It was a fitting follow-up, because in many ways Sampras, the victor, and Courier, the vanquished, are the Mac and Jimbo of the 1990's. Like McEnroe, Sampras is a bedazzling talent, equipped with tremendous shot-making abilities and athleticism. Courier, like Connors, harbors a more limited repertoire of strokes, but he's fueled by a dog-eat-dog mentality that will keep the fire burning for years to come.

There is one big difference, though, when comparing the two young Americans to the storied legends, "They hate each other," says Sampras matter-of-factly. As the following first-ever joint interview will attest, the same can't be said about Sweet Pete and Jimbo II -- who also will be Davis Cup teammates this month -- though the two do share with their elders the ability to get off some impressive zingers, whether they're discussing junior tennis, American peers, the ATP or London tabloid writers.


TENNIS: Let's start off with a little show-and-tell. I brought along a photo of the 1987 U.S. Tennis Association Junior Davis Cup(JDC) team.

Sampras: I got to know Jim pretty well at JDC. See, I used to have this peach fuzz, and Jim was the only guy who gave me grief about it. He was the one who had the braces and long blond hair.

Courier: I was looking good, don't let him mislead you. The funniest thing I remember from JDC was we had this camp in Santa Barbara, Calif. We would have to get up every morning at like 6:30 to go for a run. And everybody would be so tired and just crawl out there and Pete would always, but always, be the last one.

Sampras: The last guy out!

Courier: His eyes would be like slits. He couldn't even see!

Sampras: They gave me so much s---. I was the youngest one there.

Courier: He was the camp baby.

TENNIS: So I look at this photo with more than a dozen guys in it, and I wonder: What made the camp baby and the guy with braces go on to become the big tennis stars?

Sampras: I think the difference was that Jim and I turned pro at age 17, 16. Everybody from JDC went to college, except for you and me.

Courier: At the end of that year, I went and played Johannesburg and a couple of Challengers, and then turned pro here [in Indian Wells] the next year, 1988. Pete qualified here and went to the third round and turned pro. Same tournament.

TENNIS: Why turn pro instead of going to college?

Courier: Well, Pete was still in high school, and he had to get a high school degree first, which, of course, he didn't get.

Sampms: Yeah, I didn't get a Bollettieri's high school degree like you. (He laughs.)

Courier: Actually, it was from St. Stephen's, but I got that piece of paper on the wall, Pete.

Sampras: I'll get it one day... as soon as I donate a building to Palos Verdes High School. I felt I was ready [to turn pro]. I beat [Eliot] Teltscher and [Ramesh]Krishnan and they were both ranked in the top 25.

Courier: If you can beat guys like that, you're ready.

Sampras: I was top 100 within the next six to eight months. I was lucky: I didn't have to play in the satellites or anything. I just played qualies.

Courier: I played one satellite in April 1987, and then played the summer junior tournaments, went to Europe, all that stuff. Basically what happened, I won the Orange Bowl juniors, then I went down to Chile and played a Challenger and didn't lose a set. I beat Lawson Duncan, who was ranked No. 97. I beat him one and one in the final. I said: "If I can beat No. 97 one and one, forget college."

TENNIS: Had you thought about college?

Courier: Yes.

Sampras: No, not really. Turning pro was kind of spur of the moment for me.

Courier: Yeah, eight grand, baby, I'm turning pro !

Sampras: It was a lot of money to my family.

Courier: It was a lot of money for anybody.

Sampras: I think we both got a bit of flak for turning pro pretty early. Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith both disagreed with us.

Courier: It hadn't been done in a long time in the U.S. But everybody in Europe was doing it, and South America. This was also at the time when everybody was saying, "What's wrong with American tennis?"

Sampras: Exactly.

Courier: It was the big catchphrase then. Where's our next core coming from? Connors is on his way out, McEnroe is on his way out, who's next? [Andre] Agassi had turned pro even before us and he started to make a breakthrough at that point. So we decided to kind of jump on the bandwagon.

TENNIS: Pete, why didn't you go the academy route?

Sampras: I had good competition in L.A. I played Agassi and [Michael] Chang and [Jeff] Tarango. Whereas Jim, you were in Dade City and there's nothing really, so he had to go to Bollettieri's.

Courier: I had no choice.

Sampras: I could stay at home. I liked that. I really think Jim had to move out.

Courier: I had to, but it wasn't so bad. I was an hour and a half from Dade City, so I would go home a lot on weekends. Bollettieri's was my college experience. I was living in a dormitory situation, washing my own clothes, eating in the cafeteria, having to take responsibility for studying on my own. That was my growing-up-away-from-home experience, which every kid who goes to college gets for the first time. I just got it a little earlier.

TENNIS: Do you remember the first time you guys met?

Courier: San Diego, 12-and-under hard courts.

Sampras: Really? I don't remember that.

Courier: you would have been 9, and I was 10, or you were 10 and I was 11. I don't know if we met, but I know you were there and I was there. I remember it was the first time I saw Agassi play. That was a weird experience.

TENNIS: Why?

Courier: Because his dad was so weird. His dad's a nice guy, but he was a bit psycho about the whole junior scene. I remember Andre lost in the final, or lost in the third or fourth playoff, and they gave him a trophy and his dad took the trophy...

Sampras: ... and threw it away. I used to see Agassi and his family driving back and forth in their car from Vegas. It was different. His dad was pretty intense. He got into a fight with Mr. Tarango, a punching fight. Yeah, those were the junior days.

Courier: The junior days, yeah.

TENNIS: The junior scene is so intense, and it seems to be even more so now.

Sampras: All the parents see all the money we're making and all the fame. It's the parents' dreams more than the kids.

Courier: It's parents living vicariously through their children.

TENNIS: You both come from middle-class backgrounds. Did your tennis put a strain on your families?

Sampras: My dad put a ton of money into me, letting me work with [Robert] Lansdorp. I had a lot of different coaches. It adds up. It was a burden on my family, my brother and two sisters.

Courier: It's a big burden.

TENNIS: As kids, did you realize you were putting this burden on your families?

Sampras: My dad had to cut back. But I didn't realize until later on, when I got older. When I was a little kid, I didn't understand the problems.

Courier: When you're 11, you're not going to understand it, you're just going to know whether you can or can't go to a tournament. I remember driving to the National 12's, driving up to the clay courts in North Carolina from Florida, driving to Houston from there and then driving back. Those were fun days.

TENNIS: Who traveled with you?

Courier: Usually both my parents, if they could. If my dad couldn't take off work, my mom would go. We had a van, and my brother was a baby at that point. He was born when I was 11. My sister was 13. She unhappily had to come along all the time. It was the hardest on my sister, for sure. She wasn't playing. She played a couple of tournaments and then decided it wasn't for her.

TENNIS: Unlike other players' omnipresent parents, yours are rarely around. Why is that?

Sampras (Joking): We're just so mature. Actually, my parents tried to make it pretty low-key for me. They really don't like traveling to tennis tournaments. It's really not their scene. It made me grow up, being away from home, being on my own. Maybe that's carried over onto the tennis court.

Courier: I think it's been good for you, having your parents let you go, don't you think?

Sampras: Absolutely.

Courier: you had to face up to being a man earlier than most kids did. I think that carried over onto the court for you because you have the confidence to know that you're doing it for yourself and that you're the man in control. You're a man; you're not a boy anymore. I think having parents let go allows that to happen. Look at Chang, who has parents that surround him. That's nothing against Michael, because I really like him, but it's a close-knit family. He's really protected and taken care of. There's nothing wrong with that for them, but it's not how I like it.

TENNIS: Did you fall on your faces after going out on your own as pros?

Courier: I'll never forget. I played in L.A. I'm sure you remember this.

Sampras: Oh yeah. (He laughs.)

Courier: I lost in the first round to this guy, Pete Aldrich, a good player at the time. I thought I should have beaten him. I had a woman umpire in the chair, this really tall lady umpire who still comes around. And she missed a few calls and I got upset with her, and I started to give her some crap, which I will do, and would do a lot worse back then.

Sampras: Oh yeah!

Courier: And this woman started giving me crap back on the court and that really got me riled up. So I came into the press conference after the match and the first question was from this lady reporter. I was 18. This was a dumb move. So this lady reporter asked me, "what do you think about women in the chair?" I was still steaming, and I said, "I don't think women have any business being on the court. I think this is a man's game and we should have men umpires." She said, ''Why?" I said, "S--, I don't know, maybe they can't see the ball, it's coming too fast."

Sampras: It was hysterical. I read it in the paper.

Courier: Let me tell you, it got a lot of play in the 'L.A. Times'. I left the next day to go back home. My dad picked me up at the airport and he...let...me...have it!It's about a 45-minute ride and he let me have it for about 10 minutes. I couldn't get a word in and then he just shut up and didn't say a word the rest of the way. I got home, my mom didn't say anything, my sister didn't say anything. I could see they were giving me the silent treatment, so I called up a buddy and said, "I'm coming to see you." I just packed up my bags the next morning and went up and saw my friend at college just to get away. That was it. I might think something like that today if I get upset, but I'll know better than to say it.

TENNIS: You ever do anything that you regret?

Sampras: Maybe calling the British people ???????? last year. When young, I was a pretty good kid on the court.

Courier: I can't say the same.

Sampras: There was a time that I broke a racquet or two, but that ended pretty quickly. My dad and [former coach Pete] Fischer were pretty strict.

TENNIS: Who was inspirational to you guys when you were juniors. Mac? Connors?

Sampras: I was not a big Connors fan.

Courier: Borg was the guy when I was really first coming into tennis, the guy I thought was coolest. The guy was pure ice on the court.

Sampras: I saw a little bit of the old Aussies when I was 14, 15, and I really liked the way they were on the court, the way they played. Those were the guys I looked up to. I guess Borg, too, and I always rooted for [Ivan] Lendl because everybody was against him. There was a senior tournament at Rome a couple of years ago. They had [Rod] Laver and [Ken] Rosewall and [Fled] Stolle. I was talking to Laver about how the game's changed and how he played. He kind of gave me a few pointers. I was speaking to those guys about the old days, what they did, how they prepared. They had some good thoughts.

Courier: They've got a lot of knowledge stored up. They've been there, done that.

TENNIS: But isn't today's game dramatically different than it used to be?

Courier: Yes, it was different, but I don't think the essence of the game will ever change. You still have to know how to win. There's always going to be big points and there's always going to be different strategies for different surfaces. Those guys knew how to play, still do know how to play. They just don't have the legs to do it.

TENNIS: Jim, we've talked before about how it was tough for you to watch Borg play here a few years ago, when Tony Roche tanked to let him win their tie-break in that senior event.

Courier: Yeah, but what Borg's done with the game is in the record books. Coming out and playing now and losing to anybody is not going to take away five Wimbledons and six French Opens. That's history. He enjoys playing now and he's earned the right to play, for crying out loud. Three years! Three years that guy won the French and Wimbledon back-to-back.

Sampras: No, he won five straight Wimbledons.

Courier: I'm saying consecutive, French and Wimbledon. In the same month. I've been at the end of the French and know how dead tired I am, and then have to come back and play Wimbledon. That guy did it three times. That's sick.

Sampras: That's an unbelievable effort, but to do it in today's game with as strong as the guys are, I don't know if he could do it. He was just so much better than everyone, whereas I think the difference between...

Courier: He was so much better than everybody on the clay. On the grass, he was in trouble in the first week a lot of times.

Sampras: But I don't know if he would win Wimbledon five times in a row today. There's so many big servers, so many good players, I think it would be a pretty tough thing to do.

Courier: It's impossible for us to say.

Sampras: Right. I wouldn't count him out, though.

Courier: I would really, really like to play Borg. In a fantasy, I would love to play him, three out of five sets, at the French.

Sampras: God, it would be a war.

Courier: His best game against my best game. He would just be running everything down. It would be interesting.

Sampras: You would have to come in.

Courier: I would have to hit forehands and rush, for sure. It would
be like playing Chang.

Sampras: But Borg could serve better.

Courier: And he was a step faster. Bigger shots, heavier shots.

Sampras: Yeah, heavier shots. We just won't think about that!

TENNIS: Both your coaches [Tim Gullikson for Sampras, and Jose Higueras for Courier] were pros who played during the Borg era. Do you ever talk to them about what it was like when they were playing?

Sampras: I hear it every day.

Courier: He knows every result of Tim Gullikson, every match he played...

Sampras: ... every thought he had on the court, how all the guys played, who he took a lesson from in 1972, who he beat.... No, seriously, I talk to Tim occasionally about how the game has changed, when he was playing Borg and McEnroe and how good those guys were.

Courier: It's fun to hear those stories.

TENNIS: Do you feel it's tougher to be a tennis pro today?

Courier: I think Borg and McEnroe had it pretty hard.

Sampras: It's not easy. I feel doing the press conferences and stuff we have to do is just part of the job. Obviously, it's not the life of a normal 22-, 23-year-old, but look what we're doing.

Courier: It's not easy, but it's a good life. We're getting to do what we like to do. We have a lot of freedom. A lot of things are taken away from us, like privacy in public when you just want to have dinner with friends, but that's a small price to pay for the advantages we've got.

Sampras: Right. We know we're financially secure forever. We know what we're doing for the next 10 or 15 years, where most guys our age are just getting out of college and trying to get a job.

Courier: We get to play a game for money. How cool is that?

TENNIS: Do you still think of it as a game?

Courier: Hmmm... sometimes.

Sampras: I remember times when I first turned pro and I won two matches and $13,000 and 50 computer points; I was on a huge high for the next week. Now you're expected to win. Winning an event feels good, but it's just different.

Courier: It's your expectations more than anyone else's.

Sampras: That's true.

Courier: Sure, it's the public expectations, but you expect that too. If you go to Philly, or if you go to Tokyo, and you make the quarters or the semis, you'd probably be pretty pissed. Four years ago, you play two tournaments in a row and you make a couple of semis and you're like: Yesss! I just made 150 points and 20,000 bones and man....

Sampras: I've done it all!

Courier: Nobody can touch me, I'm on my way, baby. Going to the top!

TENNIS: When you were hanging out in the hotel rooms, winning a couple of rounds, did you ever talk about becoming a top-10 player?

Sampras: I don't think we once ever talked about that.

Courier: Not ever. Like, ''What if we get to the top, man, wouldn't that be cool?"

Sampras: "Wouldn't it be great?All the chicks, man, all the babes."

Courier: No, I don't remember one conversation like that with anybody.

TENNIS: Did anyone tell you, Jim, that you could someday go on to become the No. 1 player in the world?

Courier: No.

TENNIS: That's a big difference between you two. Your coach and others told you that all the time, right Pete?

Sampras: Yeah. They thought I could be a good pro. They thought I had a talent. I was always compared to Teltscher. Everybody knew I had the talent, but not everybody knew I had the intensity or the desire to become a great player.

TENNIS: That was true even up to a few years ago.

Sampras: Right, sure.

Courier: And I was the opposite. Everybody knew I had the desire, but no one knew if I had the talent.

Sampras: I was always told that I was going to be good.

Courier: And -- poof! --you are. Like a genie out of a bottle granted you that wish.

TENNIS: Do you think that you two could have a rivalry like McEnroe-Borg?

Courier: That's possible.

Sampras: Yeah.

Courier: For that to happen, we would have to play in Grand Slam finals a lot.

Sampras: Absolutely.

TENNIS: And that's happened only once before, at Wimbledon last year.

Sampras: I think, along with Andre and Chang, whenever we play each other. we tend to bring out the best of each other.

Courier: No one wants to lose.

Sampras: That's for sure.

Courier: Our egos are too big.

TENNIS: Tell me what the Wimbledon final was like last year.

Sampras: It was probably the most nervous I have ever been before a match. I was so nervous I couldn't eat before the match. After the third set, middle of the third, I was fatiguing a lot. I don't know how you felt before the match, but I was more nervous than any Davis Cup match, any U.S. Open final, or anything, just because it was the tournament I always looked up to, the tournament I wanted to win when I was a kid.

TENNIS: And you knew that beforehand, Jim, you knew how important it was for Pete?

Courier: I knew that, but it was a weird scenario for me going into the Wimbledon final. I went into that tournament totally deflated. I went into the tournament thinking, I'm just going out to play as well as I can, but I'm fatigued, I'm mentally beat up from the French. Every night, before I would play my match, I'm thinking....

Sampras: You're flying home the next day.

Courier: Right. I'm going to Florida. I didn't really have high expectations going in because I was really kind of bumming [after losing the French final to Sergi Bruguera]. I thought there was no way in hell I'm going to beat [Stefan] Edberg on Centre Court Wimbledon. There's no chance. He just started gaffing volleys. He started serving right to my strength. After that [semifinal]match, I was so happy. I mean, I was nervous like I'm nervous for any big match, but I wasn't overly nervous so I couldn't sleep or anything like that. I was actually fairly relaxed because I knew no one thought I would win, no one thought I would be there in the first place. Actually, I was just hoping I wasn't going to get blown out.

Sampras: And I was hoping I wasn't going to faint.

TENNIS: Each of you tell me how the other has changed?

Sampras: Over the last couple of years, Jim's definitely gotten much more relaxed on the court. I remember watching Jim play, and playing doubles with him, and he was really too intense. He would wear himself out. I was the opposite of Jim. I was too casual. Jim was so intense that maybe it worked to his disadvantage.

Courier: Sure. A lot of times.

Sampras: And I've gotten myself more pumped up, going in the other direction.

Courier: Kind of a meeting in the middle for the two of us. We both started at extremes. He was half-dead.

Sampras: And his pulse was 180!

Courier: I was biting electric cords. As a person, Pete really hasn't changed much. Off the court, he's still half-dead. He's still relaxed and lets everything roll off his back, which is more important than ever now. Now there's so much extra crap that goes into being the top player in the game that you've got to let the stuff roll off your back. Otherwise, it'll drive you out of your mind.

Sampras: Good point.

Courier: You've got to have that easygoing mentality. As a player, Pete's a lot more intense, a lot more intense. The average person might think that Pete's walking around the court, ho-humming his way, but if you look in his eyes, something changed a couple of years ago. Turned over. I think what changed is that he got the killer instinct. Instead of the casual instinct.

TENNIS: Why do you think he did that?

Courier: He wanted to win.

Sampras: Grew up.

Courier: You look in every champion's eyes and there's something extra. It's like you said, you were fatiguing at Wimbledon in the third set, but you dug in, and found a way to win the fourth, which is what a champion has to do. That's when you hit the wall and instead of hitting it and falling down you run right through it. Champions find ways to run through the wall.

TENNIS: Tell me something about each other that I don't know.

Sampras: Jim's got a wicked[golf] slice. If he had a farm and grew tomatoes, they'd come up sliced.

Courier: Pete can drive the hell out of a Malibu Grand Prix car.

TENNIS: Now that you're two of the top players in the world, can you be friends like you were at the beginning of your careers?

Courier: I think it's a little bit more difficult. Before, we used to hang and play doubles. We were together all the time and our coaches were good friends.

Sampras: I think we both got into relationships.

Courier: Once you throw girls into the mix, that really messes everything up!

Sampras: I think that was a big part of it.

Courier: That was our initial separation. Once you started going out with Delaina [Mulcahy], it was an explosion. You're together all the time and that's who you want to be with. Once I started going out with Morgane [Fruhwirth], the same thing happened, it was so intense I wanted to be with her all the time.

Sampras: You're just so in love.

Courier: After awhile, you learn you don't have to be with someone all the time and you can get back to your friends.

TENNIS: Did you, or do you, ever have any tension in your friendship because you both want the same thing?

Courier: No. You won't see us throwing darts at each other in the papers. There's no reason, no need for that stuff.

Sampras: The press, that's what they want, but we're not giving that to them. And that's why maybe they're calling us boring. There's no such thing as a boring winner.

TENNIS: So when the media calls you boring, it doesn't bother you?

Sampras: I don't think it's fair. I don't understand it.

Courier: Yeah, but here's the catch, Pete. You don't think it's fair, and I don't think it's fair...

Sampras: ... but they get the last word.

Courier: I tell you what: I'm not going to bend over for them, and they're not going to bend over for me, and you're not going to go out of your way for them and vice versa.

Sampras: Absolutely.

Courier: Because if you do, your game will suffer and if I do, my game will suffer.

TENNIS: You feel you need to have tunnel vision to succeed.

Sampras: I look at it like this: I don't need any other distractions.

Courier: Exactly.

Sampras: We have enough to deal with; we don't need to be opening ourselves up to situations that are going to distract us. I went through that with the Wimbledon media last year. I thought, this is really a distraction. Luckily it only happens two weeks out of the year for me.

TENNIS: What's it like being No. 1 in the world?

Courier: The first time you're No. 1 is a different deal. But I've lost it and got it and lost it and got it and lost it again. Bottom line: The first time is a little weird.

Sampras: When I got it in Asia, it felt good, but it doesn't compare to winning your first Slam. There's no comparison.

TENNIS: Is it harder to get to the top or to Stay there?

Courier: God, they're both hard.

Sampras: They're both pretty hard.

Courier: You're just renting. You don't own it. Bottom line -- I'm into saying ''bottom line" a lot -- basically, what it comes down to for me, is that if I worry about it, it's detrimental. If I don't think about it, just do what I'm doing....

Sampras: If you just win, the ranking will take care of itself.

Courier: It's not even winning, it's making sure you're doing the right stuff. Making sure of your training, etc. It's moving ahead and not treading water. Because if you tread water, someone's going to swim right by you.

TENNIS: So you guys aren't ever chasing points for the top ranking?

Courier: If we were chasing points, we'd both be playing every week.

TENNIS: You both will continue to build your seasons around the Slams?

Courier: Well, I kind of build my season around Kuala Lumpur and....

Sampras: I do the same for Qatar.... That's the bottom line.

Courier: There you go, Pete, get into that statement. (Both laugh.)

Sampras: The bottom line is that it's nice winning in Cincinnati and Palm Springs, but at the end of the year, you kind of look at the Slams to judge how you did.

Courier: It's like any other sport. Do the San Antonio Spurs really care if they're going to win 60 games and then lose in the semis of the playoffs? Do they really care? Yeah, it's an honor and they're happy they won the games, but they really want to win the big one. For us, we have four big ones. But you still want to win the other ones, for sure. There's no better feeling than leaving someplace knowing that no one beat you. Only one guy gets that feeling every week. The best feeling is walking away from a 128 draw; you left 127, you shot them all down.

TENNIS: How do you feel about the whole way the IBM/ATP Tour is run? You turned pro in 1988 when the players took over the tour. As top players, is it satisfactory for your needs?

Sampras: The only problem I have with the tour is the ranking system. I feel every time you step onto the court, it should count. That's not the case. That's why you see a lot of upsets, like Jacco Eltingh beating me, or Jim getting upset. These guys go out with a different mentality because of the ranking system. They go out there and swing away. If they win, great; if they don't, they're going to play 30 tournaments a year, they can drop the loss.

Courier: It's changed the game, changed the way guys play. Ask any pro who played before, who's been around. Guys can go out and play and if they lose first round....

Sampras: .... who gives a s--.

Courier: They have a free hotel room and they've got $3,000 in their pocket. It's an exhibition. No penalty.

Sampras: I spoke to Edberg in Qatar. He agrees. He told me that the mentality of the players today is just different. They used to have an average system, and they'd lose points.

TENNIS: Would you be against making some changes to spice up the game?

Courier: I would be. I'm adverse to changes in the game, to spice it up. I like the game the way it is. I'm not a purist-type guy, but I believe in purity in tennis.

Sampras: Why should they change? Because racquet sales are going down? The ATP had a symposium at Frankfurt and Luke [Jensen] was telling everyone how we should have music videos or dancing girls like the NBA does. There are a lot of older people who like to see guys represent themselves with some class.

Courier: It's very simple. People jump on this whole tennis-is-going-downhill bandwagon. Well, in case you missed it, the world economy has been in a recession, or depression, or whatever you want to call it, for the last couple of years. What goes out first when people think that there's a recession? The extras go out. Maybe we're not going to buy that extra pair of tennis shoes that Johnny wants.

Sampras: The $250 racquet.

Courier: Maybe I'm not going to buy box seats this year. People cut back when they're not doing well.

TENNIS: So you consider yourselves traditionalists?

Sampras: I am. Absolutely. (Courier nods in agreement.)

TENNIS: Do you both feel a responsibility to the game in general, to
represent it in a positive way?

Courier (pointing at Sampras): You're looking at the best representative right there. The guy goes out and plays great tennis, keeps his mouth shut. Our responsibility is to go out there and play the best tennis in the world.

Sampras: That's all we should have to worry about.

TENNIS: So you think the concerns about tennis needing a face-lift we media-driven?

Sampras: Absolutely.

Courier: Everything is media-driven, you know that. I haven't had one fan come up to me and say: "What is wrong with tennis? It is so boring. What is wrong with tennis? I just don't feel like going out and buying a racquet." That's an exaggeration, but I've heard nothing but positive stuff from people who approach me.

TENNIS: What about when you two are singled out, such as last year at Wimbledon when the headline on a tabloid after your match was "Bored in the U.S.A."?

Sampras: That's just the British press, doing whatever they can.

Courier: I didn't serve and volley the whole time. It was a whole lot better than [Boris] Becker-[Michael] Stich. We got to hit groundies. ???? the British, is what I'm saying. Our final was played on July 4, that's why they were bitter.

Sampras: I don't think there's too much negative stuff to write about us, and the British press just didn't like us. We didn't give them stuff to write about.

Courier: You didn't shave your legs, and I didn't shave my head.

Sampras: What's wrong With going out there and trying to win? I read an article in Australia where[John] Newcombe was telling this reporter that he thinks Courier and I should lighten up on the court.

Courier: Ha! Ain't that the pot calling the kettle black.

Sampras: I was thinking, would Michael Jordan lighten up on the basketball court? He was going out there trying to win, that's it, that's the bottom line. It's not our responsibility to be comedians or to give information to the press.

TENNIS: Has success changed you two?

Sampras: I think it probably has. I'm more aware now of what's going on, where people are coming from, that people are being nice to me because of who I am, giving me their cards about where to invest my money.

Courier: What happens is you've changed because of the way you are treated. I know I have. I don't think Pete's changed for the worse or I've changed for the worse. I think people change, we're always changing, you're changing every day unknowingly as you grow older. Certainly someone 19, 20 years old is going to change within the next three years. We've both been exposed to a lot more than the average guy. You have to change. you have to adapt to survive. But I don't think you have to necessarily adapt for the worse.

TENNIS: Did money change you? Do you think of yourselves as millionaires?

Sampras: No.

Courier: No.

TENNIS: What's the most flivolous thing that you've bought?

Sampras: Let's see. I got my car free from Mitsubishi.... I don't know, nothing really.

Courier: There's nothing that I can think of that I've blown. I bought a used Porsche. I got a pretty dang good deal on it. I could probably sell it for equal to what I paid for it, so I don't call that blowing money. I go to nice restaurants and I don't have a problem spending a couple hundred dollars on dinner for friends or family.

Sampras: I have everything that I need. I want things, but I don't want them to the point where I'm going to buy them.

Courier: There are things that I want that I can have tomorrow that I don't want to have, because I don't want to be 23 and have everything I want in life. Where do I go after 23? Do you feel like that?

Sampras: Sometimes, yeah, absolutely. We can go out and....

Courier: ... ride around in limos every day. You can buy a plane, you can rent a plane, fly to New York for dinner, go to a show and fly back.

Sampras: It would be a lot of fun, but we can do that later.