Sampras Victory is Pure Hollywood
September 9, 2002
FLUSHING MEADOWS — Pete Sampras fooled everybody.The people who said he was done. The people who didn't think he could win another Grand Slam title. The people who said he was dull and robotic. Before our very eyes, Sampras went Hollywood on us and wrote an unbelievable story at this U.S. Open.
He lost touch with what made him successful, hit rock bottom and then overcame long odds to win the most improbable title of his magnificent career. Sampras beat Andre Agassi, his archrival and the sport's master showman, with a vintage performance of aggressive serve-and-volley tennis.Sampras won his 14th career Grand Slam title with a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory, bringing a dramatic end to the two most grueling weeks in tennis.
Sampras then showed a flair for the dramatic.He even got the girl in the end. Or is it two girls?With cameras flashing all over Arthur Ashe Stadium, Sampras made his way through the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium, exchanging high-fives with spectators and well wishers. When he finally found his pregnant wife, actress Bridgette Wilson, the two shared an embrace that caused women to cry and macho men to have a lump in their throats.U.S. Open central
Everybody went home happy after this one, with the obvious exception of Andre Agassi. Sampras needed this to revive a slumping career. Tennis needed this for a compelling storyline in men's tennis. New York needed this too. It needed to cheer and celebrate an All-America championship as it enters a stressful week of remembrance.
"This one might take the cake," Sampras said. "I never thought anything would surpass what happened at Wimbledon a couple of years ago. But the way I've been going this year, to kind of come through this and play the way I did was awesome."
This is a Hollywood ending, but Sampras isn't ready to say it is the end. Why should he? Michael Jordan had the perfect ending against Utah, but he came back. Sampras wants to go out on his own terms and this U.S. Open showed Sampras is totally capable of setting his own terms.Sampras even had some doubts after his loss to "lucky loser" George Bastl in the second round of Wimbledon. The flight back to Los Angeles was quiet and Sampras felt empty inside. The aura was gone.
Sampras had to re-evaluate everything that made him the most successful Grand Slam men's champion.Sampras stopped listening to his coach Paul Annacone last year and the player-coach relationship grew stale. Sampras decided to try to revitalize his career by switching to Tom Gullikson and switched again and tried to work up magic with Jose Higueras in time for the clay court season. That didn't work. It didn't work because Sampras didn't need to fine-tune his game. He needed to fine-tune his psyche.Only a handful of men could do that in his career. Pete Fischer, the man who convinced Sampras to get rid of his two-hand backhand was one. The late Tim Gullikson was another and Annacone is the third.
Sampras and Annacone stayed in touch throughout the year via e-mail, but when Sampras came back from Wimbledon he wanted Annacone to provide some analysis of his game and some tough love."It was back to work, either push forward and keep trying to get better and do it in the right way with the right frame of mind or wallow around in mediocrity and fade away. Luckily, for all of us, he chose the first," said Annacone."He had been working hard all year but I told him I felt like a lot of his work had been negatively conducted. In other words you are so frustrated you are going to work harder. When it's driven by that stuff it's hard to radiate a positive feeling when you play the matches. It was a 10-minute onversation."
Sampras and Agassi, the players in the oldest U.S. final in the Open Era, showed they aren't done yet. Something amazing happened in the third set when Sampras was on his way to winning this match in straight sets. The crowd, sensing this may be over, began cheering for Agassi with great zeal. They yearned for double faults and missed first serves and Agassi picked up his energy. It wasn't so much that they wanted Sampras, who was beginning to fatigue, to lose. The crowd wanted to see one more set. The crowd wanted to revisit 1995 when both were at their best. The wanted Sampras and Agassi to play their magical point, over and over again and enjoy the greatest men's rivalry since McEnroe-Connors-Borg.
"He can play for an hour where you don't even break a sweat sometimes because he's just taking the rhythm out of the match," Agassi said. "He's playing quick points, getting in, missing a few. Then all of a sudden, he plays a great game and he's off."
Sunday would have been the perfect ending to the rivalry that shaped both Agassi's and Sampras' careers. But if the U.S. Open showed anything, it was that both players are capable of raising their games for two weeks.
Sampras will take some time off to reflect on this accomplishment."I still want to play," Sampras said. "I love to play. To beat a rival like Andre in a major tournament at the U.S. Open is a storybook ending. It might be nice to stop. But …"
There goes Pete getting Hollywood on us again. You know how those guys love equels.