Pete Sampras ascends the Everest of tennis

By Nirmal Shekar

LONDON, JULY 10. At three minutes to nine on Sunday evening, as night was licking its lips in anticipation before eating up what was left of the day for a sumptuous supper, in silver-grey rather than golden twilight, one of the truly extraordinary sportsmen of this or any era raised his arms skyward in a familiar gesture on the centre court at Wimbledon.

Mark that moment - 8.57 p.m. to be exact, three minutes before 1.30 a.m. on Monday morning in India - for you'd find few like it in the entire history of organised sport. And, those of us privileged enough to have been a part of it on tennis' greatest stage, will perhaps find nothing to match it in the rest of our lives.

It was a historic moment when all arguments ceased, a moment that answered one big question and many small questions, a moment that put an end to all comparisons.

Step forward Mr. Pete Sampras, wet eyes notwithstanding...the greatest of 'em all!

Argue if it pleases you, but the moment Pat Rafter failed to direct a Sampras serve back into the court in the men's singles final of the millennium championship in gathering gloom, arguments and comparisons became meaningless.

A magnificent seven it was for Sampras at Wimbledon and it saw him leave Roy Emerson behind and move into an orbit of his own as the most successful Grand Slam singles champion in history with 13 titles in 11 years. And the man is all of 28 years old with no inclination at all to leave the sport in a hurry!

Surely, the 6-7(10), 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2 victory over Rafter, completed almost six hours after the players first stepped out on the court on a rain-hit Sunday, was the most emotional triumph of Peerless Pete's marvellous career.

Playing in front of his parents, Sam and Georgia, for the first time at Wimbledon - he climbed over the barricades and went up to hug his parents after the victory - Sampras, teetering on the very brink at 1-4 in the second set tiebreak, authored a spectacular turnaround that not only stunned his Australian rival but saw the great man take a giant leap to position himself at the head of the list of tennis' all-time greats.

It was the sort of moment that'd move grown men to tears. And many a drop was shed in the gloaming - not only by the great man and his parents. For, it was piece of sporting history that would rate among the rarest of rare.

I was there on that evening - this is something that each one of the 13,000-odd fans at the cathedral of tennis would proudly say, as long as they live.

Unforgettable moment

For the sheer weight of history that rode piggy-back on that unforgettable moment, it must rank alongside some of the greatest in sport - with the moment that saw Muhammad Ali knock out George Foreman in Zaire in 1974, with the glorious hour of Pele's men winning their third World Cup in Mexico in 1970, the moments when Jesse Owens made a mockery of Adolf Hitler's fascist ambitions at the Berlin Olympics in 1936...there are not too many, really.

``It hasn't hit me yet. It won't for months. I am still spinning a little bit,'' said Sampras.

The same might be true for us too. For, it was the sort of achievement whose enormity cannot be grasped immediately. Not even on the morrow. Not even the next year. Several decades down the line, when some other great player gets halfway or three quarters of the way to Sampras' Wimbledon and other records, we'll get the true measure of the man's greatness.

Seven Wimbledon titles in eight years and 13 overall in 11 seasons, six of which he finished as No. 1 in the most competitive era in the sport are records that may never be broken. And to think that Wimbledon 2000 was but another stop and not really the destination for the greatest summiteer in modern sport!

The historic significance of the victory apart, the seventh title was very, very special for Sampras because he fought a two-week battle with his own body - especially the sore left shin - and came up with his head high.

``It was emotional for a number of reasons,'' said Sampras. ``I was sore. But I had to do what I had to do. It is part of being an athlete. You have to play through situations.''

Sampras may very well have thrown in the towel and departed if this was any other tournament. His left leg was in bad shape mid- way through the first week and did not respond to treatment as well as he might have hoped it would. But it is not at all easy to nudge him out of this championship - for whatever reason - before the second Sunday, and without the replica of the trophy that matters, the Challenge Cup, in his bag.

So far, in eight years, six different men have tried to stop him in seven finals, starting with Jim Courier in 1993. Nobody has succeeded. And only one, Goran Ivanisevic in 1998, managed to take Sampras to five sets.

``Against a great champion like Pete, you have to take your chances. I had mine and I didn't take them. I got a bit nervous,'' said Rafter, who was playing in his first ever Wimbledon final.

The chances Rafter was talking about were the ones he had when he was ahead 4-1 (with two mini-breaks) in the second set tiebreaker. There, the handsome Australian lost two service points, the second on a double fault.

But, surprisingly enough, Rafter was not the only nervous one on court. Sampras, caught in the cusp of surpassing history, was himself a touch uptight now and again, not the least when he sent down the two double faults that cost him the first set in the tiebreak.

``I was quite tight at times throughout the match. Obviously there were a lot of nerves out there. He was feeling it too. I lost my nerve in the first set. He lost his in the second. No matter how many times you've been in a Wimbledon final, you are still going to feel the pressure,'' said Sampras.

Looking back, as a great contest the match was over and done with once Rafter lost five points in a row from 4-1 in the second set tiebreak. Now the juices were flowing and the great man was on an adrenalin-high, breaking Rafter's serve for the first time - Sampras himself never once lost serve in the match - in the fifth game of the third set and then sailing serenely into Immortality Harbour, so to say, in semi-darkness.

It is amazing how the great man raises his game when it comes to a Wimbledon final. Even when he is physically less than 100 per cent, Sampras seems to have the rare capacity to move into a gear that none of his opponents appear to be aware of. Believe it or not, in seven finals here, Sampras has played 147 service games and has lost a mere four. If ever there was a record that is unbreakable, this is it.

``Pete, in my eyes, goes down as the greatest player ever,'' said Rafter. ``I think probably his last big challenge is the French Open. We all know he can play well on clay. He is a potential winner.''

So, for the game's greatest missionary, the march continues. Wimbledon 2000, for all its historic significance, was no more than a coma, or perhaps a semi-colon, not a full stop, really.

Sampras' career records:

Grand Slam singles titles: 13 (Emerson-12; Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver - 11).

Wimbledon titles: 7 (same as William Renshaw, who won seven in the 1880s when there were perhaps 100 lawn tennis players in the whole world, which, of course, means Great Britain, and had to play only one match, the Challenge Round, to retain the trophy).

Most number of years as year-end No. 1: 6.

Most weeks as No. 1: 276.

Any more debates, ladies and gentlemen? You must be kidding!

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Indian men earn semifinal date with Pakistan
Next     : Williams sisters triumph