United States Pete Sampras won his last Grand Slam in 2002. More than two decades later, whenever someone wants to describe what serving under pressure is supposed to look like, his name still comes up first. That kind of staying power in the conversation says something about the scale of what he did, and about how he did it: quietly, efficiently and, on the biggest days, almost unbeatably.
Early Life
Sampras was born on August 12, 1971, in Washington, D.C., the son of Greek immigrant parents, and the family moved to Southern California when he was a boy. As a teenager he made a decision that shaped his whole career: on the advice of his coaches, he switched from a two-handed to a one-handed backhand and rebuilt his game around attacking tennis. It cost him results in the short term. In the long term it produced one of the most complete attacking players the sport has ever seen.
He turned pro in 1988, and two years later, at 19, he won the 1990 US Open, beating Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Andre Agassi along the way. He is still the youngest man ever to win the US Open singles title.
14 Grand Slams on Grass and Hard Courts
The final tally: 14 Grand Slam singles titles, a men's record when he retired.
- Wimbledon (7): 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000
- US Open (5): 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996 and 2002
- Australian Open (2): 1994 and 1997
He never won Roland Garros. His best result in Paris was a semi-final in 1996, and the slow red clay blunted the serve-and-volley game that made him so dangerous everywhere else. On grass and hard courts, though, a healthy, focused Sampras was the most feared player in the world.
When he won his 13th major at Wimbledon in 2000, he broke Roy Emerson's long-standing men's record of 12. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have since gone far beyond 14, but when Sampras retired, many people genuinely believed his record might stand for a generation.
Six Years at the Top
Sampras finished as year-end world No. 1 for six consecutive years, from 1993 to 1998, a record that has still not been beaten, and he spent 286 weeks at No. 1 in total. He won 64 ATP singles titles, finished with a career record of 762–222 and earned US$43,280,489 in official prize money.
If you want to understand what it takes to hold the top spot for that long, our guide to how ATP ranking points work explains the system.
The Serve and the Game
At 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in), Sampras was not especially tall by modern standards, yet his serve is still regarded as one of the best ever. The secret was not raw speed. It was disguise: the same smooth toss and motion for every serve, which made it almost impossible to read whether the ball was going wide, into the body or down the T. His second serve was just as remarkable, hit with a pace and precision that most players would not risk.
Behind the serve he had a thunderous running forehand, excellent volleys, a reliable slice backhand and a famous "slam dunk" overhead. He could play from the baseline when he needed to, but his instinct was always to attack, get to the net and end the point.
He did all of this with the classic Wilson Pro Staff 85, a small-headed, heavy racquet that demanded perfect timing, and he stayed loyal to it for his entire career.
The Matches That Defined Him
Sampras was built for best-of-five-set tennis. His engine held up late in long matches, and he produced some of his best tennis when he was under the most pressure.
- 1995 Australian Open quarter-final vs Jim Courier. His coach and friend Tim Gullikson had collapsed during the tournament and would later be diagnosed with brain cancer. During the match, a fan shouted encouragement, and Sampras broke down in tears between points. He still won in five sets.
- 1996 US Open quarter-final vs Àlex Corretja. Sick and dehydrated, Sampras vomited on court in the fifth-set tiebreak and still found a way to win. He went on to take the title, a few months after Gullikson's death.
- 2000 Wimbledon final vs Pat Rafter. Playing through a painful shin injury, he came from a set down to win in near darkness on Centre Court, claiming his seventh Wimbledon title and his record 13th major, with his parents watching.
- 2002 US Open final vs Andre Agassi. After two years without a title and plenty of talk that he was finished, the 31-year-old Sampras, seeded 17th, beat his great rival in four sets. It was the last match he ever played.
He also delivered for his country, winning the Davis Cup in 1992 and 1995. The 1995 final in Moscow, where he won both his singles and the doubles on clay, is one of the great individual performances in the competition's history.
The Rivalry With Agassi
Every great champion needs a great rival, and Sampras had Andre Agassi. They were opposites in almost every way: Agassi the flamboyant baseliner with the best return in the game, Sampras the understated attacker with the best serve. They met in five Grand Slam finals, and Sampras won four of them, including their first, at the 1990 US Open, and their last, at the 2002 US Open. Their 2001 US Open quarter-final, in which no one lost serve and Sampras won in four tiebreak sets, is still talked about as one of the greatest matches ever played in New York.
Retirement and Life Since
Sampras never played another professional match after beating Agassi in the 2002 final. He officially announced his retirement in August 2003, having gone out in the most perfect way possible: by winning the last Grand Slam he ever entered.
He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007. That same era brought a short-lived return to exhibition tennis, including high-profile matches against Roger Federer in 2007 and 2008, and in 2008 he published a memoir, A Champion's Mind.
Since then he has lived a deliberately private life in Southern California with his wife, actress Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, whom he married in 2000, and their two sons, Christian and Ryan. In 2023 he revealed that Bridgette had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer and asked for privacy for the family while she went through treatment. He also has beta-thalassemia minor, a mild genetic blood condition that he managed quietly throughout his playing career.
Sampras rarely does interviews or public appearances, which is why it caught fans' attention when he popped up at the 2026 US Open as the voice of a TV commercial for one of the tournament's sponsors.
What He Left Behind
Sampras changed what people expected from a serve. He proved that an attacking, serve-and-volley game could dominate the sport for most of a decade on grass and hard courts. He set a standard for performing on the biggest occasions, and he left the game with 14 Grand Slam trophies and a farewell that almost no champion has ever matched.
Quick Facts
- Born: August 12, 1971, in Washington, D.C. (age 55)
- Country: United States
- Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
- Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
- Grand Slam singles titles: 14 (7 Wimbledon, 5 US Open, 2 Australian Open)
- ATP titles: 64
- Career record: 762–222
- Weeks at No. 1: 286; year-end No. 1 1993–1998
- Prize money: $43,280,489
- Davis Cup: Champion 1992 and 1995
- Last match: 2002 US Open final (won)
- Hall of Fame: Inducted 2007