Now retired, Sampras has firmly sailed off into the sunset and doesn’t really fulfil media or pundit duties as some of his former opponents like to.
Sampras won 15 Grand Slam titles and at one point, many felt that would struggle to be beaten but then the big three of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal came along.
Naturally, the American’s achievements were blown out of the water but that still doesn’t take away from what he managed to do when he was strutting his stuff out on the court.
Sampras has zero interest in getting involved with the coaching side of things either and ultimately, he’s happy to keep himself to himself these days.
The player who Pete Sampras picked as the next big thing
It’s not overly clear when the footage was originally taken but as part of the ATP’s feature Chat With the Champions, Sampras was quizzed on the next big thing.
Sampras paused briefly and then picked out Grigor Dimitrov which perhaps isn’t a surprise given his reputation when he was a burgeoning youngster.
He said: “I think Dimitrov. I think he hits the ball great. He just has to figure out a way to win. He’s just a little confused out there. I think he’s got all the shots, he serves well, moves well but he’s the one guy who I think could do some things.”
Sampras dominated the sport in the nineties but it’s fair to say that Dimitrov has failed to live up to his expectation as everyone’s next big thing when he was coming through the ranks.