Pete Sampras is one of the best players to have ever played the sport of tennis, and he collected 14 major titles during his career.
Sampras won his first major in 1990 when he lifted the US Open title, with his final Grand Slam title coming in 2002 at the same event.
The player dominated tennis and enjoyed a brilliant rivalry with Andre Agassi, with many believing his total of 14 majors would never be beaten before the Big Three came along.
Sampras was a serve machine during his peak, and although he won a number of titles across his career, Pat Rafter famously claimed why he didn’t win even more.
What stopped Pete Sampras from winning more major titles according to Pat Rafter
In 2018, Rafter sat down with The Thread and on their YouTube channel, he basically delivered his verdict on Sampras.
He was quizzed on why he didn’t beat the top players more often in his prime and also delivered a verdict on why he felt Sampras didn’t win more than 14 majors.
Rafter said: “I still had success against those guys. I was handy, but I was consistent enough against those guys. I lost to players who wouldn’t lose to either. It wasn’t that I didn’t try, it was just that sometimes I had bad days. I always felt like I wasn’t as talented as some other people, so what I did do was train hard and work hard, and that will get you so far with a certain amount of talent, you can get to the very top.
“With Sampras, I don’t think he was a very hard trainer. I think if he’d have worked even harder, he would have been even better.”
Rafter managed just the two major titles and lost in two Wimbledon finals, sitting as the world number one for a short period in 1999.
Sampras denied Rafter hat-trick of Grand Slam titles
One of Rafter’s toughest losses of his career came to Sampras when he was denied a maiden Wimbledon title in 2000.
After taking the first set, the Australian looked on course to end his wait for a third major and a first Wimbledon crown, but Sampras was allowed a foothold.
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Rafter lost and got another chance to win at the All England Club the following year, losing to Goran Ivanisevic, who stunned the tennis world to lift the trophy as a qualifier.
Rafter was a solid player during his career and perhaps in an era that wasn’t dominated by Sampras, he would have claimed more major titles.
Clearly, there is something that suggests Rafter and Sampras weren’t the best buddies on tour and this claim from Rafter appears to highlight that.
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