Samprasfanz

Feb 8, 2011 – For the lighter side of tennis, Monday night at HP Pavilion was the place to be.

Push-ups, sit-ups, between-point wind sprints, photo breaks … the exhibition match between retired 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras, 39, and up-and-coming French showman Gael Monfils, 24, had a little bit of everything.

When it ended, there was even some smack talk.

Peeking ahead to an exhibition match against longtime rival Andre Agassi (also retired) at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 28, Sampras told the crowd of 4,911, “I’m looking forward to playing Andre. I’m always looking forward to kicking his little (behind).”

It was the last laugh in a match filled with them.

On the opening night of the SAP Open, Sampras and Monfils ran around the court for a little more than an hour before the Frenchman emerged with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory.

“It’s not easy to come up here sort of cold turkey and try to play him,” Sampras said. “But all in all, I was very happy with the way I played and didn’t embarrass myself. I had a few chances there to maybe squeak out a set. But I’m almost 40 now, and he’s in the prime of his life.”

Sampras, who won two SAP Open titles during his legendary career, has been no stranger to the tournament post-retirement. The exhibition Monday marked the fourth consecutive year in which Sampras kicked off the SAP Open by playing an opening-night exhibition.

Last year, Fernando Verdasco went on to win the tournament after playing Sampras in the Monday exhibition.

For Monfils, the second seed this week behind Verdasco, the match Monday was an honor.

“To play against you, Pete, was a dream come true,” he said during an on-court interview.

While there were some superb shots in the match, a few of the memorable moments had little to do with tennis.

At one point, Sampras, perhaps underlining the fact he is approaching 40, took a seat behind the baseline as if to take a break. Monfils’ response: He dropped to the ground and did five push-ups, then sprinted up the court and dropped again, this time doing five sit-ups.

The crowd erupted in laughter.

At another point, Monfils approached a group of photographers next to the court and asked one of them for his camera. Monfils took the camera on the court and snapped a shot of Sampras.

Showmanship aside, Sampras was impressed with Monfils’ game.

“I played against a lot of good movers in my day,” Sampras said. “But he was one of the best I’ve ever played. It was incredible. He slides like 8-feet long. He’s got a great future.”

Sampras, meanwhile, wants to keep playing, with one exception: “Next year, I hope I can play (John) McEnroe or Agassi,” he said, “someone a little more my age.”

Source: Mercury News

December 17, 2010

Three scrapbooks and a trophy stolen from Pete Sampras at a West Los Angeles public storage facility over a month ago have been recovered.

Lt. Robert Edgar, of the LAPD commercial theft division, said that a citizen contacted the police last Friday after finding those items in Griffith Park.

Nearly 100 trophies and awards were stolen from Sampras’ storage facility, including his first Australian Open trophy, an Olympic ring and seven ESPYs.

“I can’t tell you if it was a random event or if they knew if the property of Pete Sampras was there,” Edgar said.

Edgar said the police have several leads, but declined to to comment on the specifics.

Sampras said none of his items were insured because he didn’t think there was a way to assess their value.

Leila Dunbar, who runs her own appraisal company and was the vice president and director of the collectibles department at Sotheby’s for nine years, said she was surprised to hear that.

“Sports memoribilia has been sold at public auctions for more than a quarter century,” she said, “so there are obvious ways of being able to find that information and assess it.”

Dunbar said that at an auction, she’d give a starting price of $50,000 to $75,000 for a Pete Sampras Australian Open Trophy, but estimated that it would sell for $100,000 to $150,000.

“Pete Sampras is considered to be one of the top five singles players of all time,” she said. “There’s going to be a lot of interest.”

Dunbar said she’d predict one of Sampras’ Wimbledon trophies could sell for $500,000. Luckily for Sampras, none of his seven Wimbledon trophies were kept in his locker.

“The greater the athlete, the more trophies they possess, they should get it insured,” Dunbar said. “Their stuff could be worth hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars.”

As for how much the thieves could make by selling Sampras’ items on the black market, she said not much.

“My guess is that the trophies would be sold for a fraction of what their potential value would be at an auction,” Dunbar said.

Source: LA Times