Quote

Choking is being in a position to win, and then experiencing some critical failure of nerve or spirit. That never happened to me. And I can't help but think it was because I was never afraid to lose.

Pete Sampras

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Pete Sampras
Age: 53
Born: 1971
Born: August 12
Tennis Player
Washington
District of Columbia
Petros Sampras
Peter Sampras
Thinking
Loses
Tennis
Happened
Defeat
Winning
Critical
Help
Losing
Choking
Helping
Failure
Choke
Spirit
Afraid
Nerve
Never
Lose
Experiencing
Think
Position
Nerves

More quotes by Pete Sampras

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When you go through certain moments of your career and you're struggling, it just takes time. Time heals, when you're a little bit down.
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Tennis is seen all around the world if I am home or anywhere in the country, United States, people will stare.
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Winning is about taking your opponent's heart out and squeezing it until all the blood has come out, even the very last drop. There are no prizes for a funny loser.
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There's always one shot that I can rely on when I'm not hitting the ball that well, is my serve.
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Players aren't quite as intimidated by my name.
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Success is walking out of here with the title, and anything less is not good enough in my book.
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People watched the Masters. It was a huge event. It was at The Garden. Now that it is over here in Europe, it has lost a little bit of popularity in the States.
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I don't think it really matters, who plays first. Whatever they do, they do.
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What I've done in the game is always going to stick, no matter what happens.
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Media access to us is more regulated than in golf.
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I made it look so easy on court all those years. No one realized how hard I had to work. No one realized how much I had to put into it. They underestimated my intensity.
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The future is flying home. That's the immediate future. But long-distance future, I plan on being back. I'm not going to end my time here with that loss.
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A champion is suppose to hate to lose, and it wasn't like I was ever crazy about the idea. But I learned to deal with losing without having my spirit or confidence broken, which would help immensely over time, not just in the big picture but even in specific matches when I found myself in a jam. Fear of losing is a terrible thing.
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By putting pressure on myself to develop a great game, I had less pressure to win. These days, I tell kids that the way I grew up, it wasn't about winning. It was about playing well, about playing the right way. That approach helped me enjoy the game and develop mine to its maximum potential.
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I did it my way, and I have no regrets when I look back on my career that it was just a big focus for me.
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People wrote me off, but I believed in myself. I got the confidence back, and it grew and grew. I won my first major and my last at the place that changed my life.
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Retirement is a work in progress. I try to figure out my day, and what I know about myself is that I need structure.
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It's one-on-one out there, man. There ain't no hiding. I can't pass the ball.
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If Davis Cup was a little bit less or once every two years, I would be more inclined to play. But the way it is now, it is too much tennis for me.
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People know me. I'm not going to produce any cartwheels out there. I'm not going to belong on Comedy Central. I'll always be a tennis player, not a celebrity.
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