He was happy to sacrifice everything to get to the place that he believed he could make. PRODUCT DETAILS : ISBN : 9780307383303 BY (AUTHOR) Bodo, Peter, BY (AUTHOR) Sampras, Pete PUBLISHER : Random House USA Inc PUBLICATION DATE : May 26. An athletic prodigy, Pete resolved from his earliest playing days never to let anything get in the way of his love for the game. As he mentions, where other players had an active social life, he put things like that on hold to focus on being in prime shape for his game. In A Champion’s Mind, the tennis great who so often exhibited visible discomfort with letting people inside his head finally opens up. It’s clear from the start that tennis was to Sampras what politics was to Winston Churchill or India was to Gandhi – the one all-consuming passion of his life. I am no tennis player, but if I were and I wanted to know what ti took to be the best as for five years Sampras was, this book would be of enormous benefit. Pete Sampras is arguably the greatest tennis player ever, a man whose hard-nosed work ethic led to an unprecedented number one world ranking for 286 weeks, and whose prodigious talent made possible a record-setting fourteen Grand Slam titles. Not too much is written about his relationships outside tennis and every relationship is measured by its pertinence to the tennis – this is a single-minded book. If you’re interested in anything outside of that, you’ll be disappointed. Some people know that what they’re good at, what their gift is and it’s intriguing throughout that Sampras refers to his ability on the court as the Gift (yeah capital ‘g’ as well). Some people will only ever be known for one thing and Pete Sampras recognises that what he will be remembered for more than anything is the fact that he is a champion in tennis. It gives you the insight into the making of a champion. The first thing to be said about Pete Sampras: A Champion’s Mind is that it does exactly what it says on the tin.

A Champion's Mind by Pete Sampras