Tennis greats are never born, only made. While modern greats Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have set new records in terms of Grand Slam victories, other legends came before them. We have already featured Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors in this series, three men who redefined the sporting focus tennis enjoyed.

Between those greats retiring and the current ‘Holy Trinity’ taking over the mantle as greats who would sweep all before them, however, there was a fantastic yet often overlooked period of tennis, dominated by three Americans – Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Jim Courier. Between then, the trio won an incredible 18 Grand Slam titles. We start our look at the American sharpshooters with a look at the man known as ‘Pistol Pete’.

It’s hard to summarise Pete Sampras’s legendary success in tennis from the viewpoint of the present day. In terms of Grand Slams, ‘Pistol Pete’ – so named for the rapid-fire first serves that were constantly fired across the net – Pete Sampras won 14, a number by all of Djokovic (17), Nadal (19) and the current ‘greatest of all time’ Federer (20). Back in 2002, when he retired, however, Sampras was the man.

Blessed with the kind of serve that every other player of the age envied, Sampras burst onto the scene as a pro into 1988, having been born to a Greek father and a Jewish mother in Washington and played tennis since the age of three.  His first Grand Slam title came in 1990, however, when he won the U.S. Open, an event he would go on to win a record five times in the Open era.