Pete Sampras

învăţăturile unei vieţi petrecute în tenis

În mintea unui campion

Nona G

I judge all biographies by Andre Agassi's Open and so far nothing seems to beat that. Of course, these people are sports players, not writers, but the minute you decide to write a book, you will be judged by style as much as by content.

Sampras's book is just like Sampras - cold, distant, completely lacking emotion. Here and there. there may be a passage where he shows something other than his usual detached attitude, but those are rare and precious moments. The entire book is a very realistic and mechanical approach on tennis.

That's not a bad thing, as sports books go. I gave this book 3 stars particularly for this reason - it talks about the sport more than other biographies (Monica Seles' comes to mind since it's the latest I've read, and it's a hot mess of anything other than tennis). The tennis part I likes quite a lot - Sampras shows to be a good analyst and it's great to get a glimpse of how he thinks, how he analysed his opponents and his step by step journey towards greatness.

But he is quite the arrogant ass throughout the entire book and it is hard to see him as anything else that the cold distant player who somehow managed to put everything else aside in order to break records. I admit I have never liked him as a player and this book does nothing to change my impression - he's too inhuman for my tastes. I guess it's hard to like someone as long as you idolise his rival - and I completely idolise Andre Agassi. But I would have hoped to at least soften my view on him, which did not happen.

I hate how he continued to refer to himself as a champion, superhuman, god. He is great, yes, but a little humility did not kill anyone. I also hate how he did nothing to allow us to snoop behind the curtains. He remains on a pedestal even after this "confession".

But from a tennis fan perspective, this book is a gem. It's a cold analysis of the game in his era and of most important tennis players whom he encountered during his career. Very much a book for tennis fans and Sampras fans, but people who just want to know about the man, not the game will be quite disappointed.

În mintea unui campion învăţăturile unei vieţi petrecute în tenis

Reviews