Petros ‘Pete’ Sampras is a retired American former world No. 1 tennis player and is counted amongst the greatest players ever in tennis history, if not the greatest. An extremely athletic child, he made his presence felt as soon as he stepped into the professional tennis arena at the age of 16. In just one year, he broke into the top 100 in the world rankings. He captured his first Grand Slam title in 1990 and became the ATP World Rank No. 1 in 1993. He remained the ATP ranked world No. 1 for 286 weeks and still holds the prestigious ATP record of six year-end No. 1 rankings (1993–98). During his tennis career he went on to win 14 Grand Slam titles, which include seven Wimbledon and five U.S. Open singles titles. His tennis rivalries against Patrick Rafter and Andre Agassi were very much the talking point throughout his career. Pete Sampras retired after winning the 2002 US Open against his long-time nemesis, Andre Agassi. He credits much of his success to his longtime coach and friend, Tim Gullikson, who unfortunately died of brain cancer in 1996
