Pete Sampras is arguably the greatest tennis player ever, a man whose hard-nosed work ethic led to an unprecedented number one world ranking for 286 weeks, and whose prodigious talent made possible a record-setting fourteen Grand Slam titles. While his more vocal rivals sometimes grabbed the headlines, Pete always preferred to let his racket do the talking.
Until now.
In A Champion’s Mind, the tennis great who so often exhibited visible discomfort with letting people “inside his head” finally opens up. An athletic prodigy, Pete resolved from his earliest playing days never to let anything get in the way of his love for the game. But while this single-minded determination led to tennis domination, success didn’t come without a price. The constant pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage—in the unblinking eye of a media machine hungry for more than mere athletic greatness—took its toll.
Here for the first time Pete speaks freely about what it was like to possess what he calls “the Gift.” He writes about the personal trials he faced—including the death of a longtime coach and confidant—and the struggles he gutted his way through while being seemingly on top of the world. Among the book’s most riveting scenes are an early devastating loss to Stefan Edberg that led Pete to make a monastic commitment to delivering on his natural talent; a grueling, four-hour-plus match against Alex Corretja during which Pete became seriously ill; fierce on-court battles with rival and friend Andre Agassi; and the triumphant last match of Pete’s career at the finals of the 2002 U.S. Open.
In A Champion’s Mind, one of the most revered, successful, and intensely private players in the history of tennis offers an intimate look at the life of an elite athlete.
Better than expected (Rating 5 of 5)
» Bradley F. Smith
I'm sure co-writer Peter Bodo had a lot to do with making this as readable and revealing as it is, since, even though Pete claims he was misunderstood as 'boring,' he really was, well, dull. But he explains why he seemed that way, and it makes sense. This book is all about Pete's strategies facing various opponents, how he matured after winning the U.S. Open at age 19, and how he went on to his great career. It explains virtually every 'incident' thoughout his career and clears up any misconceptions that may linger. There's not a lot of gossip and no back-stabbing, but Pete pulls no punches discussing his childhood coach who got charged with child sex abuse. He tells like it was for him as he related to his fellow pros. The coda is an interesting dissection of his biggest opponents, though he oddly leaves out Agassi, perhaps because he's discussed so much in the book. If you follow tennis, you will want to read this. It's pretty good
Is anyone there? (Rating 1 of 5)
» Vladislav V. Luskin
Excitedly, I picked up this book immediately upon its release. What an opportunity to learn about the inner workings of one of the most enigmatic champions of our era, a man who never revealed much, and kept his emotions and thoughts to himself. Alas, the mind of the champion is vacant. Platitudes, cliches, and minimal insight. A tremendous disappointment. It appears the reason Sampras never said much was he had little to say. Nothing has changed
Fast reading - good book (Rating 4 of 5)
» M. D. Fonseca
You'll probably will only read this book if you're a tennis afficionado.
If so, you will read it in the blink of an eye, because this is such an entertaining biography about one of the greatest players of all time. Don't get high expectations: it's all about Pete's tennis life. You'll get only glimpses of his feelings outside a tennis court. And tha't's right for me, I don't care about gossip and Pete makes it clear in the introduction that this is not a "score-settling" book.
Very good, almost obligatory reading if you enjoy tennis
Brilliant, another grand Slam for Pete Sampras (Rating 5 of 5)
» Juan Carlos Pineda
Pete Sampras was not only a great and exceptional tennis player, but also a great athlete and competitor in Sports History.
In this book he gives a very great insight of his life in the top, the struggle that every champion has to carry on. It is great how he handled the losses. A big Champion like him can teach that even for him life was not always ALL about winning, but also dealing with losses.
Another very important concept that Pete Sampras remarks, are his core values, learned from his family. This is a key concept that many people omit and just focus on the results, not the things that took Pete Sampras to be the best Tennis player ever
An interesting read (Rating 4 of 5)
» Fuzzy Lizard
It was interesting reading about Pete Sampras' different tennis matches, but I was hoping for more about Pete's family and stuff about his life other than tennis
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