How Pete Sampras Came To His Retirement Decision After 2002 U.S. Open Win

On September 8, 2002, Pete Sampras beat his arch rival Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to win his fifth U.S. Open singles title and his 14^th career major singles title. Seeded No. 17 and without a tournament title since Wimbledon in 2000, Sampras silenced his critics that offered that he is washed up and, at age 31, becomes the U.S. Open’s oldest men’s singles champion since 35-year-old Ken Rosewall wins the title in 1970. “To beat a rival like Andre, in a storybook ending, it might be nice to stop,” Sampras says in his post-match press conference.  “But I still love to compete. I’ll see in a couple of months where my heart is and my mind. My head is spinning.”

So how did Sampras finally come to the decision to retire from tennis, with his win over Agassi being his walk off match? It didn’t come until many months later, after many talks and hitting and practice sessions with his coach Paul Annacone, as Hall of Fame journalist Steve Flink details in his book “Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited” (for sale and download here

The following is an excerpt from the book, that details Sampras making his final retirement decision. Fifty weeks after his U.S. Open win – without striking another competitive shot following his match-clinching last backhand volley winner against Agassi – Sampras officially announced his full retirement from the sport on the opening night of the 2003 U.S. Open.

Sampras remembered the feeling afterward his singularly satisfying 2002 U.S. Open triumph. He said in 2019, “I had to figure out what was next with my tennis. I didn’t know what to feel. I flew home the night I won the Open and just enjoyed that. Two or three months later I was talking to Paul about what was next and getting ready for Australia, but I was not emotionally ready. So I felt I would see how I felt about playing Indian Wells or Miami in 2003. I was still hitting balls but just didn’t want to do the work it took for the reward at the end. It just seemed unbalanced to me. I didn’t feel like doing the practice or the gym work. Something just came out of me that I can’t really explain. The moment when I knew I was going to retire was when I was in Palm Desert watching Lleyton Hewitt play a first-round match at Wimbledon in 2003, thinking that was the last place I wanted to be. That was when I knew I was done.”

Annacone recalled it slightly differently. He said, “We literally went six months of hitting a couple of days and then not hitting, getting ready for a tournament he did not end up playing. We had so many great talks about life. And then in April, when we were getting ready for Wimbledon, I walked in the front door when I came by and he said, ‘I am done.’ I said, ‘Done with what?’ And he said, ‘I am not playing anymore. I am done.’ He explained that he had done everything he wanted to do. He said he realized why he played and that was to prove to himself what he could do. He said he didn’t need to prove anything anymore.”

At the U.S. Open of 2003, an official retirement ceremony took place. Sampras had a lot of family there, including his parents. His wife and infant son, Christian, were out in the evening air on Arthur Ashe Stadium, sharing the celebration with him.

No farewell could have been more fitting. Sampras had essentially announced himself to the tennis world at 19 when he became the youngest man ever to win the U.S. Open in the springtime of his career. Twelve years later, in the autumn of his career, with so many skeptics writing his professional obituary, when most of the tennis community at large was highly skeptical, he had closed the curtain with another triumph at the Open.

Reflecting on his sterling career now almost two decades after it ended, Sampras mused, “I could sit here now and look back on it and say, ‘Should I have tried a different and larger racket for the French Open? Sure. Do I wish I had communicated better about my health and that I didn’t have an ulcer for two years? Yes. I really do regret not communicating better with Paul Annacone and my team and whoever was close to me about what was going on.”

Having said that, Sampras believed, “There are always some regrets. Internalizing a lot of stuff contributed to my ulcer. I do remember one conversation with Paul Annacone in 1998 when I was trying to break the No. 1 record and I told him I was stressed out and struggling. My hair was falling out. I let my guard down, which was unusual. But I have very few regrets. I look more at the positives. I achieved some amazing things. I didn’t want to show any vulnerability. I didn’t worry about what people were thinking. Being self-willed and self-focused with the blinders on made me a great player. I kept things close to my vest.”

Following up on that theme, Sampras said, “You look at Roger and Rafa and Novak today and they are much more social and more outgoing than I was and maybe it is through social media and where we are in society. Maybe if I had been playing now I would have been more like these guys. It is just a different mentality. In my generation everyone was a little more separate and we all got along fine, but now Roger has Rafa’s text number and they all text each other and have Instagram. Knowing Roger a little bit, I guess he can be the life of the party in the locker room. I was more in the corner away from everyone and I loved it on the last weekend of Wimbledon when nobody was in the locker room. I am a lone wolf. I get energy being by myself. I like being alone. That is how I am wired and how I have always been and it was the way I liked it throughout my career.”

Speaking of how he viewed his illustrious career, what meant the most to Sampras was his longevity. “Being the best in the game for almost half of my career meant a lot to me,” he said. “I did it in a certain way that was humble and it was my style. I feel I was a talented player with a big game that made guys uncomfortable. I just tried to conduct myself the way I am, in a very understated way, keeping my emotions in check and being a good role model for kids on behavior. That was important to me and at the same time that is who I am. I let my racket do the talking and played big matches well and I felt that the bigger the match was, the better I am.”