Sampras’s obsession finally ends

‘I guess we all know why I’m here … to announce my retirement.” Pete Sampras, the greatest player of the modern era, swallowed hard and licked his lips. Facing the massed ranks of the media last Monday was clearly a tougher prospect than many of his opponents had been.

For the past few weeks Sampras has been ringing round all those who have played a part in his remarkable career, thanking them for the parts, great and small, that they played. He is finally a man at ease with his decision. ‘I’m at peace with myself,” he repeated, as if some part of him had passed away. Which, of course, it has.

‘I’ve gotten as far away from the game as possible in the last year,” he admitted. ‘But as time goes by I hope I will be part of it again in some way.”

He does not know how or when, although he assured everybody that he would not be playing senior tennis at any time in the future.

Watched by his wife Bridgette and his nine-month-old son Christian, who added a few gurgles of his own, Sampras was initially as nervous as a kitten, the pallor of his face accentuated by the continual flashes of the cameras.

He admitted he had been a man obsessed throughout his career.

‘At 19 I won the US Open but I wasn’t sure what I wanted. But when I lost to Stefan Edberg in ’92 I knew what I wanted. That loss made me change my career. It made me hate to lose. Ever since that moment I just became obsessed with being the best.”

He did precisely that, although Sampras will allow others to make the judgement.

‘It was a disappointment not winning the French Open but I don’t think about it much. Life goes on. I would love to have won in Paris but it was one of those places that never really seemed to click.”

It will always be held against him when the arguments rage about who was the greatest player of all time, and in that respect Rod Laver, the winner of two calendar grand slams, remains on a higher plinth.

‘I’ll never sit up there and say I’m the greatest ever,” Sampras said. ‘I’ve done what I’ve done and I think the 14 majors I’ve won are an answer to everything.

‘It’s hard to compare the Nineties to the Sixties to the Forties. I don’t know if there is one best player of all time. I feel like my game will match up with anybody. I played perfect tennis in my mind at times and I stayed at number one for many years, which is tough. But to say I’m the greatest ever … well, I won’t say that.”

Staying true to himself was a big part of Sampras’s success. He was not the most charismatic player but his sheer excellence was rarely if ever questioned.

‘I didn’t change much and I didn’t sell out.”

Even in the last few moments Sampras fought hard to contain himself, his voice frequently quavering. No amount of preparation stems the nerves.

‘Tennis has been a passion and my life. To say goodbye to it, to say I’m not going to play again, not going out there on this court, is emotional. It’s a closed chapter but still part of me is out there. But I’m realistic enough to know that my time is done. It’s time to move on.”

Michael Chang, the youngest grand slam winner when he captured the French Open at the age of 17 in 1989, also retired from the game last week after a first-round loss at the US Open. —