 |
|
|
| CBS News Transcripts January 25, 2000, Tuesday (9:00 PM ET) SHOW: 60 MINUTES II |
|
|
HEADLINE: THE CHAMPION; NUMBER ONE TENNIS PLAYER PETE SAMPRAS TALKS ABOUT HIS CAREER ANCHORS: CHARLIE ROSE CHARLIE ROSE, co-host: If you want to know what it takes to be a champion, just take a look at Pete Sampras. At 28, he is one of the greatest tennis players in history. But 'one of' isn't good enough for him. He is determined to be the greatest, period. He can take another step closer to that dream this weekend, by winning the Australian Open and collecting his 13th Grand Slam title, the most in men's tennis ever. You have to wonder: How has he done it? What is it that makes Sampras so special? Well, for starters, just try returning his serve. |
(Footage of Pete Sampras and Rose on the court) ROSE: Give me the best you got. Here we go. (Voiceover) The ball is traveling 130 miles an hour. Mr. PETE SAMPRAS: Oh, you almost had it. ROSE: (Voiceover) It's hard to see it, much less hit it. All right. One more. Mr. SAMPRAS: There you go. Play it out. ROSE: (Voiceover) Pete Sampras dominates his sport like no other athlete. He is rich and good-looking, yet he has never set the public's heart on fire. Mr. SAMPRAS: You know, I'm more of a '50s kind of old-fashioned type of guy. I'm not a flamboyant, very talkative, I-wanna-pat-myself-on-the-back type of guy. ROSE: So when you read 'He's boring,' you say? Mr. SAMPRAS: I'm not. Got my own jet, Hollywood girlfriends. (Close-up of newspaper article; footage of Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe) ROSE: (Voiceover) Throughout his career, Sampras has been criticized for the things he is not. He is not obsessed, like Bjorn Borg. He is not flashy, like Jimmy Connors. And he is not controversial, like John McEnroe. Mr. SAMPRAS: It's like they needed to be number one to be happy. ROSE: Do you need to be number one to be happy? Mr. SAMPRAS: Well, no, not necessarily. Are we on? ROSE: Don't do that to me, whether we're on or not. Come on. You can be happy without it, but you'll be a whole lot happier if you're number one. Mr. SAMPRAS: Sure, right. ROSE: It mattered to you. Mr. SAMPRAS: Absolutely, absolutely. ROSE: 'Cause your life is tennis and the record is important to you, right? Mr. SAMPRAS: Absolutely. To stay number one is....it's got to be your life, it really does. (Footage of Sampras warming up; Andre Agassi) ROSE: (Voiceover) When we caught up with Sampras last summer, he was preparing for his latest challenge, the US Open. He was anticipating a showdown with his rival, Andre Agassi. Mr. SAMPRAS: So I feel good. I'm a....I....I'm as well prepared as I can be. ROSE: Ready to start? Mr. SAMPRAS: Yeah. I'm chomping at the bit. ROSE: Thanks. Mr. SAMPRAS: There's the....there are the boys. How you doing? Mr. ANDRE AGASSI: What's up? ROSE: (Voiceover) The Sampras-Agassi rivalry has revitalized men's tennis. That's partly because Agassi made a remarkable comeback, rising from 141st to the top of the rankings. But it's also because Sampras raised the level of his game whenever they met. (Footage of Agassi warming up) ROSE: Andre Agassi, working on his serve. Mr. SAMPRAS: Yeah. He's gotten better. ROSE: He's gotten better, huh? Mr. SAMPRAS: Yeah. ROSE: When you watch him....was there a little tension when you two saw each other, simply because you know that you are the two guys? I mean, there are... Mr. SAMPRAS: No, there's never....there's never been tension with Andre and I off the court. You know, there probably is a little bit because the cameras are around... ROSE: Yeah, right. Mr. SAMPRAS: ....but I can sit and talk to Andre....and I....about anything. And we like each other. Mr. AGASSI: I like what I feel when I'm on the court with Pete. I like what I feel when I'm in anticipation of playing him, knowing that you're going to have to dig down to a place where, quite potentially, you've never dug before. You know, I play other guys, and I know, OK, if I just do this, I focus this hard, if I'm this intense, if I do this, I'm....I'm going to win. And with Pete, you go, 'I got to do that,' and then I don't know. (Footage of tennis match) Unidentified Announcer (probably Cliff Drysdale): Game, set Sampras. (Early photo and footage of Sampras) ROSE: Sampras and Agassi have been competing against each other since they were kids. Robert Lansbrook: (From footage) OK. Now let's get Pete over here, Smiley Pete. ROSE: (Voiceover) Pete first picked up a racquet when he was seven. This home video was shot by an early tennis adviser, Robert Lansbrook. Mr. SAMPRAS: It was really just an amazing upbringing, you know, playing tennis every day, three hours a day. And I didn't have any girlfriends. No social life. Didn't go to the prom. I just....it was tennis, tennis, tennis. And.... ROSE: But it was a commitment you wanted to make. Mr. SAMPRAS: There was a commitment I wanted to make. And my parents didn't force me, but they....they knew I enjoyed it, and they supported me. (Photo of Sampras and his father; footage of Sampras at 19) ROSE: (Voiceover) But his parents are also superstitious. They don't attend his matches. In fact, when 19-year-old Pete won his first US Open, they went to a shopping mall so they wouldn't see him play. They don't come to tournaments? Mr. SAMPRAS: They don't come to the....they don't. No. They.... ROSE: They've never been to a Grand Slam to watch you play? Mr. SAMPRAS: You know, they actually have. They....they saw me lose to Edberg in the '92 open final. That was the only Grand Slam they've seen. ROSE: And then they made the decision that 'We will never again go watch our son....our beloved son lose'? Mr. SAMPRAS: Well, they....they....yeah, partly that, and partly they are very private people. They....they are like me, in a way. (Photos of Sampras with his parents) ROSE: (Voiceover) We wanted to ask his parents about that, but not only do they avoid his big matches, they don't do interviews. Mr. SAMPRAS: You know, and every year I....I make the Wimbledon final. There's a day off in between the semi and the final. I always invite them. 'No, Pete, oh....' ROSE: Pick up the phone? Mr. SAMPRAS: 'No. Yeah, you're doing fine....' ROSE: What do you say? Mr. SAMPRAS: I say, 'Why....why don't you guys come over?' My dad always says the same thing, 'No, I won't, you guys are doing....you know, you're doing fine. It's superstitious. I'll stay home.' But....but I want them to be part of my tennis. And I would love to....them to be a part of not only this year's Open but next year's Wimbledon or....or just whatever, just to see me play in a Grand Slam and see that's....that's their boy. (Footage of Sampras with trophy) Unidentified Man #2 (probably Tony Trabert): US Open champion, Pete Sampras. (Footage of Sampras with his trophies on display) ROSE: (Voiceover) Their boy has done very well for himself. Mr. SAMPRAS: You know, every now and again I walk through this room and check them out. ROSE: (Voiceover) And even though they don't want to watch him rack up trophy after trophy, a lot of other people do. (Footage of Sampras waving to cheering fans) Mr. SAMPRAS: (Voiceover) It's....it's fun to play in front of tons of people. You know, people come out to see me. And it's....it's a great feeling. (Footage of Sampras fixing racquet) Mr. SAMPRAS: (Voiceover) It's funny, you know, when I break my string and change racquets, I can....I take my time. I'm not freaked out enough to rush and get a new racquet. I just....you know what? I'm playing it. This is I....this is my stage. And I'm doing what I want to do. (Footage of tennis match; John McEnroe) ROSE: (Voiceover) That kind of single-mindedness is something Pete Sampras shares with all great champions, including John McEnroe. Mr. JOHN McENROE: One thing he's done, he's been very dedicated to it....in....in some ways that's why he's called boring because he's so into it that, like, he's totally put aside virtually anything else. Which, in....in some ways, is something that I wish I could have done a better job at. He's....you know, the bad news is that you're thought of in this....in negative light. The good news is that you rack up majors. ROSE: What's special about Pete Sampras as a tennis player? Mr. McENROE: I don't think people realize yet. They'll probably realize in 10, 15 years how really great a player he is. I mean, he makes it look easy. Even though I hesitate to ever say anyone is ever as good or better than Rod Laver, who won two Grand Slams, after all, I....and I say this with all due....due respect to Rod, if I saw Pete playing at his best now, it would be hard-pressed for me to imagine that Rod could beat him, say, at Wimbledon or US Open. (Footage of Rod Laver; vintage photo of Laver; Sampras and Dr. Pete Fischer) ROSE: (Voiceover) In fact, the legendary Rod Laver remains, to this day, Pete Sampras' idol. That's no accident. Young Sampras was taught to revere Laver by Dr. Pete Fischer, a pediatrician who became Sampras' first coach. Did Pete Fischer, this man in Los Angeles, ever say to you, 'You, Pete, can be the greatest player ever to play the game'? Did he say something like.... Mr. SAMPRAS: Yeah, he said I'm gonna make people forget Rod Laver. ROSE: What was it that Fischer saw? Mr. SAMPRAS: He saw talent. He....he didn't see a lot of will, and he didn't see a lot of....a lot of my head. And it was up to me, as I got older, to figure out, you know, 'How far do I want to take this?' (Photos of Sampras and Fischer) ROSE: (Voiceover) Fischer was a demanding taskmaster, and after a decade together, coach and player split. What Pete Sampras did not know was that his coach had a secret life. In 1997, Fischer pleaded guilty to molesting several of his young patients. He is now serving a six-year sentence in a California prison. Did you have any idea, any idea ever that--that he had the problem he did? Mr. SAMPRAS: No. ROSE: What can you say to a guy who made a difference in your life, and is now sitting in prison? Mr. SAMPRAS: I don't know. I mean, it....it....I'm supporting him as a friend. And I've been....known Pete since I was seven years old. And when he gets out of prison, I'm going to be his friend. ROSE: That's the best you can do is.... Mr. SAMPRAS: That's the best I can do. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to turn my head away. I mean, he's too important to me to....to throw away. (Photo of Sampras with Tim Gullikson; footage of match) ROSE: (Voiceover) His friendships run deep. One of those friendships was with his coach, Tim Gullikson. He was by his side when Pete began to dominate the sport. Then, at the Australian Open in 1995, Sampras learned that Gullikson was dying of brain cancer. Unidentified Man #3 (Cliff Drysdale): (From footage of game) ....someone in the crowd says to Pete Sampras, 'Do it for your coach,' and he breaks out in tears. Mr. SAMPRAS: (Voiceover) I just emotionally lost it for about 10 minutes. You know, I had all this in me, and I just....I just let it out. (Footage of Sampras playing and crying at the same time) Mary Carillo: I've never seen someone ace through tears. SAMPRAS: I've only seen it a couple of times. The third time I've seen it. And I'm....I'm a very emotional person, I really am. I internalize a lot of....of....of my feelings. In that situation, I was....I could only take so much. I'm not a robot. You know, I'm not playing and winning tournaments and winning matches because I'm a robot. You know, there's a lot of hard work and passion that I....that I have going into this game. ROSE: (Voiceover) It was a revealing moment for a man who doesn't like to reveal much. (Footage of Sampras walking by group of fans) Unidentified Group of Fans: Pete! Pete! ROSE: (Voiceover) Off the court, Sampras is polite with fans, but hardly outgoing. He simply doesn't fit the image of a superstar. Mr. SAMPRAS: You know, when you travel and you live in a hotel room and planes. It's....it's not an exciting life. ROSE: No. It's not? Mr. SAMPRAS: It really isn't. ROSE: I mean, it's not glamorous to be number-one tennis player.... Mr. SAMPRAS: No. No, it's not. ROSE: ...and everybody knows you and....and the.... Mr. SAMPRAS: No. I mean, it's.... ROSE: Why? Mr. SAMPRAS: Because.... ROSE: You could have your pick of a lot of very attractive and smart and interesting young women. Mr. SAMPRAS: Again, you're going the wrong direction. ROSE: But what's not glamorous about it? What's not exciting about it? Mr. SAMPRAS: Because.... ROSE: You're doing what you....it's a game. Mr. SAMPRAS: It's a game. ROSE: This is a game. Mr. SAMPRAS: And you're doing what you want to do. But the traveling and staying in the hotels, trust me.... ROSE: Oh, quit it. Mr. SAMPRAS: When....when you've been doing.... ROSE: Quit whining about something that's the most exciting thing. Mr. SAMPRAS: Listen. ROSE: What are you complaining about? Mr. SAMPRAS: You're right, I shouldn't be complaining. I won't do any more complaining. It's a great life. I'm going to do it.... ROSE: Exactly. Mr. SAMPRAS: I'm going to do it till I'm 40. (Footage of US Open; of Sampras at a news conference; Agassi at US Open) ROSE: (Voiceover) But last summer, the only thing on his mind was winning the US Open. It was not to be. Sampras hurt his back during a routine practice, and was forced to withdraw. Pete Sampras had to watch as Andre Agassi won the US Open. Sampras just went home. (Footage of Sampras working out; playing tennis with Agassi looking on) ROSE: (Voiceover) Now, with his back healed, he's again at the top of his game....a new record and another Grand Slam title within his grasp. Mr. AGASSI: Now he's bringing the heat. ROSE: (Voiceover) It would seem he has everything he ever wanted. But there is one match Pete Sampras wants very much to play. Pete Sampras would love to be playing for the finals against his longtime rival since they were 10 years old or so, Andre Agassi. Mr. SAMPRAS: Yup. ROSE: With Rod Laver in the audience at center court? Mr. SAMPRAS: Sure. ROSE: Maybe your parents? Mr. SAMPRAS: He would....maybe my parents. Maybe they'll....I'll get them to come. That....that....that's a fantasy. I mean, that's when you sit and try to sleep at night and you have dreams, that's....you just told everyone my dream. ROSE: Today in Australia, Sampras took a step closer to breaking the men's Grand Slam record. He won his quarterfinal match, and now heads into the semifinals. (Announcements) |