A Legend with no equal. Review on Pete Sampras

''This is it. He is done'' remarked Greg Rusedski, one of the big-serve men in Tennis. He was talking about Pete Sampras. Sampras was seated a few meters away, slumped, staring at the green wimbledon turf for a long time. There was a time when a picture of Pete Sampras holding the Wimbledon trophy was a yearly event, just like the Christmas and the New Year. Not anymore. He had just lost his second round match of Wimbledon 2002 to ?.( what was his name ??) .

Sometimes, sport is very cruel. It makes great achievers look like ordinary men. It shows no regard for history. It punishes a mediocre performance mercilessly, even if it is from someone who has had no parallels in the history of the game ? just like Pete Sampras was punished on that sunny afternoon at Wimbledon 2002 by a qualifier named George Bastl.

After the humiliating loss, a lot of analysts were quick to write Sampras off. He had not won a grand slam for two years and his age was on the wrong side of thirty ? sufficient for any average individual to conclude that Sampras is finished.

It was no wonder that an ordinary tennis player (most British tennis players are ordinary, in fact) like Rusedski , who thought like many others,got it all wrong. Simply because, Sampras is too far away from ordinary. When he plays Tennis, Sampras plays in a zone that is far beyond the comprehension of ordinary players.

Unlike other players, there is hardly any difference between the first and second serves. His serves zipped past the opponents like bullets. His volleys are impeccable. He moved across the court with the swiftness of a cheetah. He combined speed with precision when it came to shot selection. Sometimes, like in the Wimbledon final 1999, his game made even great players like Agassi look like a novice. As Agassi himself admitted, when Sampras plays at his 100 %, ?Pete walks on water?.

Much to the confusion and bewilderment of all the ordinary men who predicted his doom, Sampras rose from the ashes to win a grand slam for the fourteenth time in his career defeating Agassi, another legend of tennis, in the 2002 US Open final. The great man took a bow from the game at the very place where he won his first grand slam twelve years ago. The ironical part is that his opponent was Andre Agassi in the 1990 US open final as well.

14 grand slams is not something you associate with an ordinary player . Agassi, the man who comes next in the number of grand slams among Sampras ?contemporaries, has won exactly half that number. Add the grand slam titles of Rafter, Safin, Hewitt and Roger Fedrer and finally, they all together equal Sampras? tally of grand slams .

His critics are quick to point out that he never won the French open. While it is true that he never won the French open, there are bigger facts which establish what a champion he is. He finished at the No 1 spot seven times in ten years. His prize money is more than 40 million USD. He won the Wimbledon seven times between 1993 and 2000. Perhaps, the feeling of having achieved everything he wanted created a void in Sampras. Nobody could challenge him.

Noone was his equal and the closest rival was half way behind. Sampras had something to prove only to himself. And he did that too, in his own extraordinary style, at the flushing meadows in 2002. But, the single best trait of Pete Sampras is that despite his tall achievements, he never let his emotions overpower him in the court. His on-court behaviour, like his game, set very high standards and he was a true brand ambassador for Tennis.

A lot of players derive their identity and value from the game they play. But, very few of them probe the limits of the game and redefine them. Unlike the ?ordinary?, who only gain from the game, these players give the game a new identity and dimension. Sampras is clearly one such player.

If anyone doubts that, all they need to do is to start counting the number of years till the next player wins 14 grand slams. I can assure it will take a long long time. Even if that unlikely event happens, Sampras will have a special name in the history of the game, simply because he redefined the way tennis is played.