At Wimbledon in 1999, Pete Sampras was a five-time champion and was on the cusp of tennis history. By winning a sixth title at the All England Club, Sampras would overtake Bjorn Borg for most Wimbledon men’s singles titles and would also tie Roy Emerson for the most major men’s singles titles.
What made the stage even greater for the men’s singles final, was a Fourth of July confrontation against his chief rival, Andre Agassi, who was fresh off winning the title at Roland Garros to complete his career Grand Slam.
Despite the pre-match hype, the match was all Sampras, who won the title with a decisive 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 decision.
International Tennis Hall of Fame members and tennis historian Steve Flink meticously documented the 1999 Wimbledon final, as well as the other 13 major single titles won by Sampras, in the book “Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited” which is for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/0gz2Fr7c
The following is an excerpt from the book where Flink describes the match’s conclusion and the perspective that Sampras, his coach Paul Annacone and Agassi’s coach Brad Gilbert had on the match.
Sampras was serving for the match. He directed a first serve to the Agassi forehand, and the return found the net tape: 15-0. An impeccably executed second serve at 113 mph down the T stifled Agassi: 30-0. Thinking an Agassi return might be going out, Sampras let it go. But the shot landed well in for a winner: 30-15. Agassi then rolled a forehand pass low crosscourt. Sampras dove but could not make the volley. He was bleeding lightly again above the elbow after that fall.
It was 30-30. Sampras was two points from an uplifting triumph. Agassi was two points away from his first service break of the match and an opportunity to play a tie-break. Sampras was ready to meet this propitious moment with no reservations. He served an ace down the T for 40-30. At match point, he missed his first serve but aimed boldly down the T on the second serve. It was a tournament closing ace, another signature moment in his career and a fitting way to conclude what was arguably the best tennis match he had ever played. This was a virtuoso display on a stage he cherished. Sampras garnered Grand Slam title No. 12 and Wimbledon victory No. 6 in one fell swoop. For the second time in a seven-year span, he had captured the world’s premier title three years in a row.
Sampras recollected that match with not only immense pride but also much clarity 20 years later. He said, “I got out of that game from 3-3, 0-40 and then new balls came out when he served the next game. Andre missed a couple. I raised it up a little bit. You just know there are certain moments in a match. He feels it and I feel it. There is a sense of urgency. So I got the break and served out the set and, boom, all of a sudden three minutes later I am up a set. Then I relaxed a bit and from the second set on, pretty much to the end of the match, I got in the zone where I was hitting my ground strokes very well and I felt like I had all the time in the world. My backhand was on. I was moving well and doing everything I wanted to do and serving very well. I was able to show my whole game.”
Sampras added, “Andre wasn’t able to break me and he was playing well. On the grass, I had time to play against him and that is what I always wanted on that surface. I got into those rallies and enjoyed it. I play my best tennis when I don’t think. I remember that match I wasn’t thinking much at all. It was all reactionary, just playing the next point and trying to dictate play. In the Wimbledon final, with Andre coming off the French win and me having a subpar year, it was a big win. My level from the second set on through the rest of the match made me feel I had hit the point of just being unbeatable.”
Brad Gilbert was there in the friend’s box for this historic final coaching Agassi, encouraged about his prospects. The loquacious Gilbert had been a fine player in his time. Between 1986 and 1990, he finished two years just outside the top ten in the world and two more in that elite category. He peaked at No. 4 in 1990. In 1994, he started coaching Agassi. They forged a strong player-coach bond. Gilbert was a master strategist who made Agassi think differently and more cerebrally about how he wanted to play the game.
Two decades after the Wimbledon final of 1999, Gilbert spoke in an interview for this book about his remembrances. He said, “I can tell you that as I was sitting in my chair when Pete was serving at 3-3, 0-40, Andre was playing incredible tennis. I didn’t think anybody could beat him the way he was playing, not even Pete. Pete snatched that match in nine minutes like nothing I have ever seen. He held from 3-3, 0-40 with five absolute bombs and two of them were like second serve aces in the 120s. From there it was break, hold, break early in the second set and the next thing you know Andre was two sets to love down. It was one of those flashes of genius from Pete, kind of like what Fed does these days. It happens really fast. That nine-minute span was probably the greatest I have ever seen from Pete, that level where he took it from 3-3, 0-40, to 6-3, 1-0, up a break in the second. That was probably Pete’s highest level ever.”
“It was a joke how well Pete played the first set-and-a half,” said Annacone. “Andre did nothing wrong. I remember watching that match and thinking ‘This guy is unbelievable. In this environment, against this player, in this moment, he can just let his talent shine. He can quiet his mind and quiet his heart, know the strategy, hit the button and go. It is so hard for anyone to comprehend how difficult that is to do in that arena. He was the epitome of the maestro at that.”
