Sampras deserves credit for accomplishments on the court

Pete Sampras retired from the sport of tennis Monday, ending a career that spanned three… Pete Sampras retired from the sport of tennis Monday, ending a career that spanned three decades. During that time, Sampras set the all-time record for men’s Grand Slam titles, with 14, and finished the season as the No. 1 player in the world a staggering six straight years, from 1993 to 1998. With the exception of his inability to win the French Open on the clay courts of Roland Garros, Sampras had a blemish-free career that will most likely never be duplicated.

And nobody cares.

Why?

Because Pete Sampras is bland.

Like most pop culture phenomena, America likes its athletes to be larger than life. Long-touted concepts of work ethic and technical prowess have gone the way of the Pokemon card. The American sports fan worships the charisma of a Muhammad Ali, the brashness and instability of a Mike Tyson, and the spectacle and self-promotion of a Terrell Owens.

All that Sampras ever did was pick away at his tennis strings, stick his tongue out in a confused manner and dominate his sport the way no other athlete has ever done.More than ever, sport is marketed for its entertainment value. Selling tickets and merchandise is the main motivation of promoters, owners and administrators of sport, and the so-called “Y Generation” likes its product flashy and quick, like a video game. Market value in the sporting world supercedes athletic value. To be promoted as an icon, an athlete has to either have freakish athletic ability (Michael Jordan, Michael Vick), unique physical characteristics (Dennis Rodman, Yao Ming), or an intriguing personality (Tyson, Charles Barkley).

Sampras had none of these. He was an average-sized man who played a now-antiquated serve-and-volley style and never said too much, on or off the court.

Even within his own sport, Sampras’ popularity was far exceeded by several of his peers. Sampras didn’t have the emotion or charisma of Andre Agassi, who was, by far, the most popular American tennis player of the ’90s and Sampras’ biggest rival. He didn’t have the love of fans like Boris Becker did, and he never displayed the fiery, fist-pumping, win-or-die attitude of Jim Courier.

As a tennis fan in the mid-’90s, I never heard anybody say that Pete Sampras was his or her favorite player, even though he routinely dominated the three men listed above, en route to losing only one match at Wimbledon in eight years. He was just so … boring.

Further weakening Sampras’ stardom is the general deterioration of men’s tennis over the last five years. As is the case with baseball, the technology in tennis has so greatly improved that it has compromised the integrity of the game and hurt its popularity. Huge service winners with lightweight aluminum rackets have replaced the long, exciting rallies that are common in the women’s game. The retirement of Becker and the aging of Sampras and Agassi have left the men’s tour with some huge shoes to fill, and ratings for men’s tennis have steadily decreased with its inability to create new stars.

This leads me to one question: in a world dominated by popular culture, does winning even matter in sports anymore?

Certainly, some of the athletes listed above were praised for their abilities to contribute to winning teams. Jordan won six National Basketball Association titles, and Rodman won five. But winning does not account for the fact that Anna Kournikova, who has never won a singles title but has the looks of a model, has created more buzz in the tennis world over the last five years than Sampras. Nor does winning account for the fact that the Kobe Bryant sex scandal, which hasn’t even had a preliminary hearing yet, has headlined the sports pages for the last two months.

Only time will tell if Sampras will garner the love, respect, and, most importantly, the fascination among sports fans of a Michael Jordan or a Charles Barkley.

But let’s face it: over the last five years, more people have tuned in to Sampras matches to see the nervous reactions of his bombshell wife, actress Bridgette Wilson, than to actually watch Sampras play. Because, in today’s entertainment-friendly sporting culture, contrary to Vince Lombardi’s old adage, winning isn’t the only thing that matters.

Michael Cunningham is a senior staff writer for The Pitt News. Much like Anna Kournikova, he has never won a singles title but has the looks of a model.