July / August 2001
Riddle of the Sphinx
By Joel Drucker
The game's greatest champion remains its
greatest enigma.
Pete Sampras is the sphinx of tennis. Like the sphinx, Sampras looms large over the landscape of his world. Like the sphinx, Sampras has the qualities of a lion. And, like the sphinx, Sampras is reticent, unknowable --- yet from the depths of his crypt, he's able to summon profound emotions.
Recall the many highly-charged on-court moments where Sampras has dug it up with heart and soul --- his '95 Australian Open match with Jim Courier when he aced his way through tears of sorrow for his dying coach Tim Gullikson; the '95 Davis Cup epic in Moscow punctuated by Sampras collapsing moments after winning first singles and then resurrecting himself to win two more matches; the '96 US Open vomit in the fifth-set tie-break and, most recently, Wimbledon 2000.
Last year, Sampras attained a staggering achievement, winning an unprecedented 13th Grand Slam singles title and a record-tying seventh Wimbledon singles championship. It was a classic case of triumph commingling with disaster.
Throughout the fortnight, Sampras suffered tendinitis in his left foot and ankle, injuries so debilitating that he was unable to hit a ball between matches.
Grubbing his way into the final, with his parents watching him play a Grand Slam match for the first time in nearly eight years, he found himself down a set and 1-4 in the second-set tie-break to Patrick Rafter. Pulling himself out of that jam to square the match, Sampras took charge, closing it out moments before darkness descended on tennis' most hallowed lawn. "That's his time, that's his familiar park," Brad Gilbert says of Sampras' success at the All-England Club. "He's a genius."
"Whenever I see that tape," Sampras says, "it brings me back to that place where I was last year with my folks at Wimbledon. I can't help but still feel it today. It's a reflection of the career, what I've done. There are times when I haven't appreciated it enough. But that, it definitely always hits me."
But since Wimbledon, silence. As of mid-April, Sampras had not won a tournament since his triumph at the All-England Club, the longest title drought of his pro career. His marriage last fall to actress Bridgette Wilson, coupled with his straight-sets hammering at the hands of Marat Safin in last year's US Open final, has raised doubts about his motivation. "It's very confusing to know what to think about him," says ESPN analyst Cliff Drysdale. "He's worked like a slave for so long. His mind doesn't seem entirely on tennis the way it used to be."
Through the first half of 2001, Sampras suffered losses to Todd Martin, Chris Woodruff, Andrew llie and rising teen star Andy Roddick. Compounding these desultory defeats was a straight-sets loss to Andre Agassi in the final of the Tennis Masters Indian Wells, a defeat that validated yet another Agassi uptick on the tennis stock exchange and a concern that Sampras is a monopoly on the verge of a breakup.
Then again, if Safin doesn't play the greatest match of his life, Sampras wins the US Open, finishes 2000 ranked No. 1--- and all this year's early losses mean nothing. "That Safin loss, you wonder how much it really hurt Pete," says TNT and CBS analyst Mary Carillo. "Do you really think he's lost sleep over it the way he did when he lost the '92 Open final to Edberg? For people to be throwing spades of dirt on his grave is premature. But what I wonder about is if there's truly a sense of urgency around Pete."
Martin wonders, too. "I don't think [the Safin loss] was very comforting for Pete. I think he was fazed by it. At 21, you get fazed and want to work harder. At 29, you wonder if you're enjoying tennis so much. You wonder if you're able to play guys who take big cuts on every ball. It's difficult."
The sphinx speaks ambitiously as ever. ''l still feel like I've got some good years left in me," Sampras says. "The game has gotten stronger over the past five years. There are no easy matches. But I still feel like when I get my game going, I'm still one of the favorites each week I play."
Sampras has validated these words for so long that his success has come to be taken for granted. He's won Grand Slam titles for eight straight years, a record he shares with Bjorn Borg. No one else in the sport's history finished the year ranked No. 1 six straight times. Unfortunately, his classic, taciturn manner has defied the desired model for a contemporary tennis champion. We've grown used to the whinings of a McEnroe, the angst of a Becker, the roller coaster of an Agassi, the showboating of a Connors. "It's always just been all business for Sampras," Drysdale says.
Even Sampras' smooth playing style adds to his aura of remoteness. Unlike an Agassi or Connors, each of whom applies point-to-point pressure a la Joe Frazier, Sampras is often a lion in waiting. ''Games fly by, you're not getting many looks at the ball, he's holding serve, and you think you're in it," Gilbert says. And then, at 4-all, Sampras, always moving like a panther, puts together six incredible points to win the set --- and perhaps, after all, you never were in it. As Martin notes, "His ability to play the right shot at the right time is better than anyone i've ever seen." Allen Fox, a psychologist and former touring pro, likens Sampras' ability to deliver the goods at crunch time to Rod Laver's. "I've watched tapes of me playing, and it looks so easy," Sampras says. "If people only knew how much hard work it took for me to get there."
With Sampras turning 30 in August, the question now is if he's willing to invest the time in even more hard work --- not just for this month's Wimbledon, but also to silence those who think he can win only on the slick grass. "I don't think he's been in the best shape these last few years," notes former champion Tony Trabert. "He's relying on his serve too much." Martin also notices technical troubles, problems Martin says might be compounded by
Sampras not getting enough match play. "He's not moving as well as he has in the past, particularly at the net," Martin says. "He's getting caught flat-footed. Sometimes I look at him and think he's as good as ever. And then I look at him and think he doesn't have the same passion."
Few, if any, have gotten to know Pete Sampras, But this much we do know: On Monday, June 25, when he walks onto Centre Court at Wimbledon, he will attempt to do something no man has done in more than 100 years: begin pursuit of a record eighth Wimbledon singles title. Say what you will about Sampras not winning a non-Wimbledon Slam since the '97 Australian Open --- over that time, he's won four wimbledons. Say what you will about his reluctance to ham it up or reveal too much --- he still might well be the greatest tennis player ever. "Hey, I never saw Joe DiMaggio laugh in the batter's box," Trabert says. Say what you will about his poker face --- this is a man who has been moved to tears at awards banquets and during matches. "Do you have any idea what it takes to do this kind of stuff?" Sampras asks. We wish we did.
The sphinx, you might like to know, is also renowned for killing those unable to answer his riddle. If ever there was a contemporary tennis riddle, it's this: Dare you bet against Pete Sampras at Wimbledon?