A Champion's Mind - Pete Sampras

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Doc was making such a big deal out of it. They finally dragged me off to the locker room and gave me a pill that quickly helped stop the cramping, but every time I thought back to Doc Fareed’s panicked reaction, I burst out laughing again. Unfortunately, Jim lost the second rubber on Friday to Yevgeny Kafelnikov, leaving us tied at 1–1. When Tom decided that I would be playing singles, he penciled in Todd and Richey Reneberg as the doubles team. But with the score tied, Tom had second thoughts. Anytime the tie is deadlocked at 1–1 the team that wins the doubles goes into the final day of singles with a huge advantage—and much less pressure. That’s one of the beauties of Davis Cup—the importance of doubles, the game that plays second fiddle to singles at regular tournaments. Tom asked me how I felt about playing the doubles. I said, “Well, I’ve had better days . . . but yeah, why not?” So the next day, Todd and I went out and played a very solid match to take the doubles. The most valuable by-product of Gully’s shrewd move was that it took the Russians by surprise. Suddenly they were down 1–2, on the brink of elimination and, despite their home-court advantage, looking at having to beat two of the very top players in the world. That clay was the surface probably provided little comfort after what I had done on day one. I was the dominant number one player in the world, and I had taken personal control of the tie. I was first up on Sunday. I felt a little heavy-legged but I knew I was one match away from a great achievement. And I was going up against Kafelnikov, a guy I always enjoyed playing—a guy who was good, and who lorded it over a lot of guys ranked lower down, but who always admired my game. Now he had to beat me to keep his nation’s Davis Cup hopes alive. For no good reason I can name, I played a great match at the most opportune of moments. Call it fate. Call it lucking out. Call it whatever. The bottom line is that Yevgeny never had a chance. I got into the zone a little bit. Surviving that Chesnokov match had really loosened me up, made me feel anything was possible, and winning the doubles didn’t hurt. I mixed up my game against Kafelnikov. I served and volleyed a bit, stayed back some, kept him off balance by alternately going for my big shots and then hanging back, seeing what—if anything—he could bring to hurt me. I led 6–2, 6–4, and Kafelnikov’s last glimmer of hope flashed by in the third-set tiebreaker. I went up 6–4, and then served an ace right up the middle to end it. Tom rushed onto the court, and he was very, very emotional. First thing he whispered to me was, “I wish Tim could have been here to see that.” It was a touching moment and seconds later the rest of the squad engulfed us, and we let it all hang out, celebrating on the court. Andre, who had borne the load with me all year, was there to share in the joy. I really appreciated that he had sucked it up and made the trip over. He could have blown it off, especially after seeing his amazing year go down the tubes after that devastating loss to me in the U.S. Open final followed by his chest injury. It didn’t seem like it at the time, but that Davis Cup performance would become a highlight of my career and a chapter in Davis Cup lore and legend. Yet it barely made the media radar in the United States. I’m not sure there was a single American reporter in Moscow—other than the ubiquitous Bud Collins. I still can’t explain how the win came about, but I have a funny feeling that the desperate straits in which we found ourselves loosened up the team. We had nothing to lose and felt no real pressure. Our celebration carried over to the locker room after the dead fifth rubber, and that night we had a function with the usual assortment of USTA and ITF bigwigs, and the Davis Cup sponsors. And that’s a weird thing about Davis Cup. You feel this incredible camaraderie when you’re in it, and this wonderful bond with the team, the coach, even the support personnel like Doc Fareed and Bobby Russo. You win, and the best moment is in the team room or locker room, before it’s opened up to all the officials. You pop the champagne with your buddies, have a few sips, have a few laughs, and then get ready for the official banquet. After that, everyone goes his separate way. You don’t even travel together, because you’re usually headed for different places.
It’s a lot like that classic Western movie The Magnificent Seven. You’re an eclectic group of gunslingers who come together to save the town, fending off the bad guys. Then when the job is done, you all drift off down the trail. Like those gunfighters, you’re a loner. A tennis player.
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A CHAMPION’S MIND
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Introduction Chapter 1 1971-1986 Th
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A few years ago, the idea of writin
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A CHAMPION’S MIND
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cheap to build and easy to maintain
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other serious player in the family.
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specialist. Eventually, I also had
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that enabled me to use the same bas
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my training. Cha-ching, cha-ching .
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It didn’t hurt my cause that as c
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My journey to tennis stardom was a
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He had fought his way through the p
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He was courteous, and curious about
Page 31 and 32: seemed that my serve was getting st
Page 33: Andre was bouncing the ball, gettin
Page 36 and 37: The kids had a “normal” late ad
Page 38 and 39: Although I missed the Australian Op
Page 40 and 41: I know what the problem was: theore
Page 42 and 43: player in the nation. I was the ide
Page 44: had I not changed my receiving stan
Page 47 and 48: of reading between the lines, and T
Page 49 and 50: The tie worked out exactly as plann
Page 51 and 52: him to chip and charge. I would wai
Page 53: that you can’t wait to get out th
Page 56 and 57: developed on hard courts, where you
Page 58 and 59: established icon. We had a tug-of-w
Page 60 and 61: the people there laughed—somewhat
Page 62 and 63: way I also took out solid clay-cour
Page 64 and 65: danger of turning tennis into a sch
Page 66: myself, I fought like mad. The New
Page 69 and 70: inexplicably collapsed. By then Tim
Page 71 and 72: the eyes lighting up and his lips t
Page 73 and 74: After that match with Jim, I often
Page 75 and 76: more than a casual commitment), but
Page 77 and 78: the first things I did when I set u
Page 79 and 80: And I’d be thinking, How’s that
Page 81: Lyon revisited—a full-on disaster
Page 86 and 87: The Aussies have a great tennis tra
Page 88 and 89: Paul wanted me to attack relentless
Page 90 and 91: pressure and made guys very uncomfo
Page 92 and 93: was something on my mind, I would j
Page 94 and 95: who also put up some good results o
Page 96 and 97: I wasn’t very flamboyant. They we
Page 98: played to an ultimate match—not n
Page 101 and 102: eyes. I think he saw me as differen
Page 103 and 104: are and precious, and I really felt
Page 105 and 106: going an extra round or two at some
Page 107 and 108: did I ignore the potential benefits
Page 109 and 110: that sixth straight year-end number
Page 111: distraction that blunted my focus.
Page 114 and 115: intimacy (for 2009, Centre Court wi
Page 116 and 117: But over time I came to understand
Page 118 and 119: ound-robin was Andre, and he beat m
Page 120 and 121: Deep down, I felt I was going to wi
Page 122 and 123: Early in the match, Federer was ser
Page 124 and 125: me. It didn’t hurt that the short
Page 126 and 127: his forehand, I could start doing d
Page 129 and 130: Unless you’re very young in your
Page 131 and 132: a coach because he was too much of
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The assignment to Court 2 was made
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going to retire, suggest that you s
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In my last tune-up before the U.S.
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Slam final: Andre Agassi. The Andre
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As I threw my arms in the air after
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But don’t worry, I can handle it.
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I did to offset the threat represen
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YEVGENY KAFELNIKOV (11-2) . . . I l
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PATRICK RAFTER (12-4) . . . Pat was
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I would like to thank my parents, S
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of 1995, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4, re
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Junior division of, ref1 of 1991, r
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lf, ref1, ref2, ref3, ref4 omez, An
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nsdorp, Robert: forehand and ground
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tas, Albert, ref1 tomac, Md., ref1,
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ground game of, ref1, ref2, ref3, r
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afford, Grant, ref1 anford Universi
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PS’s wins at, ref1, ref2, ref3, r
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First published in Great Britain in
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A Champion's Mind - Pete Sampras

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