Australian Tennis Magazine
July, 2000
'My Favorite People' --Pete Sampras
Interview: Paul Fein


In part two of a wide-ranging interview, the greatest player of his era talks to Paul Fein of his family, his coach and his favorite athletes.
PAUL - How close are you to your parents and your brother Gus and sister Stella? And what role have they played in your personal and career development?

PETE - I'm very close to my family and siblings. Now that I'm living in LA and having all this time off because of these injuries, I connect with them and spend more time with them. They definitely gave me my foundation on and off the court. I've always been close to my siblings.

What life is all about is being with your family. They have always been very supportive through the good times and the bad. They obviously support my tennis and want me to do well, but they know the big picture that I'm not going to play this game until I'm 80. I'll stop whenever I stop, and I'll have the rest of my life to look at other things. So they've kept me very grounded through this whole [1990s] decade.

PAUL - What can you tell readers about Gus and Stella, because they are rarely written about?

PETE - They're like me. They're very shy. They're solid, good people. They're honest. They're the type of people that you'd want to bring home to your parents if you're going to marry one of them.

PAUL - The late Bobby Riggs once said: "In my book a tennis player is a complete athlete. He has to have the speed of a sprinter, the endurance of a marathon runner, the agility of a boxer fencer, and the grey matter of a good football quarterback." Is Bobby right? And if so, do pro tennis players get the respect they deserve?

PETE - Bobby is right. Tennis players don't get the respect like the NBA when they talk about the great athletes [in sports]. In tennis, you need everything. You need durability, the hand-eye coordination and the mental endurance because it's one-on-one sport. There's no help from your coach or manager or anyone out there.

Tennis players are tremendous athletes, some of the best in the world. You need every aspect of being an athlete that you can find. In some ways it's even more difficult to play [pro] tennis than to play in the NBA. There are no substitutions, no half-times to recover. You definitely see someone's true character on the tennis court. So tennis does get overlooked.

PAUL - A few years ago I read in a questionnaire that you said you were afraid of dogs. That obviously has changed because you have a pet labrador named Samantha. What do you like most about Samantha?

PETE - (Laughter) I don't have a dog. I don't know where that came from.

PAUL - But are you afraid of dogs?

PETE - I had a bad experience with dogs when I stayed at [Ivan] Lendl's place when I was 16. I've never been a big fan of dogs. But I came back from a bike trip, and I walked into Lendl's place, and his five German shepherds were barking at me. I was in this area where they couldn't come near me. I've been a little petrified of dogs ever since then.

PAUL - Paul Annacone has coached you for the past five years, but he is extremely low-profile compared to some other coaches. What role has he played in your great success?

PETE - Well, he's low-profile because that's the way he is and that's the way I am. He's been overlooked in so many ways in what he's done for my tennis. Think about how we started working together. Here I am with Tim [Gullikson], and Tim gets diagnosed with brain tumors. I asked Paul to help me out. He was sensitive enough in the whole situation so that he basically started working and travelling with me.

It's not easy for someone to handle that, if you think about it. We're not talking about tennis. We're talking about life. He was great through the whole experience. When Tim passed away, I asked Paul if he would continue to do it. Then he started to take more fo a role.

And through the years I've won majors and been No.1. He's been very overlooked over the years. It's [because of] his personality. There aren't too many people bright enough to figure that out.

PAUL - Your brother Gus said, "Pete will watch ESPN Sportscenter three times in a row even though he knows what's coming next." Given that you're a sports lover, who are your favorite athletes?

PETE - (Hearty laughter) That's funny. I've enjoyed guys who are great at their sports, and when you listen to them and know a little about them, you wouldn't know that they're the best at their sports. They are very humble. They are great at what they do and committed to what they're doing and don't have a certain arrogance or cockiness about them.

Their greatness is something left unsaid. You look at [Michael] Jordan, [Wayne] Gretzky, [Joe] Montana. Those athletes are my role models -- just for the way they carry themselves and act as people. Gretzky has nine MVPs and he's the most modest of all.

PAUL - You said that Michael Jordan "is the one person I would like to get some advice from." Specifically, what advice would you seek from him?

PETE - I'd ask him how his body has changed as he's gotten older and how he's maintained his fitness and conditioning for so many years. Another question I'd ask him is about motivation. I just felt for years I was playing against the same rivals -- Agassi, Becker, Edberg.

And now there is a new crop of players, and you need to find something deep down to get the same motivation to play against them. I was wondering how he got himself motivated after years or playing against Bird and Johnson, and now he's got these young rookies coming up.

PAUL - What advice would you give to kids who want to be tennis champions?

PETE - As a kid growing up, I was more concerned about playing well than winning. I wanted to improve. Kids today are too consumed with just winning junior tournaments. As a junior I wasn't very good, but I was improving and playing guys who were much older than I was. That's the way my coach and family and I approached it. It obviously worked.

PAUL - ESPN commentator Cliff Drysdale believes that what's best for TV is what's best fo tennis. So he proposes reforms such as abolishing best-of-five-set matches, using No-Ad scoring, allowing on-court coaching and adopting round-robin formats to qualify for the semifinals. Do you see any merit in any of these proposed reforms?

PETE - No. People overreact when they hear negative things about the game. They claim we need to change the scoring system or change from 3-out-of-5 sets to 2-out-of-3 sets, or whatever. Great matches are what sell the sport. An exciting rivalry is the answer to everything.

Andre and I had a rivalry a few years ago, and then I didn't hear any talk about changing the scoring system or any of this stuff I've been hearing. It's the players, it's the sport, it's the matches that matter. All this talk I hear about these changes is just a bunch of crap.

PAUL - With your sports knowledge, integrity, courage of your convictions and diplomacy, you would make a topnotch tennis politician. Have you considered contributing in that area, the way many past champions have?

PETE - At this stage, while I'm still playing, no. I just don't have the time or the interest at the moment.

PAUL - The middle generation of top players -- like Moya, Kuerten, Kafelnikov, Rafter, Philippoussis and Rios -- while very talented, seem more like occasional Slam winners rather than champions. Who, among the younger generation -- such as Hewitt, Haas, Federer, Ferrero and Vinciguerra -- impresses you the most as a potential champion? And why?

PETE - All those guys you mentioned have something about them that makes them capable of winning a Grand Slam. But I don't know if anyone has the whole package to win Slams year after year. That's very hard to do. [Mark] Philippoussis has the biggest game of anyone. That might win the US Open or Wimbledon one year.

But to do it year after year, it has to be an obsession, a passion. At times he's had that, but he doesn't have it enough. Someone like [Lleyton] Hewitt has the mental and the physical games to do well at majors. But to do it year after year, it takes a big game. To dominate, you need a game like Philippoussis.

PAUL - So if Philippoussis had Hewitt's mentality, we'd have a champion.

PETE - Then you'd have me!

PAUL - Since former No.1 Stefan Edberg called you the most complete player he's ever seen or played against, do you think you've changed tennis?

PETE - In some ways I feel I have a game that has some options that can do different things. I'm not just one-dimensional. Most guys you see are one-dimensional, if you look at the history of the game. I've always tried to be as complete as I can be. So, in that way, maybe I have changed the game. But I'll never sit here and tell you I've changed the game. It's up to the critics to make that determination.

PAUL - Last year you said, "Enjoy what you see now, because I won't be around forever." Why did you say that?

PETE - There have been years when I've won major titles and been No.1, and in some ways it was expected and maybe taken for granted. It seemed like the only time I made news was when I lost. And maybe I was frustrated for being penalized for not having the [great] rivalry for my legacy, and [thus] not being everything to everybody.

So I was saying that once I'm gone, I'm gone. And you might not seen a player dominating for years and years like me again. I felt appreciated in some circles. But also in some circles I wasn't appreciated.

PAUL - In 1998, in recognition of your tennis achievements, you became only the 10th sportsman to receive the MARCA Legend Award, which is presented by MARCA, the best-selling publication in Spain. You have often said you are more appreciated around the world than in the US. Which countries appreciate you the most? And how do you explain this phenomenon?

PETE - All the countries in Europe. I've felt, especially during the final six weeks of 1998 while I was there, an appreciation from the people when I walked on the court from the response they gave me.

It's an American trail to root for the underdog. I've been the favorite pretty much every match I've played for the past few years. I'm not saying people are rooting against me. They're just rooting to see a good match. But I've felt a appreciation in Europe that I haven't really had quite the same in the States. I also feel very much appreciated in Australia and Japan.

PAUL - The women's tour is loaded with personalities now, but Todd Martin, the president of the ATP Tour Player Council, blames his fellow players, saying: "I don't always feel like players are very approachable, but they sure know how to complain. The problem is, a lot of our guys don't feel pressure to do the sport justice. They feel they've gotten their take." Do you agree with Todd?

PETE - Not entirely. There are a couple of guys who aren't appreciative and bitch and moan more than they should. What has hurt the men's game is that there are too many good players. What sells sports today? I don't think it's personalities. It's more match-ups -- Davenport playing Hingis, Venus playing Hingis, Serena playing Davenport. It's the rivalries, the consistent rivalries.

In the men's game there are so many good players that there are a lot of different winners. There's not much of a men's rivalry other than Andre and myself -- whenever we play, which might not be for another five months.

PAUL - What's the solution then?

PETE - Instead of the media taking the easy way out and saying the ladies game is more popular, they should put their brains together and note why this is happening. It's because the men's game is as strong as it has ever been. It's gotten stronger in the past five years.

When the men's game was very popular, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl and Connors were much better than everyone else. Tim [Gullikson] told me that when he was ranked 15 in the world, he had no chance of beating those guys. You had the rivalry then, the consistent match-ups. And that's what fans and the media cling to.

Now you have lots of different guys in finals. This is no disrespect to Corretja and Enqvist. But when they played in the Indian Wells final, they're not going to generate the interest in this country like Andre and I would, or any top rivalry.

PAUL - Did you know that your semi-final with Andre at the Australian Open broke the all-time record for TV sports ratings in Australia?

PETE - Yeah, I believe it. That's because of the rivalry. It's because of who is playing. Our personalities are different, but it's the sport that will sell. True, the ladies have Kournikova, Venus, Serena, Hingis and whoever else, but it's the consistent rivalries they have. We don't have that. A lot of great players win different titles. And if I'm not playing Andre, people don't seem to be interested.

PAUL - You're said your Porsche is your most prized possession. What do you like more about it?

PETE - The sheer power.

PAUL - So you're a power player and a power driver?

PETE - You got it!