Samprasfanz

February 10, 2008

Pete Sampras said he has no plan for a comeback and doesn’t regret retiring. But six years after he stepped away from competing at tennis’ highest level, he sure does enjoy picking up a racket and playing exhibitions against select competition.

“It’s more fun. Maybe less stressful,” Sampras said recently. “But at the same time, every time I step out on the court, I want to win.”

Aside from playing World Team Tennis events the past two summers and a spell on the senior circuit, Sampras played three exhibitions against Roger Federer in November and will face the No. 1-ranked player in another exhibition at New York’s Madison Square Garden on March 10.

It’s last decade’s top player vs. this decade’s, the grand slam record holder vs. the guy who’s chasing him, a 36-year-old retiree vs. a 26-year-old in his prime – two world heavyweights at the world’s most famous arena.

But first, Sampras will be in San Jose on Feb. 18 for another exhibition as a kickoff to this year’s SAP Open. His scheduled opponent is Marat Safin, who may be replaced because of a toe injury. The tournament, on Feb. 19-24, lists eight of the top nine ranked Americans, but the choice of two-time defending champion Andy Murray not to play represents a huge void.

Sampras, who won the San Jose tourney in 1996 and 1997, also will play two exhibitions against Todd Martin (in Florida and Georgia) leading up to the Federer match.

“It’s a work in progress, retirement,” Sampras said on a conference call promoting the SAP Open. “I will say I have my moments. I had those moments a couple of years back when I was getting a little bit bored and restless. I was playing a lot of golf, not really doing much. After a while of doing that, I just felt a little bit, you know, what’s next? There’s no book on retirement at 31. It’s sort of tricky.

“But playing tennis again, on my terms, has been fun. It’s kept me in shape. It gives me a bit of a focus, which is great.”

Sampras is a stay-at-home dad when not out playing tennis. He and his wife, actress Bridgette Wilson, have two young sons. They recently put their 10,000-square-foot Beverly Hills mansion on the market, asking for a mere $25 million. He said he lifts weights, does treadmill work and plays 3-on-3 basketball twice a week.

Not quite the lifestyle of a No. 1 player on the ATP tour, but Sampras seems fine with it. Winning a record 14 grand slam titles – Federer has 12 – was enough. So was finishing first in the world six straight years. Anyway, even in retirement, he gets to play the best in the world, including Federer.

In their three-match Asian swing in November, Federer beat Sampras in Seoul (6-4, 6-3) and Kuala Lumpur (7-6, 7-6), but Sampras rebounded with an eye-opening win in Macau (7-6, 6-4).

“My goal was to make it competitive,” said Sampras, adding he and Federer have become friends

February 13, 2008

Another player has withdrawn from the SAP Open. Marat Safin’s representative told tournament director Bill Rapp on Tuesday that he won’t participate in next week’s event in San Jose, meaning Pete Sampras needs another opponent for Monday’s exhibition.

It’ll be Germany’s Tommy Haas, who also will be playing in the tournament’s singles field.

Safin pulled out because of a stress fracture in his right leg, which forced him from Russia’s Davis Cup competition against Serbia over the weekend. He also has stomach flu.

“Initially, (the injury) was a toe, but the real issue is a stress fracture,” Rapp said. “Allon (Khakshouri, Safin’s agent) said he was really depressed he couldn’t play in the Davis Cup, but he really wanted to play Pete Sampras. When Safin says something, you know he means it, because he doesn’t say much.”

On Monday, Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Martin Del Potro withdrew from the San Jose tourney because of injuries. They were replaced by Robert Kendrick of Fresno and 6-foot-9 John Isner.

Rapp called the multiple withdrawals “uncommon” for this time of year.

The tourney has commitments from nine of the top-10 ranked Americans, including No. 6 Andy Roddick and No. 12 James Blake.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

January 27, 2008

Pete Sampras and his wife, actress Bridgette Wilson, have put their Beverly Hills home on the market for $25 million.

Before the 36-year-old tennis ace retired in 2003, he won a record 14 Grand Slam men’s singles titles.

Sampras’ 11,000-square-foot, English Tudor-style house, built in 1933, has been recently remodeled and expanded.

The walled and gated private estate has five bedrooms, including a master suite with his-and-her bathrooms. The home has a total of 12 bathrooms.

Other features are a detached guesthouse, a gym, a theater, a children’s play yard, a pool, a putting green and — of course — a tennis court with a north-south orientation. The home is located on more than an acre of mature, landscaped grounds and has a circular driveway.

Wilson, 34, played the bride-to-be in “The Wedding Planner” (2001) and appeared in “CSI: Miami” (2003) and, more recently, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” (the 2007 pilot and one episode).

Jordan Cohen, estates director at Re/Max-Olson & Associates Inc. in Westlake Village, has the listing.

Source: LA Times

The retired tennis star will play local Martin in a March 6 exhibition.

Tennis great Pete Sampras has added Jacksonville to the list of stops on what has become a worldwide exhibition tour.

Sampras is scheduled to play Ponte Vedra Beach resident Todd Martin in a Serving Up Aces exhibition match on Thursday, March 6, at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.

“It’s exciting for me,” the 37-year-old Martin said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “It’s not often I get to work close to home. It’ll be especially nice to be a part of a big tennis event in Jacksonville. Wherever Pete goes, it’s a pretty big event.”

Sampras, who holds the record for career Grand Slam titles (14), has an 18-4 ATP Tour career head-to-head advantage against Martin, who won eight singles championships before retiring in 2004. However, before Sampras’ retirement in 2002, Martin won two of his last three meetings with the Hall of Famer, including a four-set victory in the 2001 Australian Open round of 16.

“Pete and Todd are both great former champions,” said Mark Young, ATP Americas CEO. “We’re fortunate that Todd is a resident here on the First Coast, and it will be exciting to see Todd play right here in his community against a great former champion like Pete Sampras.”

Sampras, 36, played a three-match exhibition series against World No. 1 Roger Federer at the end of last year. Sampras has another exhibition against Federer scheduled for March 10 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Tickets for the Jacksonville event, which is being organized by Prism Sports, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 25. They will be available at the Arena box office, Ticketmaster outlets, online at
http://www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (904) 353-3309.

Source: Times Union

March match a tune-up for facing down Federer

Tennis legend Pete Sampras wanted one more tune-up match before a March exhibition against world No. 1 Roger Federer at New York’s Madison Square Garden, so sports promotor John McDonald checked into potential sites on his behalf.

A colleague recommended Columbus.

The one in Georgia, not Ohio.

“He said, ‘What about Columbus?’ and I said, ‘What about it?’ ” joked McDonald, the president and owner of Prism Sports & Entertainment. “I did a little research and found out the local participation there is in tennis.”

He’s counting on all of those participators to translate into spectators when Sampras and Todd Martin participate in an exhibition match at the Columbus Civic Center on March 8.

The event, billed as “Serving Up Aces,” will begin at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets, which will sell for $25 and up, go on sale Jan. 25 at the Civic Center box office and at local Publix supermarkets. They may also be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or by phone, 706-494-8330.

“I don’t remember anything like this happening to Columbus,” Civic Center director Dale Hester said. “It tickled me to death. That’s a great thing to have here in Columbus.”

Sampras, a newly minted member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, owns a record 14 Grand Slam singles titles and earned more than $43 million in prize money during a 15-year career that ended in 2002. He also acquired the nickname “The King of Swing” with a resume that includes seven Wimbledon, five U.S. Open and two Australian Open titles.

Martin, the 1999 U.S. Open finalist and a member of the United States’ victorious 1995 Davis Cup team, finished among the world’s top 100 players 12 consecutive years before retiring in 2004.

The duo will play an exhibition in Jacksonville, Fla., on March 6. Their stop in Columbus will provide Sampras with one final warm-up before his March 10 exhibition against Federer. The two played a three-match exhibition tour of Asia last year. While Federer won two of the three exhibitions, he still needs two more Grand Slam victories to match Sampras’ record.

McDonald said the selection of Columbus as a site for a Sampras-Martin exhibition had a lot to do with what he learned about Columbus Regional Tennis Association and some conversations he had with its executive director, Judy Pearce.

“I started looking at some of the stuff they’ve done,” McDonald said.

Pearce said confirmation of the Sampras-Martin match has created considerable buzz in the local tennis community.

“It’s big news,” she said. “When he (McDonald) called me, I was like ‘Pete Sampras? In Columbus?’ We have close to 2,300 members in CORTA and he (McDonald) was excited about that. It makes us proud as an organization.

“It will be real inspiring to our junior players and our adults too.”

Sampras won’t be the first tennis hall of famer to pass through town, however. Back in 1973, a budding women’s star named Chris Evert counted a Virginia Slims event win in Columbus among her 12 tournament victories that year.

Source: Ledger Enquirer

January 10, 2008
Source: Star Ledger / NJ.com

If Roger Federer does what he did the last two years and wins three Grand Slam tournaments this year, he will pass Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14, most likely at the U.S. Open.

And that’s okay with Sampras. In fact, Sampras said he’d be on hand at Arthur Ashe Stadium in September to congratulate him, because he admires Federer and feels he’s a worthy champion to replace him.

“What he’s doing, and how he’s doing it, I respect,” Sampras said. “Every fan, every media person, has a different sort of athlete (they respect) and he’s my sort of guy. He’s not brash, he’s not abrasive. He lets his racket do the talking. I don’t think that’s a negative. To hear someone say he’s boring, I’m tired of hearing that (stuff). It’s nauseating. Just respect what he’s doing.”

But before Federer gets a chance to even tie Sampras, the two will face each other in a unique exhibition match at Madison Square Garden on March 10, a continuation of the three-match series they played in Asia at the end of November.

Federer won the first two matches, and Sampras, who retired in 2002, came back on a lightning-quick surface in Macau to out-serve Federer and win 7-6 (6), 6-4. There were rumors circulating that the two had made an agreement that Pete would win at least one of the matches, but he adamantly refuted that notion.

“It’s not true,” he said. “We played. We didn’t talk about any first set, second set, you do this I’ll do that. But exhibitions are a tricky sort of deal. You want to entertain and have a lighter side, but you also want to play well.”

Federer, who is the favorite to win the upcoming Australian Open beginning Monday, will be in the middle of the spring circuit when the match takes place in March. But Sampras, who is 36, said he plans to tune up against recently retired Livingston native Justin Gimelstob in California, as well as the hard-hitting young American Sam Querry.

Sampras said that even though the fast surface contributed to his victory in Macau, the surface will be slower at the Garden for what is being called the NetJets Showdown.

During their tour of Asia, Sampras and Federer got to know each other on a personal basis, traveling together and socializing at night, which is unusual for current players on the tour. Before the first match in Seoul, Federer called Sampras and asked him to come up to his room to hang out, which kind of surprised Sampras.

“I said, ‘Roger I’ve never done that in 20 years on the road, go hang out with another player,'” Sampras said with a laugh. “I said it sarcastically. But he’s like my new best friend.”

Source: NJ.com