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Tennis legend Pete Sampras will be playing Marat Safin in an exhibition match to kick-off the 83rd edition of the LA Open next week. TheSportsCampus.com had the opportunity to participate in a joint press interview with Pete Sampras as he discussed life after tennis, his match with Safin, playing against Andre Agassi some time in the near future, Roger Federer's record against Rafael Nadal, and Sampras' recent trip to Wimbledon to watch Federer win a record 15th Grand Slam title.
For the uninitiated, in his career Sampras was 762-222, including 64 titles in 88 finals. He was ranked No. 1 for a record 286 weeks, and his 14 career Grand Slam titles record was just surpassed by Roger Federer at Wimbledon.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
Q. Are there days that you might think you retired too early?
PETE SAMPRAS: No. No. The last couple years of my career were pretty exhausting, not winning any titles. I think once I was at the bottom of the mountain there, losing Wimbledon, being as low as I could possibly be, losing on Court 2, then coming back and winning the Open, you know, I had nothing left in the tank. I had nothing left emotionally. Physically I could have kept going. Probably would have done okay. But emotionally I was cooked. It was time for me to go.
I gave myself eight months to a year to really see if I would want to play again. Once Wimbledon came and went again the next year, I knew it was time for me to move on. It wasn't an easy decision, but it was the right decision.
Q. How competitively are you taking the match with Marat? It's a great way for you to sort of relive the old days when you played that great final. Are you going out there looking to take a scalp or have some fun?
PETE SAMPRAS: I think a little bit of both. We want to have some fun, a lighthearted match. At the same time he's competitive, I'm competitive. He's not going to want to lose to someone that's close to 40. All these matches against the current guys, I want to play well. I don't want to embarrass myself. If I can pull off a set, I'm ecstatic. If I can win the match, that's even better.
For me, as I can tell you now, having hit three or four days, I'm not nearly as good as I used to be. I don't move as well. To play one match every four months, it's a little unsettling. I'm not building off anything. I hopefully can find my game kind of through the first set and see where it goes from there.
It's competitive, but we're having fun. When the point starts, I'm going to want to win the point.
Q. How would you rate your chances against Safin in the match coming up?
PETE SAMPRAS: Not great to actually win the match. He's playing a lot. He's playing every day. I'm so sporadic with my tennis, it's a tough deal. Play every four months, it's not easy to find your confidence, to find your rhythm. It's one of those things where I just have to find it as we go, and that's not always easy, even when I was back in my prime.
I want to play well and do some things I used to be able to do, but obviously I'm not quite as sharp as I used to be.
Q. Have you been training at all?
PETE SAMPRAS: Yeah, I've been hitting some balls, stepping it up here over the next couple weeks, go out there and do it.
Q. Seems like you're keeping yourself in great shape.
PETE SAMPRAS: Trying to. Working out, eating well. As you get older, it's a little tougher to stay lean. I've been keeping myself in good shape. If I'm gonna play, I don't want to embarrass myself. I want to play well, hold my own. Realistically it's hard for me to win some of these matches against the current guys. But I just want to play well. If I can pull off a few things here and there, I'd be happy.
Q. Pete, can you talk a little bit about the relationship you've had with Marat over the years. You mentioned that you consider him a friend. I wonder who you may be still in touch with on the tour and what your relationship is with him.
PETE SAMPRAS: Well, Marat and I have always gotten along very well when we were playing. He's a really nice guy, great player, showed what he could do especially at the US Open the one year, he tuned me up pretty good. He's an expressive guy on the court, shows emotion. Off the court, he's a happy go lucky guy. I was pretty reserved when I was playing, to myself. For whatever reason, he and I seemed to get on really well. We practiced quite a bit together.
You know, he's a champion. He got to No. 1. He won a major, I think two majors. It's sad to see him go because I think he brought a lot to the sport. Haven't sort of kept in contact with him. But certainly when I see him, we'll talk about some of our matches. He's always asking me, when Paul was coaching Henman, he would ask Paul, How is Pete doing? He was always just a personable guy, really nice guy, and someone that I've always gotten along really well with.
Q. Who else on the tour now, anybody you stay in touch with?
PETE SAMPRAS: Well, you know, with this text messaging, it's easy to stay in touch without talking. Roger and I have gotten to be pretty good friends over the past couple years. I text a little bit with James Blake. I sent Andy a little email after his loss. There's some older guys. Courier I still stay in touch with, Andre every now and again. This whole technology of BlackBerry and text messaging has made it easier to stay in touch with everybody. Alex O'Brien, who lives in L.A., Justin Gimelstob, quite a few guys that I used to compete against that I stay in touch with.
Q. I listened to your comments after the Wimbledon final. I don't know if you were asked this, how much Federer's record against Nadal affects your opinion? You were widely called the greatest ever by so many different people, had a positive record against your main rival, Andre.
PETE SAMPRAS: Very good question and tough question to answer. I do understand the argument as far as being the best ever. You have to be the man of your generation. He has come up short against Nadal. I can see the point.
It's hard to answer that. I don't know how to answer it. You know, it's not done yet. Roger's career isn't done yet. He's going to play Nadal a number of times over the next number of years, and he has to beat him. He has to beat him in the finals of majors. To be considered the greatest ever, he certainly in my book is. But he has to figure this kid out. He has to beat him. He's lost to him a number of times. You know, you got to be the man of your generation. He certainly is the man of his generation; he just has to figure out Nadal.
Q. Personalize it a little bit. When you retired, if you had that type of record against Andre, had a negative record against him in the majors, would you have been satisfied, been able say I'm going away from this, I have my 14, Andre got the better of me in a lot of my great matches, but no big deal because I won the most titles anyway?
PETE SAMPRAS: It would have bothered me if I had a losing record against Andre in majors. It wouldn't have sat well with me. Did it mean I was the greatest or not the greatest? I don't know. It's the debate of greatest of all time. We so badly want to pin it on someone. With the numbers you have to give it to Roger. His record against Nadal, okay, you might not give it to him.
I mean, if I was 7 15 against Andre and I was done, it's hard to say I was the player of my generation just because he got the best of me. Like I said, the story's not over yet. We have another probably three, four years of these two guys competing against each other. If anything, I think Nadal is going to be hungrier now seeing Roger getting back to No. 1.
It's hard to give you a definitive answer when it's not done yet. I think Roger knows he's got to figure out this kid. It's a tough, tough matchup. Nadal is one of the few guys that believes in himself that he's better than Roger.
- 15/10/2009 16:37 - Agassi: I am looking forward to renewing my rivalry with Pete
- 04/08/2009 08:51 - Chatting with Pat Cash
- 23/07/2009 00:46 - Interview with Marat Safin
