Top 80 Pete Sampras Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “I’ve got a great wife, a great life.”

— Pete Sampras

2. “I did it my way, and I have no regrets when I look back on my career that it was just a big focus for me.”

— Pete Sampras

3. “It’s one-on-one out there, man. There ain’t no hiding. I can’t pass the ball.”

— Pete Sampras

4. “Winning is about taking your opponent’s heart out and squeezing it until all the blood has come out, even the very last drop. There are no prizes for a funny loser.”

— Pete Sampras

5. “I never wanted to be the great guy or the colorful guy or the interesting guy. I wanted to be the guy who won titles.”

— Pete Sampras

6. “When you go through certain moments of your career and you’re struggling, it just takes time. Time heals, when you’re a little bit down.”

— Pete Sampras

7. “Baseball is America’s pastime, and that record is absolutely huge in the States.”

— Pete Sampras

8. “You kind of live and die by the serve.”

— Pete Sampras

9. “Choking is being in a position to win, and then experiencing some critical failure of nerve or spirit. That never happened to me. And I can’t help but think it was because I was never afraid to lose.”

— Pete Sampras

10. “Success is walking out of here with the title, and anything less is not good enough in my book.”

— Pete Sampras

11. “I’m enjoying my retirement, enjoying my life. I have two kids and a lot of my time is spent chasing these two animals.”

— Pete Sampras

12. “For so long people have just taken what I do for granted. It is not easy to do year-in, year-out, to win Grand Slams and be No. 1.”

— Pete Sampras

13. “I hate to lose, and I do whatever I can to win, and if it is ugly, it is ugly.”

— Pete Sampras

14. “It’s not my place to tell you whom to vote for, to take any political stand, to tell you what religion to believe in. I’m an athlete. I can influence certain things, but when I see other athletes and celebrities telling you whom to vote for, I actually get a bit offended.”

— Pete Sampras

15. “People wrote me off, but I believed in myself. I got the confidence back, and it grew and grew. I won my first major and my last at the place that changed my life.”

— Pete Sampras

16. “I didn’t have a big fat Greek wedding, but I have a lot of fat Greek friends.”

— Pete Sampras

17. “The future is flying home. That’s the immediate future. But long-distance future, I plan on being back. I’m not going to end my time here with that loss.”

— Pete Sampras

18. “I let my racket do the talking. That’s what I am all about, really. I just go out and win tennis matches.”

— Pete Sampras

19. “I made it look so easy on court all those years. No one realized how hard I had to work. No one realized how much I had to put into it. They underestimated my intensity.”

— Pete Sampras

20. “Tennis obviously isn’t as popular as baseball in the States.”

— Pete Sampras

21. “I can’t just wake up and watch TV and do nothing. I need a day off working out, seeing the wife, play a little golf, see my kids.”

— Pete Sampras

22. “Where I fall down is my short game. I don’t practice enough, and when I have to take a half swing from 50 yards out, that’s trouble.”

— Pete Sampras

23. “Anything can happen out there on any court.”

— Pete Sampras

24. “I’m maybe not quite as sharp as I used to be.”

— Pete Sampras

25. “My goal one day is to be in the same sentence as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. If I can match them for 10 years, I’d be in their company. They were class acts. That’s what I’d like to be.”

— Pete Sampras

26. “By putting pressure on myself to develop a great game, I had less pressure to win. These days, I tell kids that the way I grew up, it wasn’t about winning. It was about playing well, about playing the “right” way. That approach helped me enjoy the game and develop mine to its maximum potential.”

— Pete Sampras

27. “In tennis, you can make a couple of mistakes and still win. Not in golf. I played three rounds in that Tahoe event, and I was drained. Mentally, not physically.”

— Pete Sampras

28. “I want to end my career on my terms, not on what people think I should do.”

— Pete Sampras

29. “I’ve always led a pretty simple life, with few extravagances. The money in tennis never drove me.”

— Pete Sampras

30. “Golfers are forever working on mechanics. My tennis swing hasn’t changed in 10 years.”

— Pete Sampras

31. “The only person that I have met, that I have ever been in awe of, is Eddie Vedder.”

— Pete Sampras

32. “I may be a step slower than I was before reaching 30, but I’m doing all the right things. I guess there are some guys who would take it easy in the latter part of their careers, but I’m stepping it up.”

— Pete Sampras

33. “I feel much more respected in Europe than I do in the States from the press and from the people. Americans expect me to win every match I play.”

— Pete Sampras

34. “The difference of great players is at a certain point in a match they raise their level of play and maintain it. Lesser players play great for a set, but then less.”

— Pete Sampras

35. “I’m staying in shape, working out.”

— Pete Sampras

36. “Once the US Open is over in the States, mainstream America doesn’t really follow tennis, unless you are a true tennis fan.”

— Pete Sampras

37. “Once the fifth set comes, it’s a matter of nerves.”

— Pete Sampras

38. “I don’t look so much for tips. But when they interview a Nicklaus or a Palmer, I’m all ears. I listen to guys who have done it, been successful for years.”

— Pete Sampras

39. “If I win and play well, then the ranking will take care of itself. Defending points is really not a problem. Just go out and play and not worry about it.”

— Pete Sampras

40. “I could be a jerk and get a lot more publicity, but that’s not who I am.”

— Pete Sampras

41. “Tennis is seen all around the world; if I am home or anywhere in the country, United States, people will stare.”

— Pete Sampras

42. “When you retire you want to get as far away as possible from the game for a couple of years.”

— Pete Sampras

43. “Throughout my career, my mind rarely wandered, and I was never sidetracked by distractions, no matter what I was going through off the court.”

— Pete Sampras

44. “I don’t think it really matters, who plays first. Whatever they do, they do.”

— Pete Sampras

45. “My goal one day is to be in the same sentence as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.”

— Pete Sampras

46. “It is nice to walk out on a court to have it packed.”

— Pete Sampras

47. “When I committed to playing a little tennis in some exhibitions, it was the best thing for me. It got me in shape. It got me out of the house. It got me doing something I love to do.”

— Pete Sampras

48. “There is no doubt about how hard it is to stay on top in any sport, but to do it in an individual sport for the majority of your career, it is not easy.”

— Pete Sampras

49. “I’m not going to give in to the critics. I’m going to stop on my own terms, not on when someone else thinks I should.”

— Pete Sampras

50. “If Davis Cup was a little bit less or once every two years, I would be more inclined to play. But the way it is now, it is too much tennis for me.”

— Pete Sampras