The best of the decade - top male tennis players (Part 3)
Number 8 – Pete Sampras
Needless to say that this list would not have been complete, in fact it would have been NOTHING if we failed to mention one of the best sportsmen of all time; Pete Sampras. Sampras was one star who climbed the ladder to success, the fastest, in Tennis history.
He set many new records that have immortalised him in the games history as the millennium came around.
Perhaps, the instance that we all remember most clearly was when he bagged the record for the most wins at Wimbledon in 2000, by winning a whopping 7 titles. And if that wasn’t achievement enough, this record helped him break another one. Sampras broke the
record of the most Grand Slam title wins by surpassing Roy Emerson’s 12 Grand Slam wins. However, what happened next left everyone shell shocked. Pete Sampras, record breaker extraordinaire, remained winless for the next two years. He became the perfect example
of the famous phrase “Oh how the mighty have fallen”. Needless to say, that these years were perhaps the darkest years in tennis history for almost all the fans of the sport. Sampras played a total of 33 tournaments during this period and failed to win a single
one of them.
Round about this time every tennis guru out there had written of the star as a “has been”. Even though he played brilliantly at the 2001 US Open final, victory eluded him still as he eventually lost the match to his arch rival Andre Agassi. At Wimbledon
2001, Pete Sampras took his first walk of shame as he was beaten out of second round by George Bastl. This was the earliest exit of the player since 1991. Much to everyone’s relief, 2002 finally saw the American getting his swagger on, as he not only reached
the US Open final for the third consecutive year but also won the match defeating some of the biggest names of the game at the time. This became his 14th Grand Slam win and was a very effective shut up call to everyone who had doubted his ability.
He proved he could still get his game on and beat the best of the best, to come out on top.
Sampras was on a 12 month hiatus following this win and with the 2003 US Open just around the corner he decided that he would not be defending his title. Sampras revealed around this time that he was stepping back from the world of tennis on the high note
of his 14 Grand Slam title record. And so the tennis legend bid adieu to his tennis days amid tears at a farewell game, which had been specially organized for him by the United States Tennis Association. He has won a number of honours and accolades. Among
them are the ATP Player of the Year from 93-98 and GQ Magazine’s Individual Athlete in the Man of the Year category. In 2006 Sampras came out of his retirement to play an exhibition match in River Oaks, against a much younger Robby Ginepri. Ginepri went on
to win the match 6-3, 7-6. After the match Sampras announced that he would now be playing in World Team Tennis events.
In 2007 he played a couple of events at the Outback Champions Series and won his first two events at the tournament defeating Todd Martin in both finals. His performance was a pleasant surprise for everyone watching, as one could clearly see that he still
possessed his former skill. In 2009 he won another two Outback Champions titles. He was also present at the 2009 Wimbledon final where his seven year record for the most Grand Slam titles was broken by the then Number 1 Roger Federer.
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