Over the weekend, during the U.S. Open, a segment aired on TV about
Pete Sampras's retirement from tennis. "I went out [of the sport] on my own terms," he said. He finished playing strong, beating his rival, Andre Aggasi, and winning the last U.S. Open he ever played in 2002. Tears streamed down his face a year later when he returned to the court to retire. Holding his son in his arms, he waved to fans as he remembered the years he dedicated his life to becoming the number one tennis player in the world.
Though Sampras said he started playing tennis when he was age seven in the TV interview,
it is noted that he actually picked-up interest for the sport as a toddler after discovering a tennis racket in the basement of his home and began hitting the ball against the wall.
Who knows... Maybe there's a Pete Sampras in Madison County who will discover the same love for tennis by simply finding a racket, a ball and a good wall too.
