A Champion's Mind

This will be my second book review in only two days. Just last weekend I finished reading Pete Sampras's excellent book A Champion's Mind: Lessons From a Life in Tennis. As someone who followed the exploits of Sampras over the years, I thought it was fascinating to discover what was going on in his mind during his time at the top of the tennis world. The first time I remember seriously following a tennis tournament was Wimbledon in 1995. Pete won that one, defeating Boris Becker in the final, and then went on to win the US Open that same year over Andre Agassi. I knew very little about the years prior to that, but this book did a great job describing them. Sampras was a prodigy from an early age and came on to the scene in a big way by winning the 1990 US Open as a 19-year-old. After that, he struggled. He talks about not having the mental willpower to fight to the end of important matches, especially in his 1992 US Open loss to Stefan Edberg. In looking back on that match, Sampras realized that he hadn't fought like a champion should have.

Pete's second Grand Slam title came in 1993 at Wimbledon, a tournament he would eventually win a staggering seven times. His run was ended in 2001 by an up-and-coming star named Roger Federer. Sampras talks about his relationship with his coach Tim Gullikson, and how emotionally devastating it was to see him suffer with cancer before passing away. This had happened before I started following tennis, but I definitely remember reading stories about how Pete broke down and cried during one of his matches in Australia. One incident I do remember was his 5-set match against Alex Corretja at the 1996 US Open, where he became sick and threw up during the match. He went on to win the match and eventually the whole tournament.

I also found his description of his later years to be interesting. Like all athletes, Pete's body did not hold up as well in his 30s as it had years earlier. He needed to be very selective in which tournaments he chose to play. Sampras had a fairy-tale ending to his career, winning the US Open in 2002 over Andre Agassi, who was his opponent in his first Grand Slam victory 12 years prior. A Champion's Mind will surely be enjoyable to any tennis fans out there, and I wholeheartedly give it my recommendation.