Nonetheless, Sampras had a solid showing in Barcelona, advancing to the third round before giving up a two-set lead and losing to Andrei Cherkasov of Russia.

( In 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997, Sampras had dominated the ATP tour.

Sampras's ranking was hurt through a combination of withdrawing from the Australian and US Opens, tournaments in which he had strong performances during the previous year, and the resurgence of longtime rival Andre Agassi, putting an end to Sampras ' six consecutive years of finishing as the world number 1.

Greg Rusedski, whom Sampras had defeated in a long five-set third round match at the US Open, said that Sampras was " a step and a half slower " and predicted that Sampras would lose his next match.

Agassi was favored because he was ranked world number 4, compared to the world number 12 ranking of Sampras and because Agassi had defeated Sampras in their only previously completed match.

For both, it was considered a career rejuvenation, as Sampras had suffered a string of disappointments in the last year while Agassi was regaining his status as a top-ranked player after winning the French Open.

Sampras had defeated world number 3 Tommy Haas in the fourth round and future world number 1 Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, while Agassi had defeated world number 1 and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals.

In 1998, after Rafter defeated Sampras in the Cincinnati Masters final, Sampras, at the time winner of 11 Grand Slams, when asked about the difference between himself and Rafter, famously stated " Ten grand slams ", that a controversial line-call cost him the match, and that a player had to come back and win another Grand Slam title in order to be considered great.

Many observers noted that despite his lengthy layoff from competitive tournaments, Sampras still possessed many of the previous skills he had displayed while on the ATP tour, with tennis legend John McEnroe going as far as to say that Sampras would be worthy of a top five seeding at Wimbledon were he to enter the tournament.

In November 2010 Sampras reported that many of his trophies and other memorabilia had been stolen from a West Los Angeles public storage facility.

The clear favourite was Pete Sampras, who had won the title for the past three consecutive years.

He won two hard-court titles, including the Lipton International Players Championships, the same tournament where his career had nearly ended just eight years earlier — by defeating Sergi Bruguera in the final, after Bruguera had defeated Pete Sampras in the semifinals.

Edberg did not possess a powerful dominating serve like Pete Sampras or Boris Becker but still had a very effective serve.

Blanco had two high profile wins in majors, beating former 2-time US Open Champion, Patrick Rafter, in the first round of the 2000 US Open, and in beating Pete Sampras in the second round of the 2001 French Open.

In order to finish the year as the world No. 1 player, Kuerten did what many critics had deemed impossible ( for him to do ): beat Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in back-to-back matches on an indoor hard court.

In Chile, thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate the triumph of the first Chilean to reach the sport's number one ranking, grabbing the position from Pete Sampras ( who had maintained 102 consecutive weeks at number one, and 5 years ending the season as the leader ).

They had major success with the Micro Machines series and Pete Sampras Tennis on the Sega Mega Drive.

And despite his relatively advanced age, his win-loss percentage during the open era was around 80 % for singles, which places him seventh on the open era list behind Björn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Roger Federer but ahead of Pete Sampras.

Sampras played seven consecutive weeks during the North American summer hard-court season.

Sampras lost a five-set US Open semifinal to the eventual winner Patrick Rafter, after leading the match two sets to one.

He lost in the finals of the 2000 and 2001 US Open to Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt, respectively, leading many to speculate that Sampras would never capture another major title.

The tournament takes place and in the stands are leading tennis professionals Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams.

Sampras ’ s serve approached 200 km / h throughout the night, whereas Raonic regularly topped that mark and reached speeds up to 222 km / h.

Forget teamed up with Henri Leconte to win the doubles rubber, and then won the decisive singles rubber against Pete Sampras as France shocked the heavily favoured US team to win 3 – 1.

Lundgren while managing to have some big wins over Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Michael Chang, Jim Courier, Thomas Muster and Pete Sampras, was not able to achieve consistency and he said himself that " I was a little up and down.

Sampras debuted on the professional tour in 1988 and played his last top-level tournament in 2002 when he won the US Open, defeating rival Andre Agassi in the final.

His seven Wimbledon singles championships is an Open Era record shared with Roger Federer, while Sampras ' five US Open singles titles is an Open Era record shared with both Federer and former World No. 1 player Jimmy Connors.

In his first Grand Slam singles match, Sampras lost to world number 69 Jaime Yzaga of Peru in the first round of the US Open.

At the US Open, Sampras defeated defending champion and fifth-seeded Mats Wilander in the second round before losing to world number 13 Jay Berger in the fourth round.

Sampras beat Agassi in straight sets to become the US Open's youngest-ever male singles champion at the age of 19 years and 28 days.

Upon entering the US Open as the defending champion that year, he caused controversy when, after losing in the quarterfinals to Jim Courier, Sampras said that he was not disappointed and felt relieved that the pressure to defend his title was no longer on him.

In 1992, Sampras reached the first round of the French Open for the first of three consecutive years, made it to the Wimbledon semifinals, and was the runner-up at the US Open to Stefan Edberg.

Sampras later stated that his loss in the US Open final that year was a " wake-up call " and that he needed to figure out how to become the world number 1.

After a four-set battle between the two veterans, Sampras claimed a then-record 14th Grand Slam singles title and matched Jimmy Connors's record of five US Open singles championships.

With both Sampras and Agassi participating, the U. S. won the Davis Cup in 1995. Notable Sampras-Agassi matches of 1995 included the finals of the Australian Open, the Newsweek Champions Cup, the Lipton International Players Championships, the Canadian Open, and the US Open, with Sampras winning the Newsweek Champions Cup and the US Open.

Sampras forfeited the world number 1 ranking to Agassi when injury forced Sampras to withdraw from that year's US Open.

In arguably their most memorable match, Sampras defeated Agassi in the 2001 US Open quarterfinals 6 – 7, 7 – 6, 7 – 6, 7 – 6.

Their rivalry began to truly develop after Rafter shocked the tennis world by winning the 1997 US Open, a tournament that many expected Sampras to win, having won in 1995 and 1996.

For his part, Sampras said about Rafter, " When I see him holding the US Open trophy, it pisses me off.

Sampras finished 1990 at world number 5, having started the year ranked world number 61 just prior to the start of the Australian Open.

At the Australian Open, Sampras upset twelfth-ranked Mayotte in the first round before losing to thirteenth-ranked Yannick Noah in the fourth round in four sets.

Sampras did not play the French Open and again lost in the first round of Wimbledon, this time to Christo van Rensburg.

Sampras reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in early 1993 losing again to Stefan Edberg and matched the previous year's quarterfinal performance at the French Open.

Sampras won the first of his two Australian Open titles in 1994, defeating American Todd Martin in the final.

Sampras won his second and final Australian Open title in January, defeating Carlos Moyà in the final.

) Sampras failed to defend his Australian Open title, losing in the quarterfinals to Karol Kučera, and won Wimbledon only after a hard-fought five-set victory over Goran Ivanišević.

1999 also started out disappointingly, as Sampras withdrew from the Australian Open and failed to win a title during the early part of the season.

Sampras reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in early 2000 ( falling to the eventual champion Agassi in a five-set match ) and won the Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida for the third time in March.