Pete Sampras is secure in his net worth
KURT STREETER
The tennis great retired on top after his record 14th Grand Slam title and has no intention of coming back -- even though he can still play, as our writer learned firsthand.
The great champion -- young enough to play the grandest stage again, wise enough not to try -- lined up that classic forehand of his, turned his shoulders and let loose.
WHOP!
I sent back a meager forehand and glanced up. Sure enough, Pete Sampras, stealthy and smooth, had already intercepted my reply with one of his own: a frozen-rope backhand volley winner that nearly tore out a chunk of the asphalt court.
"Always loved that shot!" he said, grinning broadly.
In terms of tennis, we don't exist in the same universe. Period. But Sampras was kind enough to throw me a bone. "A writer who can play?" he said, laughing as he watched me run side-to-side like a mouse being tortured by a wily cat. "Never seen that before."
It's good to see Pete Sampras smile and laugh.
Good to see, six years removed from leaving us after a final U.S. Open win, the Palos Verdes-bred champion emerge from the protective shell he constructed during his long years atop the tennis world.
The 36-year-old Sampras -- still bushy haired and fit, living now within the gated grounds at Sherwood Country Club with his actress wife and two kids -- admits to finally being comfortable with reminiscing about his past. Comfortable, more than ever, in his own skin. Thus we have an autobiography, the recently published "A Champion's Mind: Lessons From a Life in Tennis," which won't win any literary prizes but does offer an inside view of the sacrifice and struggle it took to be one of the greats.
Moreover, after several years shying away from tennis, he's returned to the court -- albeit in a much less stressful way. You'll find him playing a few seniors events, that old, hangman's look of his replaced by a lighter one. Earlier this year, he even played Roger Federer in a series of four exhibitions. These were sometimes serious, sometimes casual affairs. But when Sampras won the third match and barely lost the last one, played before a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden, it was quite clear he's still got some magic left.
I learned that for myself a few days ago at the Sherwood Club in Thousand Oaks. Sampras was kind enough to host me, a onetime wannabe tennis pro who never amounted to much, for a little practice and a chat.
Trust me, the dude can still play. I'm still working my body out of the pretzel it formed trying to draw a bead on his game. That's what happens when a 14-time Grand Slam winner plays a guy who pocketed $700 for twice winning the Seattle City Open.
