Sampras reaches immortality in historic 1998

MIKE FIALA/NEWSMAKERS Pete Sampras clinched the No. 1 spot this year, staking claim for the title of best male tennis player ever.

Nineteen ninety-eight was a historic year for professional tennis. It witnessed the rise of future stars, the resurgence of old champions, and a level of competitiveness unprecedented in the history of the sport. At the same time, it may have foreshadowed things to come in the next decade: the reign of Lindsay Davenport, the domination of the Williams sisters, and a rivalry between Marcelo Rios and Patrick Rafter. It also left us with one very important question that has fascinated many for the past few years: is Pete Sampras the best player ever?

Sampras' competitors have long ceased to be his contemporaries. As he has repeatedly said, he plays for his place in history. We have become so used to Sampras making history that we often overlook the significance of his accomplishments. When Marcelo Rios withdrew from the ATP Championships in Hannover, Germany a week ago, Sampras surpassed Jimmy Connors' previous record and became the only player to have finished six consecutive seasons with the No. 1 ranking. He has held the top ranking for more than 260 weeks and has remained in the top two since 1993. He has won more Grand Slam titles than Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang, and Patrick Rafter combined. With 11 Slam titles--including five at Wimbledon and four at the U.S. Open--under his belt, he is only one short of Australian Roy Emerson's all-time record of 12 Grand Slam singles titles. At the age of 27, Sampras has at least three or four more years left in his tennis career. It is only a matter of time before he will break the Slam record.

We have to look back three decades to find a player who can contend with Sampras for the title of the best player ever. Rod Laver, the legendary Australian player who dominated men's tennis during the '60s, was often mentioned as the best player in history before Sampras came along. "The Rocket," as he was affectionately called by his fellow players for his powerful serve and forehand, also has 11 Grand Slam titles to his credit. While Sampras has never won the French Open, Laver triumphed on the red clay of Roland Garros twice. In addition, he is the only player to have accomplished the Grand Slam--winning all four major championships in the same calendar year--twice in his career. Based on this feat, many argue that Laver has a more legitimate claim than Sampras to be the best player in history.

Although Sampras has never won the French Open, we have to remember that professional tennis is much more competitive in the '90s than it was in the '60s. In Laver's time, the early rounds of Grand Slam tournaments were nothing more than practice matches for the top players since only a handful of players were good enough to be a consistent threat to this elite group. Professional tennis has become so competitive in the last 30 years that a top player can now lose to the 100th-ranked player on any given day. Even Sampras has suffered seven early-round losses in Grand Slam tournaments in the last six years.

When Laver won his two Grand Slams in the '60s, the four Grand Slam tournaments were played on only two surfaces: clay at Roland Garros and grass at the other three. A player today, however, would have to master four different surfaces: the rubberized hardcourt at the Australian Open, clay at the French Open, grass at Wimbledon, and the cement hardcourt at the U.S. Open to win the Grand Slam. To make the task even more difficult, some players concentrate on mastering a particular surface such as clay-court specialists Alex Corretja and Felix Mantilla and fast-court players like Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman. Given the degree of competitiveness and diversification of modern professional tennis, Sampras' accomplishments are no less remarkable than Laver's.

The debate about Sampras' place in history will continue until he finally holds aloft the trophy at Roland Garros. But even if Sampras never wins a French Open title, this failure would only be a small blemish on an illustrious career. He has carried professional tennis to an unprecedented level and has been the yardstick against which every player in the '90s has been measured. In the increased competitiveness of today's tennis world, that may be as close as a player can come to being the best ever.

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