A Champion’s Mind

Pete Sampras, ranked number one in the world for 286 weeks and the winner of fourteen Grand Slam titles, opens up, with Peter Bodo, about a career he kept private. He writes about what he calls the Gift, his resolve from his earliest playing days to let nothing come before the game, and the price of constant pressure under a hungry media spotlight. He recounts an early loss to Stefan Edberg that pushed him to commit fully to his talent, a match of more than four hours against Alex Corretja in which he fell seriously ill, and his battles with his friend and rival Andre Agassi. He also writes about the death of his longtime coach and confidant.

Yaro Starak, founder of Entrepreneurs-Journey.com, named Sampras among the tennis players whose biographies he has read, drawn by the stories behind the scenes.