Pete Sampras

Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971, in Washington, DC), is a former World No. 1 Greek-American tennis player. He is considered by many to be the greatest male tennis player of all time, having won a record 14 Grand Slam men's singles titles and finished the year as No. 1 on the ATP world rankings for a record six consecutive years. He won the men's singles title at Wimbledon a record seven times. He also won the US Open five times and the Australian Open twice. However the one major championship which eluded him was the French Open.

Playing style

Sampras was an all-court player known for several extraordinary facets in his game, in particular:

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• an accurate and powerful first serve, one of (or arguably) the best of all-time, leading to the nickname 'Pistol Pete';
• a second serve nearly as powerful as his first, possibly his most dangerous weapon;
• his athleticism and deceptive quickness;
• his long arms meant that he could serve like a 7 footer although he was only 6'1;
• great disguise on both his first and second serve;
• his forehand, and in particular his "running forehand" (a forehand hit on the run) was considered the best in the world;
• his net game (Sampras' volleys were superb and he arguably possessed the best overhead smash in the history of the men's game. His slam dunk smash was an effective tool to demoralise his opponents);
• a reliable one-handed backhand, which he frequently sliced deep to set up a net play;
• his extraordinary mental game, allowing him to stay focused and play his best game at decisive moments, such as hitting second serve aces at break point down

His style changed dramatically between the early 1990s and the time he retired. Sampras excelled on hard courts. He served and volleyed on his first serve and frequently stayed back on his second serve. Towards the latter part of his career on hard courts, Sampras played a serve and volley game on both his first and second serves. On grass courts Sampras served and volleyed on both serves throughout his career. When not serving, in the early years of his career, Pete's strategy was to be aggressive from the baseline, put opponents in a defensive position and finish points at the net.

Related Topics:
Style - Serve and volley

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In his later years, he became even more aggressive and would either employ a "chip-and-charge" strategy – just chip back the return and run up to the net, waiting for a volley or try to hit an offensive shot on the return and follow his return to the net. Sampras' aggressive strategies worked best on "fast" surfaces – like concrete and, in particular, grass – but were weaker on "slow" surfaces like clay. As a result, he dominated Wimbledon (played on grass) but never won the French Open (played on clay).

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Opponents frequently played to his backhand which was deemed his weaker side. To counter this, Sampras often camped on the backhand side while rallying from the baseline and often baited opponents for his great running forehand.

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