Peter Sampras - King of Swing

Discovered and coached by Peter Fischer until 1989, Peter Sampras unofficially began his tennis career banging tennis balls against a basement wall with a racquet he had happened upon. In 1988 he turned pro and enjoyed wins over John McEnroe and Andre Agassi at the age of 19. His mindset was, if he was never behind, he could never lose. Even with this marked determination for success, he was considered relaxed and friendly which made it a pleasure to play tennis with him. His parent’s reaction to his game was quite different. They only attended two of his matches because of their nervousness for him. Naturally, Sampras was delighted that one of the matches was his singles win at Wimbledon in 2000.

Peter Sampras won 64 top level titles in his career. Tennis Magazine called him the “greatest player from 1965-2005”. Perhaps it’s because of his 14 Grand Slam singles in his 15 year career or capturing the title of World #1 American Tennis Player for 6 consecutive years. Undeniably one of the great tennis players of all times in 2007 Peter was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

He ended his tennis career at the US Open in 2003 with retirement at the Arthur Ashe Stadium where he had won his first and final Grand Slam. With his son Christian in his arm walking the final lap, the crowd remembered, that one year earlier he had carried the US Open trophy in the same arm. Peter Sampras is still playing the game post retirement and still showing he is a winner with his SAP Open title in 2008.