Pete Sampras was annoyingly good at tennis, dominating the sport in the nineties with a glut of Grand Slam victories.
The American was the best player in the world for a number of years.
Whilst Stephen Hendry was dominating snooker and Manchester United had a stranglehold on the Premier League, Sampras was busy collecting Grand Slam titles at regular intervals.
When sports stars dominate, they can become unpopular. The beauty of sport is intrigue and competition and at times it felt like nobody could touch Sampras.
Sampras won two Grand Slam titles in the noughties with his final big crown coming at the US Open in 2002.
After an epic third-round battle with Greg Rusedski, the Great Britain star had some brutal comments on Sampras – that didn’t prove correct at all.
Greg Rusedski made brutal Pete Sampras comments after 2002 US Open defeat
It’s never easy to hold a press conference when you’ve just experienced a painful defeat.
However, sports stars have media obligations and as a result, they can sometimes throw up some intriguing comments.
Rusedski was clearly unimpressed with Sampras after losing to him in five sets at Flushing Meadows in 2002.
He was asked in his press conference afterwards whether he fancied Sampras would win the event and his response was pretty epic.
He said: “He was there for the taking. I mean, he’s not playing that great. I don’t feel – I’d be surprised if he wins his next match against Haas. To be honest with you, I’d be very surprised. I think, you know, like I said, I lost the match rather than he won the match.
“The first set was very important, 5-3. I should have closed that out. Then in the tie-breaker, double-faulting tiwce, you can’t spot someone four nothing in a tie-breaker, with Sampras’ serve, expect to win that last set.
“I got it going in the second, because I returned well, got two breaks, I wasn’t serving particularly well. Third set, didn’t go after it at all in the tiebreaker again. Finally showed him a little less respect,and finally won the fourth set. The fifth set, anything can happen. He played a good game at 4-5.
“I just think the way he’s playing, to be honest with you. I don’t see it with him. If I look at the section, I’d say Haas is playing really well, Roddick is playing really well, Hewitt and Agassi are the four gius I like at this tournament right now. Obviously, I’m extremely disappointed.
“I wouldn’t be putting any money on Sampras to win, let’s put it like that. The four I mentioned are playing very, very well.”
Sampras made Rusedski eat his words
After overcoming a gruelling five-set match with Rusedski, Sampras kicked on and capped off his career with a stunning victory.
The 2002 US Open was the last Grand Slam that Sampras laid claim to and given the words of Rusedski, he might have viewed it as one of his best.
Sampras beat Tommy Haas in four sets in the fourth round before despatching Roddick, Sjeng Schalken and Agassi in the final.
By 2002, everyone was probably sick of Sampras winning everything constantly and clearly, Rusedski was sick to death with his loss at Flushing Meadows.
Although his serial success did prove annoying at times, it’s hard to deny Sampras his legacy as one of the greats and he was a credit to tennis across a glittering career.
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