turning a trip to his family's box into something of an impromptu victory lap.
Still, Sampras never
stopped. He pushed past everyone, past the backslaps and high fives, past
the darkest hour of his professional life to reach the light again. He had
won his last Grand Slam - his last tournament - more than two years ago.
That Wimbledon victory, the 13th Grand Slam of his career, made him the
game's greatest champion. It had inspired a run to his father's arms at
the All England Lawn Tennis Club, the man forever standing in the shadows
and supporting his son's relentless run to be the greatest ever.
That was his run into history in 2000. But Sunday was something else.
This was Pete Sampras' run to redemption.
"I never thought anything would surpass what happened at Wimbledon a couple years ago, but the way I've been going this year, to come through this. ... This might take the cake," Sampras said. "This might be my biggest achievement."
All the way back from 26 months without a title, all the way back from the embarrassment of getting embarrassed out of Wimbledon in July, all the way back from the moments he started to believe the newspaper clippings urging him to retire at 31. On Sunday, he completed the most improbable victory of his life: 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 over Andre Agassi, over the professional disarray and doubts that chased him to the start of this U.S. Open.
Yes, this was a different time for him, a different station in life, and it was fitting that his breathless burst into the stands at the match's end finished in the arms of his pregnant wife, Bridgette. The mother and baby were blamed as the reasons he had lost his edge and his drive, the reason he never, ever had a chance to see himself reach the 14th Grand Slam in the twilight of a Flushing Meadows evening, the twilight of his career.
This was the final scene of romantic comedy, the boy getting the girl and the championship. The kid raised in Hollywood kissed his actress wife and squeezed her tight. The scene played out on the video screen high above the sold-out stadium, the late-Sunday matinee audience standing and cheering with the understanding they'll probably never get an encore.
"To beat a rival like Andre in a major tournament at the U.S. Open, a storybook ending, it might be nice to stop ... " Sampras confessed. "But I still want to compete, you know? I still love to play. Right now, my head is spinning."
This had been had the hardest of all - No. 14 - requiring Sampras to reach down for something he couldn't be completely sure he still had within him. Across this fortnight, Sampras' booming service stopped betraying him and he sizzled aces at more than 120 miles per hour. Testament to his greatness was the fact that the man standing across the net happens to hold the greatest return of serve in the sport. So, yes, it was stunning to see Sampras' serve exploding past him over and over, leaving Agassi looking as if he were swinging a fly swatter.
Again and again, Sampras pounded Agassi, pushing out to a lead of two sets to none. He lost the third when he started losing steam, and held on for dear life in the fourth set when Agassi delivered the drama to this unforgettable final. When it appeared Agassi could force a fifth set for those tiring, wobbly legs of Sampras, Sampras broke his serve at 4-4 to serve out the match, the championship, the victory against the longest odds of his life.
Everyone tried to tell him the man making his legend on training the hardest, staying No. 1 for an incomparable six straight years, couldn't do it a different way. Everyone tried to tell him he couldn't have the girl and the trophy, contentment, and championships. This was his answer Sunday, his answer for the ages.
"It wasn't fair [to my wife]," Sampras said. "I just felt like I was at a tough place to be after winning 13. I got married two months later. I was happy. I met the woman of my dreams and now we're having a child. That's what life is all about. But she's the big reason why I've been able to get through this tough period."
This could've been goodbye for Sampras on Sunday. As he hugged his wife and 23,000 cheered and that silver trophy waited for him down on the court again, a Hollywood kid considered the possibility he could choose to call this the end.
"To beat a rival like Andre at the U.S. Open, a storybook ending, it might be nice to stop. ... But I still want to compete, you know? I still love to play. Right now, my head's spinning."
Pete Sampras always did do the drama the best, always did save his greatest performances for the most important moments of all. Whatever happens the rest of the way, whatever he decides, the game's greatest champion will always have found his happy ending running into the arms of his wife at the U.S. Open, into the arms of history.