13 April 2013
World No. 1' Anniversary for Tennis legends Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi
By Yumna Timsaal
The King of Swing, Pete Sampras first rolled to World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Ranking 20 years back on 12th April 1993. Moreover this week back in April 1995, Andre Agassi, Sampras' greatest competitor also reached the World No. 1 spot.
Retired American tennis player Pete Sampras holds a record of finishing year-end World No. 1 for six consecutive seasons. Sampras acquired the top spot after he was crowned the Tokyo Outdoor title, where he dismissed Brad Gilbert (6-2, 6-2, 6-2) in the finals and pushed down fellow American Jim Courier for his golden spot. This win was a part of the 19-match winning streak which soon hit Pete after he claimed the No. 1 spot. However, his rise to the top became controversial as he had not recently bagged any Grand Slam titles. So as to justify his ranking, three months later Pete Sampras won his first Wimbledon title beating former World No. 1 Jim Courier in the finals.
In his fourteen-year old career, the right-handed tennis player was able to grab a total of fourteen grand slams and was recognized as one of the finest players of all time. Sampras also included 11 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns in his career and held the World No. 1 spot for a total of 286 weeks which he had achieved when he was just 21 years and 8 months old. The record of holding the first spot for 286 weeks was broken by the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer last summer on 8th July 2012, where Federer also equaled Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon crowns.
After 19 weeks America's Pete Sampras lost World No. 1 to Courier, who stayed on the spot for a total of 3 weeks. Sampras reclaimed No. 1 spot after he victoriously walked off the court with his US Open title in '93. But after 82 weeks American tennis star, Andre Agassi took over World No. 1, 18 years ago this week. Agassi rose to World No. 1 after gaining the Australian Open crown at the beginning of the season.
Agassi, who is termed as the best service returner in the history of the game, has won 8 Grand Slams and is one of the four male singles' players to achieve Career Grand Slam. However, during the mid-to-late 1990s, he was troubled by personal issues which pushed him down to World No. 141 in 1997. Many fans and critics prompted that this was an end to his career, but Andre Agassi fought back valiantly and proved all the statements wrong when he returned to World No. 1 in 1999. This followed the most successful run of Agassi's career.
In honour of the two great stars of the Tennis world, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, the ATP Heritage Programme has been launched this year to celebrate the 40th year of the Emirates ATP Rankings.