Samprasfanz

Pete Sampras’ stolen memorabilia is returned

Published on March 22, 2011 by cc344Leave a comment

March 21, 2011

Much of the tennis memorabilia stolen from Pete Sampras last November has been returned, according to an attorney who worked with investigators on the case.

Anthony Salerno, a Century City lawyer hired by the Sampras family to help in the investigation, said Sunday that another attorney allegedly representing those who took the material from a storage facility had contacted his investigator early Saturday morning to say the trophies and other items would be returned, with the expectation of no further investigation or penalty.

Salerno said that boxes of the Sampras memorabilia showed up Saturday morning at a hospital in Marina del Rey, and have now been turned over to the Los Angeles Police Department’s commercial crimes division.

Salerno said that he had no idea why they were left at the hospital. He said he hoped that Sampras would have his memorabilia back after the police did an inventory. He said that other things taken from the storage facility, such as furniture Sampras and his wife, Bridgette Wilson, had placed there temporarily while moving homes, had not been returned.

Pete Sampras Interview in Zurich

Published on March 19, 2011 by cc344Leave a comment

Pete Sampras’ interview in Zurich here.

It’s overdubbed in German.

All Things Pete

Published on March 11, 2011 by cc344Leave a comment

In his interview at The Tennis Channel, Pete discussed the recent exhibition match with Andre Agassi at the Madison Square Garden where he won 6-3, 7-5. “When the ball is in my hand and I am about to serve, I want to do something special with it. That is just the way I am built, to try to do something well. Obviously I am not as good as I used to be but to be able to still hit the ball pretty well is important to me.”

He also described his future plans, “Being able to help young kids, juniors, and those looking to turn pro is something I would enjoy. Helping out kids in tennis would be fun and as I get older it might become more of a priority, but over the next couple of years I will continue to play a little bit here and there.”

He also mentioned working with Wilson on a new racket and training with Gunnar Peterson. “I see him three times a week and run for 40 and get into the gym for an hour with him….When I stopped playing the tour and didn’t do anything for three years I hit almost 200 pounds. In my old playing days I was about 183. Right now I am at 187 or 188 and that is a comfortable weight for me.”

Sampras’s older son Christian, 8, is taking some tennis lessons, “I love to see him out there learning how to play but I am not pushing him in any way to play tennis. If he is into it, that is great. If not, that is okay”

For the full interview visit The Tennis Channel

Pete’s Presscon at The Zurich Open

Published on March 10, 2011 by cc344Leave a comment

A couple of video clips of Pete’s presscon at the Zurich Open available on Blick.ch

Sampras Sees Off Muster And Eyes Ivanisevic In Zurich

Published on March 9, 2011 by cc344Leave a comment

March 8, 2011 – Pete Sampras beat Thomas Muster 6-3, 7-6(2) at the BNP Paribas Zurich Open, and will now face his old rival Goran Ivanisevic on Wednesday in his second round-robin match.

The American needed to fire on all cylinders to see off the super-fit Muster, and ultimately it was his greater weight of shot that told.

“I played Thomas a few years ago in Brazil and he’s in much better shape now than he was then,” said Sampras. “He’s hitting the ball well, he served well and he made me work pretty hard there in the second set.”

He will now face Ivanisevic, who suffered a straight-sets loss against the in-form Mark Philippoussis, who recently won the Delray Beach ATP Champions Tour event.

“Although I got the better of Goran during our careers I never liked playing him,” said Sampras. “That serve is just so big I never felt comfortable on the court with him and I’ve heard that he still serves really big so it’s definitely going to be tough against him tomorrow. The field here is so good that there are no easy matches and I’ve been drawn in a tough group as well. I’m here to win though.”

When told that Ivanisevic believes Sampras “took a lot of years off my life” with his victories over the Croatian at Wimbledon, Sampras replied:

“I might just have! Those Wimbledons were tough to swallow for him, especially the one where I felt like he played a bit better than I did (in 1998). He’s a great champion and it was nice to see him finally win it there. It will be memorable for us to get out there tomorrow and play again.”

Ivanisevic struggled to contain the raw power of Philippoussis on Tuesday. The Australian broke the Croatian in the very first game and went on to win 6-3, 7-6(2).

“It was definitely a good start for me today,” said Philippoussis. “I have a lot of respect for Goran’s game and he played well today so it’s a good win to get on the board. I hit some big serves out there too so I’m pleased with that.”

Matches are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner. After all round-robin matches are complete, the top player in each group will meet in Saturday’s final.

View the round-robin groups, results and the order of play for the week in Zurich.

After Zurich The ATP Champions Tour will head to the Southern hemisphere for a South American swing that will cover Sao Paulo, Brazil (May 5-8), Guadalajara, Mexico (May 11-14) and Bogota, Colombia (May 19-22).