Programme notes, by Simon Barnes <br><br>I
SUPPOSE when a man has 12 Grand Slam titles to his name
and he has held the world No 1 ranking for six years
in succession, it is a bit strong to call him a
choker. But to watch the men's single final at Wimbledon
on television was to look into the eyes of an almost
incomprehensibly successful man - and to read a million doubts.
<br>And yet it is all there to be read from the past, for
those who have any notion of tennis history. Pete
Sampras won his first grand-slam title, the US Open at
the age of 19, stunningly young to win a major in the
men's game. <br>And it came close to destroying him. He
went into a deep decline, spoke almost despairingly of
the weight of being a champion. His nature and his
temperament were taken scathingly to task by various
luminaries of the game. How is it possible <br>for a man to
be (a) a champion and (b) a sensitive soul? A good
question. No doubt it makes it far more difficult. And
Sampras clearly is a sensitive soul, hard though he has
sought to conceal that fact from the world. And in fact,
it was not until Sampras lost that title the next
year that he began to regroup. No one then would have
predicted that he would become the most implacable champion
of the modern age: perhaps of all time. Time and
again we have seen him raise his game to unguessed-at
heights at the hardest times. Wimbledon has been his
special time and place: he has been winner there six
times in seven years. All the time he has had nothing
to declare but his genius: scarcely showing us his
emotions. Sampras is about the pursuit of perfection. Many
tennis players wear their hearts on their sleeves.
Sampras wears his in his chest. <br>It makes for
constantly intriguing television: you see the majestic
tennis, and then you look into his eyes and see no
triumph. You, rarely, see his opponents temporarily gain
the upper hand, and yet Sampras's eyes show neither
doubt nor fear. Until yesterday. Quite unexpectedly, we
saw Sampras with self-doubt. Mind you, it was an
amazing thing to have a moment of doubt about. When he
was 19 he doubted he had the right to be called a
champion. Now, at the age of 28, he had to ask himself if
he had the right to be called the greatest champion
of all time. It is the sort of idea that makes a man
think, especially if he is a sensitive soul. And Sampras
thought.