153 Quotes by Pete Sampras

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.

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

I’m not worried about the weekend, I’m worried about Saturday.

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.

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.

I admire the way golfers handle themselves. But tennis players are a lot younger, as a rule. There aren’t many teenagers on the golf tour.

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

People know me. I’m not going to produce any cartwheels out there. I’m not going to belong on Comedy Central. I’ll always be a tennis player, not a celebrity.

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.