Pete Sampras, the American tennis legend, who is still considered the finest server in tennis, was once considered the best ever to step on a court. But, that quickly changed in the noughties. What went wrong for the 14-time Grand Slam champion? The American tennis player gained notoriety shortly before the Big Three—Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic—arrived on the grand stage. And since then, things on the tennis circuit changed a lot.

In his biography ‘Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited’ Ivan Lendl, his on-court rival, discussed how his position was usurped by the Big Three and how, as a result, his fame on the circuit changed a lot.

Was Pete Sampras overshadowed by the emergence of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic? 

Before the arrival of the big three, things were quite different in the tennis arena. Sampras was the one ruling the sport, but after their arrival, things were not the same for the American tennis legend. In Pete Sampras: Greatness Revisited biography, the ex-coach of Andy Murray Lendl claimed that because of the popularity of the big three, Sampras’ achievements were overlooked.

He said, “Pete got a little bit cheated by history with these three guys coming along when they did. Because of Rafa, Roger, and Novak, nobody is talking about Pete. They could have come along not when they did, but in 30 years or 70 years or whatever. Then Pete would have been ‘The Man’ for a lot longer.” 

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Even though he excelled at the time, the way the spotlight shifted to the big three prevented him from dominating the sport for a longer period. Further, Murray’s former coach also talked about how the 14-time Grand Slam champion never got an opportunity to have people talk about him. Somewhere or other, the phenomenon of the big three had already taken over and was not letting anybody else take what they wanted.

A few years ago, the 51-year-old former tennis legend revealed how he never expected Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic to usurp him.

Sampras never thought of getting ruled over 

In a 2021 interview with the New York Times, the 14-time Grand Slam champion acknowledged that he would have appreciated knowing ahead of time that three players would surpass his Grand Slam mark just 20 years after he retired. He certainly would not have believed it at the moment, but would have made an effort to rise above everyone.

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Additionally, he mentioned how astounded he was by the incredible consistency of the phenomenal tennis players who surpassed his major titles tally. Interestingly, Novak Djokovic is still breaking records among the ‘Big Three’. Will the Serb ever feel like Sampras did in 20 years’ time? Will Carlos Alcaraz be the player to break his record?