Sampras in 1992
Pete Sampras at Champions Cup Boston, in 2007
Sampras in 1992
Pete Sampras at Champions Cup Boston, in 2007
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Ethnicity:
His mother emigrated from Sparta, Greece. She was a Polish Jewish.
Pete Sampras was born on August 12, 1971 in Potomac, Maryland. His parents, Sammy and Georgia Sampras are of Greek heritage. The Sampras family moved to Palos Verdes, California in 1978.
Sampras took up tennis after his family moved to southern California in 1978. He immediately showed a talent for the sport, and his parents enlisted Peter Fischer, a pediatrician and amateur tennis player, to coach their son. Fischer, who had never before served as a coach, developed a comfortable relationship with Sampras and successfully guided him to the top ranks of American juniors.
Pete Sampras entered the professional tennis world in 1988 and within a year brought his world ranking from No. 893 to an admirable No. 97. He improved his ranking slightly and ended the next year at No. 81. He won his first professional singles title at the Ebel US Pro Indoor, in Philadelphia in 1990 after defeating Andre Agassi, Mayotte and Andres Gomez and ended the year at world ranking No. 5.
At the US Open in 1990, he defeated Thomas Muster, Ivan Lendl, McEnroe and Agassi to win the tournament and became the youngest-ever male singles champion, at the age of 19 years and 28 days. He expanded on these accomplishments by winning the Grand Slam Cup too. He defeated Jim Courier to win the 1991 Tennis Masters Cup but lost to the same opponent in the quarterfinals of the US Open, where he was the defending champion.
In 1993 he reached No. 1 on the world rankings for the first time without having much to show for this accomplishment. However, soon enough he won his first Wimbledon title by defeating Courier and his second US Open by trouncing Cedric Pioline. He won the Wimbledon title consecutively in 1994–95 and was the runner-up to Agassi in the Australian Open in 1995. His coach and close friend, Tim Gullikson was diagnosed with brain cancer the same year and hence Paul Annacone became Pete’s coach. He won his fourth US Open title in 1996 by defeating Michael Chang, but could only reach the semifinals of the French Open as the clay court didn’t suit or support his serve-and-volley style of playing. He won his second Australian Open and fourth Wimbledon title in 1997 after defeat5ng Carlos Moya and Cedric Pioline respectively. He also won the singles title in San Jose, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Munich and Paris.
The year 1997 saw him become the only player to win the Grand Slam Cup and the ATP Tour World Championships in the same year. He ended the year with No. 1 world ranking. In 1998 he won his fifth Wimbledon but lost the Australian Open and the US Open. Nevertheless he ended his 6th consecutive year as No. 1 in the world rankings. He won the Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida in 2000. Despite suffering from tendinitis in his right shin and severe back injury he won his record-breaking 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, which also became his eighth consecutive win at a Grand Slam final.
Pete Sampras did not win another title for more than two years; his form was worrisome and his pace had dropped. He gave away easy wins in the US Open (2000 and 2001) and the Wimbledon championship (2001). He showed some promise and reached the finals of the 2001 US Open, but lost to Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets. He defeated Agassi in the 2002 US Open finals to win his fifth US Open title (equaling Jimmy Connor’s record of five US Open singles championships).
He announced his retirement before the 2003 US Open and in a special ceremony at the Open, he bid farewell to his fans and followers.
During his tennis career, he won 14 Grand Slam Singles titles. These include: 2 Australian Open (1994, 1997), 7 Wimbledon (1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000), and 5 U.S Open (1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002)
Pete Samparas was the ATP Player of the Year and the ITF World Champion for six consecutive years from 1993 to 1998.
At ATP’s 25th anniversary, in 1997, he was ranked as the No. 1 player in the past 25 years.
He was the first tennis player to be adjudged as the ‘Sportsman of the Year’ by the US Olympic Committee in 1997. ‘GQ’ magazine awarded him with the ‘Man of the Year’ award in the Individual Athlete category in 2000.
He said: "I absolutely believe. I used to go to Sunday school and Greek Orthodox Sunday services with my family. That's how my parents raised me and that's how I'll raise my kids some day."
Politically, Sampras is a Republican. He supported John McCain in 2008.
Quotations:
"I could be a jerk and get a lot more publicity, but that's not who I am."
"I never wanted to be the great guy or the colorful guy or the interesting guy. I wanted to be the guy who won titles."
"The difference of great players is at a certain point in a match they raise their level of play and maintain it. Lesser players play great for a set, but then less."
"All I cared about in tennis was winning."
Physical Characteristics: His height is 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m).
Pete Sampras married American actress and former Miss Teen USA, Bridgette Wilson on September 30, 2000 and together they have two sons, Christian Charles and Ryan Nikolaos.
He was born on November 21, 2002.
He was born on July 29, 2005.
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He is an American former touring professional tennis player and current tennis coach.
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