September 22, 2011
At 40, Sampras still on top of his game
By Harvey Fialkov,
Courier's Master Series tour, including four of America's best oldies but goodies, entertained the fans at BankAtlantic Center
SUNRISE --- Pete Sampras did what very few great athletes have been able to do. At 31, he walked away on top after beating his nemesis Andre Agassi to win his fifth U.S. Open title in 2002.
Although it seems hard to believe, nine years have elapsed since Sampras pulled a John Elway-like exit to raise two sons with actress-wife Bridgette Wilson.
He was back Thursday night at the BankAtlantic Center, still racket-thin at 40, but still sporting his trademark serve-and-volley attack that netted him a then-record 14 Grand Slam titles. That same antiquated, yet effective style earned Sampras a 6-4 victory over contemporary Michael Chang in the first one-set semifinal of the HSBC Tennis Cup.
Chang, 39, who won the French Open at 17 for his lone major, said that Sampras' volleys gave him, "flashbacks of being back on tour," when he was 8-12 against him.
"You don't see that kind of net coverage," Chang said.
Sampras played Jim Courier, the co-founder of the 12-stop Champions Series, in a late final after Courier outlasted a game but tiring Jimmy Connors 7-5, who at 59 was giving away 18 years.
"Do you have the paramedics ready?" joked the ever-entertaining Connors to the intimate crowd. "I wanted to get in shape, but not in one night."
Sampras, who earned more than $43 million on court, had no regrets about leaving too soon.
"I probably could've kept going and still played great tennis, but the practicing, the grind of the tour, I got to a point I had nothing left to prove to myself," said Sampras, who spent a record 285 weeks at No. 1, one week longer than Roger Federer, who has since become the all-time Slams leader with 16.
"I realized when Wimbledon came and went the next year after I won the Open that I didn't want to be there. That's when I knew I was done. I'm not going to play for the money or to say goodbye. I play to win."
Sampras hadn't won a tournament in 26 months prior to that Open.
"I went through a lot of lacking of confidence in myself to win," Sampras said. "It was the low point of my career. People blamed my marriage, my wife, it was a miserable time."
"I went out on my terms, which was important. I was vindicated."
Connors won eight Slams and a seemingly untouchable record 109 titles over a remarkable 23 years. Ivan Lendl is second with 94 titles, with Federer fourth at 67 and Sampras following with 64.
If Connors knew that historians would gauge tennis greats by their number of major titles, then maybe he wouldn't have bypassed the Australian Open for most of his Hall of Fame career.
"Records are made to be broken," said Connors, who won eight Slams. "I only played two majors, the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, for eight years. We didn't know everyone was going to look at [majors] to compare your careers."
"The end result was best for me and that was good enough."
It's unlikely that today's top players will play into their 30s, let alone 41 like Connors, because of the inflated prize money and soaring injury rate.
"I said to [Federer], 'You're going to play past 35,'" Sampras said. "He loves to play, likes the travel, the hotels. That took its toll on me."
"His game doesn't take a lot of exertion like Rafael Nadal's wear and tear. When Roger wins 2 and 2, it takes an hour. When Rafa wins 2 and 2, it takes two hours."