Tennis - Sampras out of the Seniors Tournament

Former tennis player of 37 years-old Pete Sampras, competed in London at the seniors tournament that was held last week at the Robert Albert Hall, were he didn't reach Sunday's finals due to the fact that he was defeated by the French Cedric Pioline on Saturday's match 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5).

But even despite his loss, Sampras was very happy to be back and expressed that all the memories he had from England were very nice and comforting for him. He stated that everything reminds him how good the British people were with him and all the victories he accomplished back in his glory days, in which he won the Wimbledon Grand Slam seven times in eight years.

On this event, Sampras opened his participation against John McEnroe, whom he beat 6-3, 6-4. That gave Sampras confidence on his game again, especially with his 19 aces. However, that was not enough since he lost against Pioline on the semifinals. This was the first match that Pioline could win over Sampras in his whole career. This two amazing players have been always very competitive but Pioline had always a difficult time returning Sampras' serve, although during this last match he did control it and that was the main reason why he got the victory.

"I always had problems to return his serve," said the Frenchman. "Suddenly, I could read his serve. I don't know why."

Long time ago, when Sampras played professionally in 1997, he defeated Pioline in the Wimbledon final, but things were very different back then. Sampras was known by his high level of competitiveness and that year he started another winning streak of four Wimbledon titles. With those accomplishments, he became one of the best grass players of all time.

Sampras played his last professional tournament back in 2002 at the US Open, where he set the record of 14 Grand Slam titles by defeating in the final his all-time rival, Andre Agassi. After this, he planned not to play again. Nevertheless, he has been coming back to tennis this year but very gradually, first competing in a pair of senior matches and then with an exhibition game against Roger Federer at the Madison Square Garden. In this great event, Sampras declared that he will also be pleased to play against Rafael Nadal sometime next year. He expressed that he may have a chance against the Spaniard, if he plays under the right circumstances, since he has always been very competitive.

Pete Sampras started his professional career in 1988 at the age of 16. His first match as a professional was against Sammy Gammialva Jr. As time passed by, he kept on improving and after a couple of ATP Tour titles early in 1990, he won the first Grand Slam title that same year on the US Open. He finished his professional career in 2002 win an amazing record of 64 Singles titles, including his 14 major titles, 5 Tennis Masters Cups, 2 Grand Slams Cup, 11 ATP Masters Series and 32 ATP Tour tournaments. He also still holds the record of being ranked World No.1 for the most weeks, 286 in total.

We will have to wait to see what Sampras is preparing to for next year and if he decides to keep playing, we hope he can show his excellent skills as he used to do. It would certainly be very pleasant to see more of one of the best players in tennis history.