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Still one of the best Despite his failures in Paris, Sampras deserves recognition
Posted: Tuesday May 30, 2000 10:58 AM
So Pete Sampras has bowed out of the French Open at the first hurdle. His Roland Garros dream over for another year. A colleague said to me, soon after his five-set exit at the hands of Mark Philippoussis , that his continued failure to shine, let alone win, at the French will count against him when it comes to talk of the greatest of all time. I wondered just how harsh a statement that was when you consider all he HAS achieved in the game, away from the French. Sampras has a record-equaling 12 Grand Slam singles titles, made up of six at Wimbledon, four at the US Open and two at the Australian Open. Will any of you bet against him beating Roy Emerson's record at Wimbledon in early July?
He's also led the United States to Davis Cup glory, most memorably in Moscow ... on clay! And the American player is also the only man in history to finish the year as world number one on six successive occasions. That demands such ridiculous consistency. Plus, Sampras did it at a time when there was great depth in the men's game.
Winning the French would have capped it all off for him. But as he's nearer 30 than 20, his best chance may already have past him by. Rod Laver won the French Open and won two Grand Slams of all four titles in one year, rightly elevating him to legendary status. His place in tennis history is assured. A handful of players, Andre Agassi included, have won each of the Grand Slams on varying surfaces throughout their careers. They, too, have a guaranteed place in tennis folklore. But at the very top -- of all time? It's a tough one, especially as it is so difficult to compare eras. So much has changed. Equipment, diet, playing schedule, money-motivation and so on. Maybe we should listen to those who really know, the players that have reached the pinnacle themselves. John McEnroe and Boris Becker , for example, have both dubbed Sampras "The Best" in their time. Laver's peers tend to lean his way. Both can offer persuasive arguments. We can make our final decisions from there. But all I would ask when it comes to the end of Sampras' career -- and that may still be a few years away -- is this: Don't let clay completely cloud the judgement. It would be so easy to dismiss his claims as the greatest of all-time because of perennial French frustration ... and thus mistakenly overlook the perennial glut of success. Phil Jones is a co-host of "World Sport," the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International.
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