30 January 2024 , 08:52
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Tennis icon Pete Sampras looks completely different over two decades after hanging up his racket.
The 52-year-old retired from the game back in 2003 after a stunning career that saw him become one of the best players in the world. Sampras won 14 major Grand Slam titles during his career, with 18 final appearances in all.
His first victory came against Andre Agassi at the 1990 US Open, while he also went out on a high against the same opponent on the same stage 12 years later. Sampras also claimed the world number one ranking in 1993, a position he held for 286 weeks.
And the man who was so often Tim Henman's nemesis was recently snapped sporting a very different look on his morning coffee run. Having been clean shaven during his playing career, he now has a short, stubbly beard, while he no longer boasts the dark, curly hair he used to. Sampras’ outfit was also very different to usual.
Sampras, a seven-time Wimbledon singles champion, opened up about his decision to retire back in 2019. Speaking in his biography ‘Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited', the American said: “I had to figure out what was next with my tennis.
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"I didn’t know what to feel. I flew home the night I won the Open and just enjoyed that. Two or three months later I was talking to [coach] Paul [Annacone] about what was next and getting ready for Australia, but I was not emotionally ready.
“So I felt I would see how I felt about playing Indian Wells or Miami in 2003. I was still hitting balls but just didn’t want to do the work it took for the reward at the end. It just seemed unbalanced to me. I didn’t feel like doing the practice or the gym work.
Pete Sampras was spotted at his local Starbucks (London Entertainment / SplashNews.com)
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“Something just came out of me that I can’t really explain. The moment when I knew I was going to retire was when I was in Palm Desert watching Lleyton Hewitt play a first-round match at Wimbledon in 2003, thinking that was the last place I wanted to be. That was when I knew I was done.”
Sampras was eventually inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007. Asked how he viewed his glittering career, he added: “Being the best in the game for almost half of my career meant a lot to me.
“I did it in a certain way that was humble and it was my style. I feel I was a talented player with a big game that made guys uncomfortable. I just tried to conduct myself the way I am, in a very understated way, keeping my emotions in check and being a good role model for kids on behaviour.
“That was important to me and at the same time that is who I am. I let my racket do the talking and played big matches well and I felt that the bigger the match was, the better I am.”