The Agassi–Sampras rivalry was a tennis rivalry between Andre Agassi and

Pete Sampras Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...

, who were both ranked world No. 1 during the 1990s. Sampras held the world's top ranking for (a then-record) 286 weeks while Agassi held it for 101 weeks. With contrasting styles and temperaments, they played each other 34 times from 1989 through 2002, with the head-to-head finishing 20-14 favoring Sampras. It has been named as one of the greatest tennis rivalries of all time. In Grand Slam tournaments, they played in five finals, with Sampras winning four. They met for the first time in a Grand Slam final at the 1990 US Open, with Agassi the favorite because of his superior ranking even though Sampras had defeated former world No. 1 players Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe en route to the final. Sampras defeated Agassi in straight sets. In one of their matches, at the 2001 US Open quarter-final, Sampras won with the score of 6–7^(7–9), 7–6^(7–2), 7–6^(7–2), 7–6^(7–5); throughout the match, no player broke the other's serve. The last match in their rivalry came at the 2002 US Open final. It was their first meeting in the final since Sampras won in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. Sampras went on to win the match in four sets. This was Sampras's last career match, as he announced his retirement from the game a year later at the 2003 US Open. Agassi retired in 2006 after 20 years on the tour. From their first ATP match to their 1995 US Open final match, their head-to-head was tied 8–8. From their 1995 US Open final match to 1999, their head-to-head was 9–3 in favor of Sampras. Agassi has often said that the 1995 US Open loss was a powerful blow to him that took him years to recover from; amid this and other psychological issues he subsequently plummeted to world No. 141, and it marked a significant shift in their rivalry. From 2000 to their last match in 2002, their head-to-head was tied at 3–3. At the time of their retirements, Sampras held the all-time record for most men's Grand Slam titles, with 14. This broke

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...

's record of 11 titles won in the Open Era, as well as the 12 by Roy Emerson from before the Open Era. On the other hand, Agassi, who claimed 8 Grand Slam titles, was ranked joint third for most titles in the Open Era, and joint fifth all-time at the time of his retirement. Agassi was the second man after

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

to win the singles Career Grand Slam in the Open Era and one of then-five (currently eight) overall. By winning the gold medal in men's singles at the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, he became the first male player to achieve a

Career Golden Slam The Grand Slam in tennis is the achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline in a calendar year, also referred to as the "Calendar-year Grand Slam" or "Calendar Slam". In doubles, a team may accomplish the Grand Slam p ...

in singles tennis. The Career Grand Slam proved elusive for Sampras, as he was unable to find significant success on the serve-neutralizing

clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Clay courts are made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate depending on the tournament. ...

s, reaching only one

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

semi-final in his career. Agassi also held the then-record for most ATP Masters Series (AMS) shields (since 1990) with 17. Also, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game."Sampras, Agassi Have Just Begun to Fight"
'' Los Angeles Times''. Retrieved April 8, 2012. In retirement, Agassi and Sampras have found bonds to continue their friendship on a deeper level.

Head-to-head

Singles (34)

Agassi 14 – Sampras 20

Breakdown of their rivalry

* All matches: (34) Sampras 20–14 * All finals: Sampras 9–7 ** Hard courts: Sampras 11–9 ** Grass courts: Sampras 2–0 ** Clay courts: Agassi 3–2 ** Carpet courts: Sampras 5–2 ** Masters Series matches: Tied 5–5 ** Masters Series finals: Agassi 3–2 ** Grand Slam matches: Sampras 6–3 ** Grand Slam finals: Sampras 4–1 ** Year-end championships matches: Sampras 4–2 ** Year-end championships finals: Sampras 1–0

Performance timeline comparison

Grand Slam tournaments

* Bold = players met during this tournament

1986–1991

1992–1997

1998–2002

ATP rankings

Year-end ranking timeline

Career evolution

Agassi and Sampras were born fifteen and a half months apart. Agassi's birthday is April 29, 1970, while Sampras's is August 12, 1971. A different viewpoint of their career evolution is offered by taking the season they ended with an age of 16 as starting point, and comparing their accomplishments at the same age. For instance in 1996, Agassi finished the season being 26 years old and holding 3 Grand Slam titles.