Samprasfanz

Pete Sampras guested on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno to promote his new book “A Champion’s Mind”.

For 15 years, Pete Sampras was a driven and dedicated professional tennis player who stalked the world, claiming tournament titles. His identity was fused with winning and losing matches and with the rigors of the tour. Life was training and tournaments.

Though he was always on the move, Sampras said he eventually felt as if he had no room. The workday began the moment he woke up, preparing or finding a good breakfast, and marched methodically through a morning practice, an afternoon practice, an off-court workout, a massage, and was wrapped up by 6 or 7.

So in 2002, after winning his fifth US Open title, Sampras retired. He was 31, newly married to actress Bridgette Wilson, and the couple were expecting their first child. Sampras discarded tennis like a ball gone flat.

“In some ways, you can reinvent yourself when you retire,” Sampras said in a phone conversation from his home in California. “I would wake up and play golf, or sleep in a little bit, and then play golf. My wife and I took a few trips. I started to eat whatever I wanted. I just really exhaled for the first time in 15-16 years.”

Sampras played enough golf to get his handicap to a 4.

“It seems like I was playing eight days a week,” he said. “I didn’t read about tennis. I didn’t watch tennis, I got away for a while.”

It took a few years, but Sampras began to feel a little uncomfortable. At first, it was just his jeans, which seemed a little tighter in the waist. Then he struggled with restlessness. The son of Greek immigrants, whose father worked two jobs to support his family, Sampras said he was increasingly uneasy with his life of leisure. He was raising two sons (Christian is 5, Ryan 2), but he wasn’t sure he was sending them the message he wanted.

“I needed to get out there and do a little work,” Sampras said. “There was something about being home all day, and Dad not working – I didn’t want my sons to think that’s the way life is. It’s the principle of it.”

Sampras, who collected 64 career singles titles, including 14 in Grand Slam events, and finished as the No. 1-ranked player for six consecutive years (1993-98), returns to Boston this week for the Champions Cup at Boston University’s Agganis Arena. Eight legendary (i.e. over 30) tennis champions will compete for a first prize of $54,000, beginning Wednesday and concluding with Sunday’s championship. Joining Sampras are John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Todd Martin, Jimmy Arias, Aaron Krickstein, Wayne Ferreira, and Mikael Pernfors.

Last year, Sampras made the Boston event his first competitive match since his retirement.

“It was my first event and I loved it,” Sampras said. “It was fun. It was nice to be competitive and Boston is a great town. I played John one night, and toughed it out. It was a great experience.”

Sampras vs. McEnroe – surely the marquee matchup in this competition – will be the second match of Friday night’s session.

“I do like playing John,” Sampras said. “He’s still, at 49, incredible. He still has great hands. He has a certain intensity with his presence out there. I’m looking forward to it.”

Sometimes it’s easier to know what you don’t want to do than to know what you want to do. Sampras, with the luxury of a fat bank account after so much success (his career earnings topped $43 million), didn’t need to make money to support his family.

But uneasiness told him that he needed to walk out the front door and go to work now and then.

Sampras said his wife was very patient with him during his years of transition, but he was stewing.

“I was thinking ‘I need to find something

John McEnroe dispatched Jim Courier, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of the Champions Cup Boston tennis tournament last night at BU’s Agganis Arena. In the first match, Pete Sampras, who was making his debut on the Outback Champions Series circuit, was awarded the victory when Jimmy Arias withdrew from the first set, leading, 5-4.
Eight champions will be competing for the top prize of up to $54,000 on the third tour stop on the Champions Series, the third year for the event.

In addition to 14-time Grand Slam champion Sampras, the other players are McEnroe, the seven-time Grand Slam champion

May 3, 2008

The audience at Agganis Arena got what it expected in the first set of the feature match of the Champions Cup last night: Pete Sampras blew through John McEnroe quickly, his powerful serve-and-volley game putting most points out of McEnroe’s reach.

But the match began to veer off track, steered by the 49-year-old McEnroe’s skills. Though he was overwhelmed in the first set, McEnroe hung around. He served and swerved and hit balls that curved to hammer out a win in the second set, then reared back and pounded the ball in the tiebreaker, serving five aces for a 2-6, 7-5, 10-4 victory.

“That’s what you gotta love about sports,” said McEnroe, looking dazed. “Anything can happen.”

It was McEnroe’s first victory over Sampras (they met three times on the ATP Tour, and have played several times in senior play and exhibitions), and the first loss in the Champions Cup for Sampras, who is playing his fourth tournament on the over-30 tour.

“The first game, the pace of the ball was so phenomenal, I felt like I tweaked every muscle in my body,” McEnroe said. “Not only is it a lot of pace, it’s difficult to tell where it’s going. So to react to that, can be dangerous, physically.”

McEnroe wasn’t kidding. After winning a tough match against Jim Courier Thursday, he was a bit sore, a bit tired, a bit depleted. “I had a little bit of tightness from [beating] Courier,” said McEnroe, who got an on-court treatment from the Tour’s trainer after the third game of the second set.

Sampras seemed to have a good grip on the match even as McEnroe tried to work the ball out to the lines and stretch Sampras. But trailing, 4-5, in the set, McEnroe served a love game: rescuing a cross-court shot to hit a forehand volley down the line, and forcing Sampras into two returns that sailed long. McEnroe broke Sampras in the next game, a double fault at game point underscoring Sampras’s weakening power, and McEnroe’s ability hit the lines.

Sampras received on-court treatment, too, before the tiebreaker, for a sore back that he said he tweaked a few weeks ago playing basketball. But he couldn’t work out the kinks in his game.

In the tiebreaker, McEnroe fired five aces (Sampras had one), including two in a row for a 5-2 lead. Sampras rallied with a cross-court winner and a service winner to bring it to 5-4, but then McEnroe fired another ace. He looked as stunned as anyone. McEnroe closed the improbable match with a big serve, which Sampras drove long, giving McEnroe the tiebreak at 10-4, and the match.

“Who would have thought I’d have five aces in the tiebreak, and he’d have one?” said McEnroe. “Now I can tell my kids I beat Pete Sampras once.”

Source: Boston Globe

Boston (May 3, 2008) – InsideOut Sports and Entertainment today announced that Pete Sampras has been forced to withdraw from the remainder of Champions Cup Boston competition due to a back injury sustained in his loss to John McEnroe on Friday night.

“Competitive injuries happen and are out of our control but there will still be two excellent matches for tonight’s spectators to enjoy.” said Jon Venison, Co-Founder of InsideOut Sports and Entertainment and the Outback Champions Series. “We’re pleased to be able to offer fans a special doubles match between four of our tour players as a replacement for the Sampras-Courier match. We understand there may be some fans that will be disappointed that Pete and Jim will not be playing singles tonight as scheduled and therefore we are also offering a special opportunity for tonight’s audience to receive an additional free ticket to the Session One matches in next year’s tournament.” Further information regarding this special ticket offer will be available at ChampionsSeriesTennis.com.

Sampras was scheduled to compete against Courier to determine who would advance to Sunday’s third-place match from Group A. Mikael Pernfors will face Aaron Krickstein in tonight’s first match. The second match will be replaced with a special doubles competition featuring Courier, Mal Washington, Wayne Ferreira and Justin Gimelstob. The day session kicked off when Ferreira defeated Washington 6-3, 3-6, 11-9 (TB) while McEnroe played former ATP star Justin Gimelstob in an exhibition match.

“I am sorry I won’t be able to play in my match tonight against Jim due to a lower back injury,” said Sampras. “I initially felt a twinge of pain in my opening match versus Jimmy Arias and it worsened near the end of my match against Mac last night. I will be going for an MRI today to properly diagnose the injury and will begin rehabilitating as soon as possible to ensure that I will be ready to play again in the near future. I look forward to coming back to Boston again next year to try to win the title.”

Source: Outback Champion Series