Pete Sampras’ Memoir Puts Me to Tears

I came to know this memoir of Pete Sampras, titled "A Champion’s Mind," by viewing a video clip on YouTube. The book was published in 2008, but it wasn’t available in the library until very recently. You bet how excited I was when the book finally got into my hands.

 

In fact, I played very little Tennis as I grew up and, to be honest, never found myself any talent in it. But that doesn’t prevent me from becoming a huge fan of the game. The beginning of my love of watching this wonderful sport could be dated as early as my primary school years, starting with the emergence of Boris Becker. However, it was Pete Sampras who showed me how fantastic this sport is.

 

I finished the book in just two days. That’s partly because the book is so well-written and partly because I knew most of the facts in the book even before reading it. Throughout the years, Sampras has always been my hero, even to this day. The rise of Sampras started in 1990 and he finished his career in 2002 by winning his last US Open title, which marked his record of 14 Grand Slams. His 13-year career in Tennis happens to span from my high school years, to my college years, and to the last year I was in China. In other words, Sampras played in my time, and I grew up watching Sampras’ games. Among the Tennis G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time), Sampras and Federer are the only two players that I have chance to follow closely. Reading Sampras’ history is like reflecting my own. If someone mentioned to me one particular year in the 90’s, I can always recall what I was doing back then and what champions Sampras had won that year. I can still remember in the summer of 2003 when Sampras announced his retirement from Tennis at US Open’03, I couldn’t help breaking into tears because that not only means a Tennis legend is gone, but also marked the end of my youth era. In this past two days, the same feeling hit me again, which made me shed a few more tears while reading this book.

 

Although the facts are nothing new to me, this book is a great read. Like the title suggests, it is not about a champion’s achievements but a champion’s mind. It is based on Tennis but more about his life. In his book, Sampras opens himself to let us know what was really going on his mind during each of his epic battles against his opponents, each up and down in his career, and each life-and-death story with his friends and coaches. He analyzed how each win or loss help shape his character as a player and, more importantly, as a person. If you follow Sampras throughout the years, you will be surprised that Sampras, a low-profile and once-called "boring" player who only let his racket do the talking, is in fact a person with rich emotions and such a soft heart. Throughout the book, you can learn about his love to his family, coaches, friends, and most impressively, his wife Bridgette. The most well-known love story in Tennis is perhaps the one between Andre Agassi and Stephi Graf. However, if you finish reading this book, you will find Sampras’s love story is every bit as romantic as, if not more romantic than, that of Agassi and Graf.

 

My favorite stories in this book include: 1) His famous broke down in 1995 Australia Open semifinal against Jim Courier when he got the news that his coach, Tom Gullikson, had been diagnosed with brain cancer; 2) How he won his record-breaking 7-times Wimbledon titles and his personal feeling toward this arguably the greatest Tennis major in this world; 3) How he and Bridgette met and how he won his last Grand Slam for his wife from his most worthy opponent — Agassi; and 4) His career-long bitter sweet rivalry and friendship with Andre Agassi.

 

To conclude, I want to let those who are not familiar with Sampras know how great a player he is. Even though Roger Federer appeared to be the dominant player after Sampras retired and is currently poised to break Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slams, I would rank Sampras slightly higher than Federer in my G.O.A.T. list. I am an engineer and I believe numbers don’t lie. I judge a player based on how well he performed head-to-head against his main rivals.

 

For Sampras, the number are startling: 20-14 against Andre Agassi, 12-7 against Boris Becker, 12-8 against Michael Chang, 16-4 against Jim Courier, 8-6 against Stefan Edberg, 5-3 against Ivan Lendl, and 12-4 against Patrick Rafter. In fact, during his 13-year span of dominance, none of his opponents has a winning record against Sampras. For Federer, however, his current record against Rafael Nadal is an embarrasing 6-13.

 

In fact, I love Federer’s games and really think that he is the one who carries the torch from Pete Sampras. But before he can break through the barrier from Nadal, which I think is becoming less and less likely, I still list Sampras as my No.1 hero in Tennis.

 

 

 

Haha!!

Despite tons of "F***" words, the following video really entertains me and it made my day! 🙂

 

 

 

National Anthems

One of the nicest things about Olympic Games is that it brings people around the world together and helps each other share different cultures. In this regard, I found the following nice video link from NBC, which collects a series of emotional medal ceremonies for different countries.

 

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/share.html?videoid=0812_SD_MUL_AU_L1638R1

 

Indeed, most of national anthems are great music by themselves. Different countries have different styles in their national anthems. For example, both China and France are of marching rhythms, while U.S. and German are very alike too. But in the end, each piece of music makes their own people proud.

 

The Best Part of Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony

All the shows in the opening ceremony are awesome. But the following part is my favorite in the whole night. It’s a little embarrassing but I have to admit that I couldn’t hold my tears when the song hit me. Somewhat surprisingly, I found almost 90% of my friends in U.S. shed their tears while watching this part. Perhaps, only being in overseas can people truly understand the meaning of the word "Motherland."

 

Kudos to the director’s idea to create such a scene that combines the softest voice of our children and the most powerful force of our troops. Brilliant!! Go China!!!

 

      

Run, Kevin, Run!

Feeling pale and fatigue lately, I thought I really need to pick up some excercise. So, I decided to dedicate 1 hour each day in Gym starting this week. More importantly, what could be a better way to celebrate the Beijing Olympic than staying in a good shape? 🙂

 

So here I am, running, lifting, twisting, and cycling. On Monday, after running for 1 mile, I almost had to crawl my way back home. Tuesday? Um… a little better, but still exhausted. However, on Wednesday (today), I found myself making significant progress!!

 

After running for 0.6 mile, I felt great. With 0.8 mile gone, I still felt breezy. After 1 mile, my legs became much heavier. "Don’t stop," I thought, "at least run for another 0.1 mile." So, I kept running and running… After a while, I started to wonder, "Why the hell is this 0.1 mile so hard to finish? It has been quite a while but I still got a lot to finish." On the flip side, I realized that today might be a day that I can make a little breakthrough.

 

So I told myself, "I can make it, keep going!"

 

1.07…1.08…1.09…. In the end, I was almost out of breath and really couldn’t continue any more. So frustrated, I finally gave it up on the brink of breaking 1.1. Stepping down from the running machine, I took a final look at the distance I had run. OH MY GOD! You know what I saw? The number wasn’t 1.09 at all!

 

It’s 1.9.  Faint…

 

(Note: For those of you who are not familiar with Imperial units, 1 mile = 1.6 kilometer)

Jump the Romo Bandwagon!!

Oh, look at what this kid does in this play! He is fast, he is poised, and most importantly, he is smart! Now I will call myself a Dallas Cowboys fan! Go! Romo!!

 

Glory! Manchester United!

Manchester United won their first Premier League Championship in four years, their 9th Premiership since the League’s inception in 1992!Wow!! Is there anything can make a Manchester United fan happier than this?

 

I have been pulling for Manchester United since my high school years. I love their fighting spirit; I love their dominance; I love their super stars (the list is far too long to be enumerated: Cantona, Giggs, Beckham, Scholmes…); I love Coach Sr. Alex Furguson; I love their red jersey, and even their cool name: Manchester United ==> Man. United!

 

It is so much harder for me to follow their games in America. But in my heart, I never cease to be a Man. Utd. fan. Last four years have seen the rebuilding of Man. Utd. The path of returning to championship was so rough and chaotic. But again, the Red Devils show the whole world that championship is won through fighting spirit, not money.

 

Four years ago, I came to US, and they won the previous championship. Fours years later, they reclaim their title, and I am about to graduate. Good luck to Man. Utd. and myself down the road!!

 

Glory! Manchester United!!

US Open 2006

US Open 2006 is perhaps the most memorable sports event to me, even though I just followed the games on and off due to my crazy work load in the past two weeks. It’s not just because that Roger Federer routinely defeated resurgent Andy Roddick and picked up his 9th Grand Slam title, surpassing Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, and Jimmy Connors, and keeping on chasing Pete Sampras‘s record, but more importantly, because Andre Agassi‘s retiring, which officially marks the end of an Era — The Great Rivalry between Sampras and Agassi, Two Legendary American Players.

 

Pete Sampras, the king of Tennis, is one of my most favorite athletes. He was so dominant, just like Michael Jordan to Basketball, Tiger Woods to Golf, or Pele to Soccer. I still remember three years ago, when he announced in the press that he wouldn’t participate in US Open 2003 and thereof retired, tears was all over my face. I couldn’t bear the thought of watching Tennis games where Sampras would no longer be there. At that moment, all I thought was Tennis would be lackluster without Sampras. As time past by, however, I came to realize that the reason why Sampras was so great is all because of Andre Agassi. Sampras‘s record of 14 Grand Slam titles may one day be broken (Given Federer‘s efficiency and dominancy, it’s not totally out of the question), but one thing people will talk about forever is the 10-year bitter-sweet rivalry between him and Agassi. Although holding a significant head-to-head edge, Sampras had to play his best games when facing Agassi. It’s Agassi who drove Sampras to play to the maximum of his skill potential, and tested his ultimate degree of mental and physical toughness.

 

Therefore, ever since Sampras‘s retiring, I began to root for Andre Agassi. If Sampras is the thunder to Tennis, then Agassi is the lightening. However, except for being the greatest genius in Tennis, Agassi and Sampras almost have nothing in common. Unlike Sampras‘s consistency, introvert, and only letting his records speak for themselves, Agassi is full of charisma. His career path spans from starting out as an unruly kid who was larger than life, to eventually becoming a matured man and an excellent husband and father. After being defeated by Benjamin Becker (totally unrelated to Boris Becker) at US Open 2006, he said "The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn’t say is what it is I have found. And over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life!". His emotional outpouring had everybody shed his/her tear. Indeed, his career has seen so many lengendary stories: starting his career beging a maverick; involving with Brooke Shields which saw his career went downhill; his resurgence after new romance with Stefi Graf, the queen of Tennis; his claiming of Career Grand Slam (winning Australia Open, French Open, Wimbolden, and US Open) — a deed even Sampras was unable to accomplish, and so much more! Had it not been for his injuries, I dare to say that nobody in the world except Federer has an advantage when playing Agassi, who is already in his late 30s right now. In fact, at the later stage of his career, he played Tennis not because of championships but because of his love of the games. He enjoyed the sport so much that he played every game as if it’s his last one. Unlike Sampras, who finished his career perfectly with his final victory at US Open 2002, Agassi knew that his chance of winning the championship of US Open 2006 was so slim because Tennis is now living under Federer’s reign. But he still kept playing until his body finally betrayed him and dragged him down. To that sense, I think Agassi is even more courageous than Sampras!

 

With the departure of Agassi, the legend of Sampras and Agassi also came to an end. Even though today Roger Federer (my favourite player right now) is unanimously agreed to be one of the all time great, I personally think that he still has a long way to go to reach Sampras‘ and Agassi‘s level. And to see that happens, someone in the pack has to stand out and make great challenge to Federer.

 

The rise of Sampras and Agassi started when I was still in high school, and the great rivalry has accompanied me through all these years. To those who were born in the 70’s, they are the greatest players forever. And now I am getting old and the Legend is also gone. Isn’t it one of the saddest things to us in this world?

 

Anyway, Kudos to Sampras!! Kudos to Agassi!!

 

P.S. I changed the background music to "Remember the Names", which I think is a very good, if not the most appropriate, tribute to Sampras and Agassi.

 

My No.1 Pick of Super Bowl Funniest Commercials

The Super Bowl XL has passed. But watching those hilarious commercials is always so fun! Here is my No.1 pick of the funniest commercials — Magic Fridge from Bud Light.

Instruction: Move your mouse over the black screen to start or resume playing. Press [ESC] to pause.

The Eve of the Big Game

The clock is ticking. It’s now the eve of the biggest game of the year at Tech, and probably the biggest game of the year in the nation. Tomorrow at 7:45pm, my beloved Hokies (No.3) will be playing against Miami Hurricanes (No.5). The town is rocking, with the flock of ESPN crew flying into the capital of Hokies’ Nation, Blacksburg, for the second time this year and turning Lane Stadium into the spotlight in front of the audience of the whole nation.

 

Every November, when Virginia Tech faces Miami, I kind of have mixed feelings on the game day. Miami is the first place I landed in US. I had been staying in this city for 4 months before coming to Tech. Tech and Miami have almost nothing in common: the former is a huge, land-grant, public unveristy in a small college town in the mountians of south west Virginia, while the latter is a small, urban, private university in the city of Miami at the very south end of Florida coast. The rivalry between such two schools is, to most people, very unlikely. Yet this bitter-sweet rivalry is so real in that Tech and Miami have each gained 7 wins in their past 14 matchups. Although every time I cheer for Tech’s great victories with full power in the last two years, I think Miami also deserves respect. This year, I won’t be able to get into the stadium and become one among the Maroon sea. I can only follow the game on ESPN while being in the town of Blacksburg. It’s really odd.

 

Anyway, Go Beamer Ball! Go Blacksburg! Go Tech! Go Hokies!!!