By MaliVai Washington, ESPN.com
Sunday, June 29, 2003
There's literally nothing more in Pete Sampras's career for him to prove. To think that Pete Sampras has close to twice as many majors -- and in some cases three times as many -- as some of the greatest players of all time, such as Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, John McEnroe, Mats Wilander and Andre Agassi is astounding. What more does a player have to do to be considered the greatest?
Lack of a French Open title makes no difference to me. The fact that Pete has been able to be the premier tennis player of the last decade and to sustain his level of play as the No. 1 player for six consecutive years is a tribute to not only his natural ability but also to his work ethic, his desire to win, and his single-minded drive to perfection.
I sometimes sense that tennis fans and the world audience don't really grasp what Pete Sampras has accomplished. As great as Tiger Woods is, Pete Sampras' career right now dwarfs Tiger's accomplishments.
Pete's impact on the game of tennis will be felt for decades and 100 years from now people will be looking back through the record books in awe at his accomplishments. The impact he's had on the game has spanned generations from those who watched him win his first major to those young kids who are just now hearing who Pete Sampras is as they get their careers under way. Pete Sampras brought an effortless precision to the court that bordered on ballet. We will never see a player do what he's done in this lifetime.
It's funny to think back that at one point we were roommates as junior players and I competed on the same level as he did as a professional and at the time not knowing that I was competing against the man who would go on to be the greatest of all time.