Pete Sampras

Pete Sampras was born August 12^th ,1971 in Washington D.C. He is the son of Greek immigrants and he has got one brother and two sisters.

Already as a youngster he started playing tennis against walls.

In the summer of 1978 Pete and his family went to Palos Verdes, a suburb of Los Angeles, where his father got a new job in the aerospace industry. There Pete became more and more involved on the game of tennis and he joined the Peninsula Raquet Club. Pete was a big tennis prodigy and 1988 he was getting noticed on the tennis tour as a 16-year old qualifier.

His game was called dangerous because he has an aggressive serve and a very good volley.

He needed two years to reach the top ten of the ATP and by the way he defeated tennis legends like Agassi, Lendl or McEnroe.

1990, at the age of 19, Pete has won his first Grand Slam - the U.S. Open as the youngest tennis player of the  world. He scored over 100 aces in this tournament.

1993 he made a new record by slamming 1000 aces in a single season. This record helped him to win Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and after that the Australian Open in 1994.

Between 1994 and Wimbledon 1999 Pete Sampras was 240 weeks the Number One of the world and he has won more than 60 titles. At Wimbledon 1999 he has won the final against Andre Agassi. That was a new record because he has won his 12^th Grand- Slam championship and that has tied the record of Roy Emerson from 1964. However, in spite of losing against Sampras, Andre Agassi became the new leader of the tennis circuit caused by the difficult circuit regulations.

2000 he celebrated his 7^th Wimbledon championship. This is, for the time being, his last title. In his carreer he has won over 40 millions dollars and now he is one of the most famous and best tennis players ever.