On July 9, 2000, tennis player Pete Sampras wins his
thirteenth Grand Slam tennis title at Wimbledon.
Sampras debuted on the
professional tour in 1988 and played his last top-level tournament in 2002 when
he won the US Open, defeating rival Andre Agassi in the final.
His seven Wimbledon
singles championships is an Open Era record shared with Roger
Federer, while Sampras' five US
Open singles titles is an Open Era record shared with both Federer and former
World No. 1 player Jimmy Connors.
Sampras is the last
American male to win Wimbledon (2000) and the ATP World Tour Finals (1999).
Over his 15-year career
Sampras totaled 762 wins and 222 losses for a 77.43 winning percentage, with 64
career titles. His highest ranking came at No. 1 on April 12, 1993.
In the Grand Slam,
Sampras was the Australian Open in 1994 and 1997, Wimbledon seven times
including four consecutive times from 1997-2000. He was on the US Open five
times including back-to-back wins in 1995 and 1996.
Sampras also won the
Tour Finals five times, including back-to-back wins in 1996-1997.
The best Sampras ever
finished in singles at the French Open was in the semi-finals in 1996. He also
made it to the third round of competition in the 1992 Olympic games.
In Doubles Sampras was
not as impressive but still won two career titles, with 64 wins and 70 losses.
His highest ranking as a duo came in 1990 when he and Jim
Courier reached No. 27 overall on February 12, 1990.
The two
titles Sampras won in doubles competition both came at the Davis Cup in 1992
and 1995, but he was never able to pair that success in the Grand Slam only
making it to the first round in the US Open from 1988-1990, the second round of
the Australian Open and French Open in 1989 and the third round of Wimbledon in
1989.
Since his
retirement Sampras has played in many matches, with his first coming on April 6, 2006, three and a half years
after his retirement. Sampras resurfaced in River Oaks, Houston,
Texas, against 23-year-old Robby
Ginepri. Ginepri won the match
in two sets. Sampras later announced that he would be playing in World Team
Tennis events.
The year 2007 saw
Sampras become a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. It also saw
Sampras announce that he would play in a few events on the Outback Champions Series,
a group of tournaments for former ATP players who have met certain criteria
during their careers. Sampras won his first two events on tour, defeating Todd Martin in both finals.
On November 20, 2007,
Sampras lost the first of three exhibition matches in Asia against Roger
Federer in Seoul, Korea. Two
days later in Kuala Lumpur, Sampras again lost to Federer in two tiebreaks.
However, Sampras was able to win the last match of the series, winning in two
sets on fast carpet.
On February 18, 2008, in
an exhibition match during the SAP Open at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. Sampras
defeated another active player, former world No. 2 Tommy Haas. Sampras dispatched the German in 43-minutes.
On March 10, 2008,
Sampras played another exhibition match against world No. 1 Roger Federer
at Madison Square Garden in
New York City. Sampras once again lost the match in three tight sets.
In 2009 Sampras won two
Outback Champions Series titles. He defeated McEnroe in the final of the
Champions Cup Boston in February and Patrick
Rafter in the final of The Del
Mar Development Champions Cup in March.
In 2010 with Roger
Federer, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal, he played an exhibition doubles match at Indian
Wells to raise money for the people of Haiti who had been affected by the earthquake.
On November 17, 2011,
Sampras played and lost an exhibition match against Milos Raonic. This was the last match that Sampras had played
in.
For his career Sampras
still ranks as the fourth highest money winner in tennis history, with a total
of $43,280,489 of prize money won.
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