BBC Sports
June 26, 2004
Pete Sampras Interview
By Rob Bonnet

Draft Transcript of Interview with PETE SAMPRAS by Rob Bonnet, BBC Sports Correspondent, broadcast during Wimbledon Fortnight 2004.


They say that for top sportsmen knowing the right moment when to retire is probably the most difficult decision of them all. Is that right for you?

PS: Yeah, it is a tough decision and that is why I took pretty much a year to make that decision. After the US Open last year and winning it, and having a kind of a two-year drought, it was a tough mountain to climb. And about three months after the openÝwhen I came down from that high, reality set in. What's next? What's my next goal? Getting back to work. Getting ready for Australia. And that's when I started to have some feelings of maybe it's time to stop, or maybe its didn't know. I was very unclear, and not sure which direction to really go.

I mean there are all sorts of emotions that must play there. Mustn't there?

PS: Oh Yeah!

A fear above all. A fear of not performing. The previous two years of course to you 2002 triumph had been difficult for you, and it was a fear perhaps of repeating that experience?

PS: No, it wasn't a fear of that. It was like I felt I did it all. I really felt I had achieved every goal I wanted to achieve, and I had nothing really left to prove to myself. When I realized that, because as you know over the years, I am so driven and so focussed, and really most consumed with the sport I knew what I had to do to be there, I went from that point up to the Open feeling like you know I'm pretty content. And that's when I felt well like I'm facing this head on here, what is next in my career? So once Australia started coming round and the tour started, I didn't want to travel. I didn't want to really put in the work, and I think that was the start of the process.

Is it a frightening moment when you realize you are losing that desire -- the desire that's driven you for over a decade?

PS: Hmm. It's, I won't say frightening, it's just kind of owning up to your feelings. Like, you know, I wish I did want to go to Australia, I wish I did want to do the work and continue to play, but the reality was that I felt like I did it all. I felt like I achieved a lot of goals, and for the first time I really felt content, and that's when I pretty much started pulling out of all these events, to the point where once Wimbledon came around, and I was waiting for that tournament to see how I would feel, and I said OK I'm going to play one more, in my mind, and I'm going to practise, and I'm going to train.

And as big as that tournament is to me and to the game, after about three or four days of training, that's when I knew, that I'm done. And that was an eerie day.ÝI remember practising at my court, and after about thirty minutes I just put my racket down and I told Paul, I said you know what, I think I'm done. And put my racket in my bag and that's pretty much when I knew.

And therefore I suppose Paul Annacone, when you said to him you're done your coach -- he didn't try to persuade you otherwise?

PS: No. There was no persuasion.

Nobody tried to persuade you?

PS: No.

And your family was on side too did they discuss it?

PS: My Wife, My coach. Everyone wanted me to play, and just because they love watching me play. Just to keep it going. But they know it was my decision. You know, I remember talking to Wayne Gretsky, the great hockey player, and I picked his brain a little bit, and he said the only person that can decide is you. And he kind of boost me up to being like, you know, that I can't get advice from other people. It really is what I want to do with my life. And so that is what happened.

There was a view expressed in 2003 that Pistol Peter was petering out. You don't in retrospect wish that you had made a cleaner break, a cleaner decision?

PS: It hmm. No. I mean, I didn't know. Retirement is something you don't wake up one morning and say I'm retired. When you've been doing something for so long it takes time and you want to go through the process, and I believe every sportsman, every person in their career, you want to hang on and not retire. Everyone's got their own decision, and this was the best way for me to know a hundred per cent that I was done, was to give it time. I didn't want to retire after the Open and then come back six months later. I wanted to be a hundred per cent sure that I was done.

What made you decide to go through that very emotional ceremony at Flushing Meadows in August of that year at the US Open, it was the first Monday, wasn't it.

PS: Yeah.

It was in a sense that kind of, what shall we call it, showbiz almost, very un-Peter Sampras in a way, wasn't it?

PS: Well, it was how it all happened was that I pulled out of the Open and USTA approached me about if I do retire before the New York they would want to do a ceremony, and so you know as uncomfortable as I am doing ceremonies and doing that whole thing, you know, I owe it to myself, I owe it to the fans, and I owe it to the sport to go back to New York and be part of a ceremony.

Were you nervous about it?

PS: I was. I mean to, hmm announce to the world your retirement I was fine with that because...

That's a kind of open secret, but it's the kind of public nature.

PS: The public nature, and just to make it official, and to actually talk about it, you know, in front of the media. And kind of reflect, and being back in New York, and being back at the site, brought back so many memories, it really, really did. It was an eerie, eerie day I'll never forget it.

So the tears were kind of welling almost as you were driving down to Flushing Meadows.

PS: Absolutely, they were. I found myself saying this is going to be harder than I thought. And, you know, it was definitely, hmm, I definitely internalized a lot of feelings, and showed emotion at certain times on the court, but, hmm, that was just an eerie, eerie, day. It was -- I really am done. You know what I mean, I'm not coming back. I'm really finished playing, and more reflection than anything.

And you sit here now, very relaxed, looking very happy, obviously no regrets, maybe because a sense of freedom now?

PS: Yeah, I mean I feel like I for many months have had, going back and forth about playing, retirement, and actually make it official, and two or three months later I feel free as a bird really. I've been playing a kind of golf, I've been hanging out with my boy, my wife, and going on a few trips here and there, and really don't miss it.

Where's the tennis racquet, locked away given away?

PS: Hmm. Stored away.

Stored away.

PS: Stored there away. I'm sure I'll pick up the racquet again at some point. I haven't done it in a while.

When did you last hit a tennis ball?

PS: Well, when I started to practice for Wimbledon which is about two months before it started. Two or three months.

That's April 2003?

PS: So that's the last time I picked up a racquet.

OK. Well look, let's re-visit one or two of the big moments in your career, and precede it by a quote which I must say caught my eye in researching this interview. Fred Perry, British Champion, the last men's British Champion, since before the War, from the thirties, twice, he once said "Sampras moves like oil. You don't hear him. You only hear the other guy. And the other guy is losing." It's an interesting and convincing image, isn't it, of the way that you play the game, I think. No nonsense, no fuss. Just quiet and ruthless efficiency.

PS: Yeah, I mean, yeah that's the kind of the way I played. I didn't, I wasn't a guy you heard grunting, I wasn't a guy you heard diving really. I was just pretty efficient. You know, I felt like I did move well, and people didn't really and movement was one of my biggest strengths, and I made it look relatively easy, hum, and felt, you know, I didn't have a [?] presence with the way I walked. I was always kind of a cat ready to kind of pounce on you.

I really felt like that it was the power of my serve and my movement and just all the shots that I had I felt hmm what Fred is saying, I know what he's saying, that I'm relatively smooth. You know, and I was this kind of player that kind of destroyed you. And there were times when I felt like that. I mean I felt I was unstoppable. I mean just when everything was clicking, the serve was there it was just like at time I felt I'd mastered it.

But the problem was that wasn't a universally approved style of play, was it? Let's mention the "B" word now. Some people found it boring. Do you think that they misunderstood? Do you resent that kind of criticism?

PS: Well. I think early on, hmm, it baffled me when I was, you know, 21, 22, I think it was what I brought to the game, maybe. I didn't really say a ton on the court. I mean, I think the transition from Mac and Connors to kind myself and those guys, you know those guys were so outspoken to me being very introverted, I mean it was easy, hmm, out, to kind of talk about me was that I was boring, and so I always look back at it and kind of, hmm, never understand it.

Well, I've got a quote here. You said, "I'd never wanted to be the great guy, or the colorful guy, or the interesting guy. I wanted to be the guy who won titles." And my goodness me, you did that. Fourteen grand slam titles. What is it now 286 weeks as the world's No. 1. What drove you forward?

PS: Well, hmm, when I lost the US Open final to Edberg. Up until that point I wasn't really sure what I wanted. You know, I was happy being ranked 6th in the world, kind of being close, but I think that loss changed my career, to where I did hate to lose. I went from not wanting it, to really knowing exactly what I wanted. And that changed my whole career, that loss. Mentally it felt like, hmm, I know what I wanted, 100 per cent. Like in that match I kind of gave in a little bit. Kind of caved in, and that changed my career that match, and that was the reason I was able to win 14 Majors, and stay No. 1.

So was that a painful experience?

PS: People tell you it's stress. Yeah, I know. I had a little ulcer from it. Yeah, stress and taking anti-inflammatory pills, and my stomach was ripped up in knots, and yeah, you know you don't really sleep that well, and you're worried about your game playing. Playing the finals at Wimbledon many times. And as cool as I was on the exterior, on the interior I was nervous, you know, and this is what we play for, and this is what I kind of built my life around, winning titles.

And no question, being No. 1 and staying No. 1 took a lot out of me, emotionally. It will be the reason why I think at 31 after winning the Open last year, that is when I burnt the candle. I had nothing left. Hmm, you know, staying No. 1 is the hardest thing I have had to do.

At the 1996 US Open quarter-final against Alex Corretja, that stands out. Your last victory at Wimbledon against Patrick Rafter, and then of course you very last performance on a professional court, Flushing Meadows, the Final 2002, against Andre Aggasi.

PS: Yeah.

Talk us through first of all the Corretja match because it was an extraordinary will to win that must have driven you through that.

PS: It was. It was, looking back at it I went out on the court a little bit empty in fuel and I didn't really eat properly, and the match before me took a little bit longer so I went out there and by the fourth set I felt my legs were getting tired, and the fifth set just kind of hanging on. And it was a tough match. I mean, he played well, made me work really hard. And fifth set tie-breaker I just, hmm, I got sick. Just kind of hit the wall. And just threw up. You know, I just kind of felt like my body was hurting, and my stomach was hurting, and I just felt like all I could think at the time I'm glad we're in a tie-breaker and it going to be over in a few minutes. You know, if we'd have played it out like we do at Wimbledon, I wouldn't have won the match, but the tie-breaker helped me. You know, hit a couple of serves, or just try and hang in there. I think that's the worse I've ever felt physically on a tennis court.

There's nowhere to hide it there, on a tennis court.

PS: No. And, you know, I do remember the people that were there just really pulling for me. They saw that I was hurting physically, and really kind of felt that's the part that felt great. And then somehow winning the mach, and winning the tournament.

Let's spin forward to the year 2000 and the final at Wimbledon against Rafter. Wimbledon. Of course, you're the favorite at Wimbledon, had been for seven or eight years. But nevertheless, Pat Rafter, people were rooting for him. He's never won Wimbledon. Very popular guy. Very nice guy by all accounts. Perhaps not your most popular victory at Wimbledon, though of course, your parents were in the crowd for the first time at a Grand Slam final. First Grand Slam they saw you win, was it?

PS: Yeah, it was. I've always invited them to come over to Wimbledon, and they've always declined, saying they're doing fine over there, and I think my sisters' kind of got them to hop on a plane, and they came over. And just looking back on the match, losing the first set, being 4:1 down in the breaker on the second, I felt like that this really isn't working out very well; and won that second set, and end up winning the match.

It was a tough two weeks. I was dealing with a kind of nagging injury that I had to take injections for, and that was the chance of breaking the record, the Grand Slam record, and having my parents there. And a lot of emotion and just a tough, tough two weeks, of just stress. Not able to practise in between matches because of my leg. And I got through it, and that's the will to win. But the kind of pain I was under, a lot of players would have quit.

And then a man called Federer came along, didn't he?

PS: Federer. At least I played fine. The Bastl match, I really wanted to cry after that match. That was one of the biggest low points I've ever had as a tennis player. Federer I can swallow, because he played great. He's a great player.

But at the point, that defeat by Bastl, on the graveyard court, isn't it, No. 2.

PS: Which I shouldn't have been on by the way.

Oh, OK.

PS: As the seven times champion it should have been on Court One, or Stadium Court? Atmosphere. So if Alan Mills is watching, I'm going to kick your ass when I see you! (Both laugh)

I'll pass it on if he isn't!

At that point, though, maybe you did think you probably certainly suspected you would not win Wimbledon again.

PS: After Bastl?

Yeah.

PS: No. I mean I was down and dejected, and down on the whole year.

Yes.

PS: I always felt like I could win again, and that is why I continued to play. And the challenge I had for myself was to win one more Major.

Which you did then, as we were saying, Flushing Meadows, two months after, Andre Agassi. Fantastic achievement, after what had gone before, as you say, in that 18 months proceeding.

PS: It meant more to me than anything. You know, when you're playing well and things are great, it's easy to go and win, but when you're as low as I was, and to get back up, mentally and physically, and to do it, was so sweet at so many different levels. Just to shut a lot of people up. To prove it to myself. To share with my wife, who was pregnant at the time. I mean, it was a great event.

Just to remind you now what you were saying 10 minutes, quarter of a hour ago, about the match at the Australian Open 1995, and it was just after you heard the news that Tim Gullikson had been diagnosed with cancer, Tim Gullikson your coach at the time. Two sets down to Jim Courrier, and then you heard this shout from the crowd.

PS: Well the media kind of put in that I heard a shout. I didn't hear a shout. It was pretty much his third episode of fainting, and I heard a rumor there was some brain tumor. But no one told me at the time, but I heard something, and seeing so much emotion from Tim and Tom, you know, basically crying for hours on end in the hospital room, and me being there, and trying to be strong and supportive, and trying to play on top of that.

And he left that day I played Jim. Lost the first two sets, and just remembered telling myself just to come back and fight hard. And that's what Tim instilled in me, and I think after I won the next two sets, it hit me. OK, and just completely broke down emotionally, and just kind of stored up all this emotion in me, seeing Tim and the unknowingness of what was going to happen to him.

What it showed is that from the public persona of Pete Sampras, as being rather controlled, there is actually a very emotional person underneath.

PS: You know, interestingly, aftermath of that episode, hmm, (XXX I wouldn't try and ) take a lot of these comments people were saying that Pete's finally human. And I took a little bit of offense to that. You now, it didn't take me to cry hysterically out there to show that I'm human. I do have feelings. I just happen to show them different ways. Everyone is a little bit different on this earth. I happen to kind of have my emotion in check, and go and play my tennis. And to say that I'm finally human, it really bothered me. It was like I don't need to do that to show I have feelings. They were there.

Well, that's a very brutal way of putting it, isn't it. But I suppose it was that people just felt you were, as I say, very controlled on the court. Cold, is that the word? Perhaps it's not the word, is it? I mean...

PS: No. I'm just so smart. You know, controlled in my emotion. I didn't waste energy arguing with people, or umpires. I didn't want to show my opponent what I was doing. How I was feeling. It was smart, and just the way I was. You know, I remember playing a doubles match with John McEnroe, in Davis Cub, and a Jeckel and Hyde here. He was so emotional, and I was just drained sitting next to him. I mean, Jesus, just shut up there for a minute. I mean he was complaining about line calls from ten minutes ago. I said, John what are you doing here, I mean, I'm so exhausted here. I couldn't imagine playing my career like that, and just the highs and lows of that emotion, and that's why I was able to still top for as long as I did, and win a number of Majors, was because I was in control.

Yes. That kind of approach was right for him, but it wasn't right for you?

PS: No. It would have exhausted me. It did that one day. The way I was on the court, was, you know, I felt it was my job. And you know, people say lighten up, and I really took offense to the lighten up part out there. I mean, I'm not there to kick ass, and take names, I mean I'm not here to make friends. You look at the competitors of Tiger Woods, the Michael Jordans, you see that these guys are intense. And to say that I should lighten up, it's like telling Jordan lighten up out there when you're going, you know, playing against these guys. I mean it's just the media or the experts just kind of, you know, wanting the drama, the entertainment of it all.

Yes.

PS: But I never caved in to them.

I mean for some people though, critics of the kind of approach McEnroe had there was a difficulty about him being a bad role model. Whereas you were effectively the perfect role model.

PS: Yeah, there's a lot of parents that come up to me today that say you're great for my kid. I love that fact that you acted the way that you did, because you're compared to McEnroe and Connors I mean you're not a brat, and you did play great tennis, and you did it with a certain class that I try to show my child. That means more to me than any great oracle or cover story or whatever. I mean that feels like I'm affecting someone's life in a positive way.

Is the future bright for the sport, and Pete Sampras?

PS: For me in the sport? Hmm, yeah. The sport's been very good to me, and I hope I can give something back in some way. What that is I am not 100 per cent sure right now. I think the sport itself is doing fine.

The future then?

PS: The future for me is like, I said, what I've been doing. Playing a lot of golf, and going on a few trips, and just enjoying my retirement. Hmm, like I said, there will become a time if it's in a month, or six weeks or five years that I want to be a little bit busier, maybe I won't be so hesitant to travel, and maybe go the Wimbledon or do some commentary, or give back to the game in some way.

There are a few business things I am involved in, Tennis Channel, Tennis Magazine, Um, I mean I do feel like I have some things to offer to the sport, and I do have a good name in the sport, so it's easy for me to go back into it. But I think for now I've enjoyed keeping a low profile, but once I come back, which might never happen, maybe I just like, maybe I don't want to get back into the sport, but I very well could. I mean, look at what John McEnroe's doing, he's more involved now than he was when he was playing.

Well, you'll sure to be welcome wherever you go. Pete Sampras, thank you very much for joining us.



Where an X or X's mark the spot, this indicates we had trouble translating, as both Pete and Rob Bonnet were speaking quite quickly, and the recording seemed to blur it - for interest, I am trying to get a clearer copy direct from the BBC, as it will be good to have.

Draft Transcript of Interview with PETE SAMPRAS by Rob Bonnet, BBC Sports Correspondent, broadcast during Wimbledon Fortnight 2004

The emphasis is on 'draft transcript' as this is not guaranteed as verbatim, Pete and Rob spoke very quickly so it was difficult to take down.