Quotes by Pete Sampras - Page 2 | QuoteForever

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I can't just wake up and watch TV and do nothing. I need a day off working out, seeing the wife, play a little golf, see my kids.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Kids
Golf
Play
Wake Up
Wake
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For so long people have just taken what I do for granted. It is not easy to do year-in, year-out, to win Grand Slams and be No. 1.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Taken
Winning
Years
Grand
Grand Slams
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Where I fall down is my short game. I don't practice enough, and when I have to take a half swing from 50 yards out, that's trouble.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Sports
Fall
Practice
Swings
Yards
Swing
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When you go through certain moments of your career and you're struggling, it just takes time. Time heals, when you're a little bit down.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Careers
Littles
Struggle
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I loved Wimbledon and what it meant, but the surface felt uncomfortable. I just didn't like it, I was a hard-court guy, a Californian kid.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Kids
Guy
Uncomfortable
Wimbledon
Meant
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I admire the way golfers handle themselves. But tennis players are a lot younger, as a rule. There aren't many teenagers on the golf tour.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Golf
Player
Teenager
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Throughout my career, my mind rarely wandered, and I was never sidetracked by distractions, no matter what I was going through off the court.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Careers
Focus
Tennis
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I feel much more respected in Europe than I do in the States from the press and from the people. Americans expect me to win every match I play.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Europe
Play
Winning
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If Davis Cup was a little bit less or once every two years, I would be more inclined to play. But the way it is now, it is too much tennis for me.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Sports
Play
Tennis
Years
Me Way More
Davis
Cup
Davis Cup
Inclined
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There is no doubt about how hard it is to stay on top in any sport, but to do it in an individual sport for the majority of your career, it is not easy.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Sports
Careers
Doubt
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If I win and play well, then the ranking will take care of itself. Defending points is really not a problem. Just go out and play and not worry about it.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Play
Winning
Worry
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There should be more of an off-season in the game. I think you need to have less tournaments, more of a break at the end of the year so guys can recover.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Games
Thinking
Years
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The future is flying home. That's the immediate future. But long-distance future, I plan on being back. I'm not going to end my time here with that loss.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Home
Distance
Loss
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When you struggle winning matches all year and you don't really get into a groove or rhythm, you just can't expect to just come in here and have it click.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Struggle
Winning
Years
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I don't look so much for tips. But when they interview a Nicklaus or a Palmer, I'm all ears. I listen to guys who have done it, been successful for years.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Guy
Successful
Years
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People know me. I'm not going to produce any cartwheels out there. I'm not going to belong on Comedy Central. I'll always be a tennis player, not a celebrity.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Sports
People
Player
Produce
Tennis
Tennis Player
Always Me People
Me People Comedy
Belong
Central
Comedy Central
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In tennis, you can make a couple of mistakes and still win. Not in golf. I played three rounds in that Tahoe event, and I was drained. Mentally, not physically.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Sports
Couple
Drained
Golf
Mistake
Rounds
Tennis
Physically
Mentally
Mistakes
Event
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People watched the Masters. It was a huge event. It was at The Garden. Now that it is over here in Europe, it has lost a little bit of popularity in the States.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Europe
Garden
People
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People wrote me off, but I believed in myself. I got the confidence back, and it grew and grew. I won my first major and my last at the place that changed my life.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Confidence
Changed
Lasts
People
Tennis
Life Myself Me
Believed
Won
Major
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I've worked hard my whole life, since I was a little kid. But now it's a point in my life now where I can just enjoy it, but at the same time I still need to work.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Little Kid
Life Work Time
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The difference of great players is at a certain point in a match they raise their level of play and maintain it. Lesser players play great for a set, but then less.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Sports
Differences
Player
Certain Point
Lesser
Maintain
Match
Raise
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Winning is about taking your opponent's heart out and squeezing it until all the blood has come out, even the very last drop. There are no prizes for a funny loser.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Blood
Heart
Winning
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I made it look so easy on court all those years. No one realized how hard I had to work. No one realized how much I had to put into it. They underestimated my intensity.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Looks
Tennis
Years
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When you come back strong, you are going to have little nagging things that you can usually play through, but every now and again, it is to the point where you can't play.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Littles
Play
Strong
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When I tied the record five years in a row, even over in Europe, it wasn't really talked about. It is disap-pointing because it is one of the toughest things to do in sports.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Sports
Europe
Years
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When I committed to playing a little tennis in some exhibitions, it was the best thing for me. It got me in shape. It got me out of the house. It got me doing something I love to do.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Committed
Exhibitions
House
Tennis
Love Best Me
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My goal one day is to be in the same sentence as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. If I can match them for 10 years, I'd be in their company. They were class acts. That's what I'd like to be.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Class
Goal
Years
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Most of the time after the US Open, it is kind of like you are trying to finish strong. But to do it five years and maybe six is something that has never been done before, so it is a huge challenge.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Challenges
Strong
Years
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Choking is being in a position to win, and then experiencing some critical failure of nerve or spirit. That never happened to me. And I can't help but think it was because I was never afraid to lose.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Tennis
Thinking
Winning
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I may be a step slower than I was before reaching 30, but I'm doing all the right things. I guess there are some guys who would take it easy in the latter part of their careers, but I'm stepping it up.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Careers
Guy
May
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It's not easy to retire at 31. In one respect I was glad I was done. But after a few years of having fun, I got a little restless. When you're 33, 34, and you don't have a focus, you can get kind of lost. As a man, you feel a little bit unfulfilled.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Glad
Having Fun
Restless
Unfulfilled
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Andre Agassi was my rival in the '90s, and I think as we got older we sort of transcended the game. He was probably the best player I ever played over my career. There's a list of players that were tough, but Andre, certainly, he was the most unique.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Unique
Andre
List
Rival
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It's not my place to tell you whom to vote for, to take any political stand, to tell you what religion to believe in. I'm an athlete. I can influence certain things, but when I see other athletes and celebrities telling you whom to vote for, I actually get a bit offended.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Religion
Athlete
Believe
Influence
Offended
Political
Vote
Celebrities
Certain Things
Telling
Whom
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After I went through two years of not winning an event, what kept me going was winning one more major. Once I won that last U.S. Open, I spent the next six months trying to figure out what was next. Slowly my passion for the sport just vanished. I had nothing left to prove.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Sports
Months
Passion
Prove
Six
Winning
Won
Event
Figure
Slowly
Major
Spent
Vanished
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By putting pressure on myself to develop a great game, I had less pressure to win. These days, I tell kids that the way I grew up, it wasn't about winning. It was about playing well, about playing the "right" way. That approach helped me enjoy the game and develop mine to its maximum potential.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Kids
Success
Sports
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A champion is suppose to hate to lose, and it wasn't like I was ever crazy about the idea. But I learned to deal with losing without having my spirit or confidence broken, which would help immensely over time, not just in the big picture but even in specific matches when I found myself in a jam. Fear of losing is a terrible thing.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Crazy
Hate
Ideas
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I don`t know why, but I love the dog eat dog nature of tennis. It`s real, it`s brutal and there`s no hiding place - it's like a one to one street fight. I love the intensity that comes with knowing you walk off court either a winner or a loser. It`s daunting but very exciting. There is no one to blame except yourself, no one cares who comes second.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Dog
Fighting
Real
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The way I look at the top five, (Rod) Laver, (Roger) Federer, myself, Borg and (Ivan) Lendl. I think those five guys dominated their generations better than anyone. Maybe Roger will dominate better than any one of the other four. Maybe I put Andre (Agassi) as kind of six through 10 with, you know, (John) McEnroe and (Jimmy) Connors, kind of those guys. That's kind of how I see it.
Pete Sampras / Tennis Player
Generations
Guy
Thinking
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