Pete Sampras
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
50 free Pete Sampras trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Pete Sampras found a racket in the basement at three, switched to a one-handed backhand at a paediatrician's urging so he could win Wimbledon, and then won it seven times. He was the youngest US Open champion at 19, the year-end No. 1 for six straight seasons, and the only man in the Open Era to win the last major he ever played, beating Andre Agassi in the 2002 US Open final and never returning to the tour. These 50 questions cover the whole career: Palos Verdes and the Jack Kramer Club, Rod Laver at 11, Robert Lansdorp's forehand, Dr Peter Fischer, the 1990 run through Lendl, McEnroe and Agassi, the 1991 "relieved" remark, the 1993 rise to No. 1, the 1,000-ace season, Tim Gullikson's illness and the tears against Courier, the Corretja tiebreak, Krajicek in 1996, Renshaw's and Emerson's records, Federer in 2001, George Bastl, the 17th seed who won the US Open, the Wilson Pro Staff strung at 75 lbs, Bridgette Wilson, Pistol Pete and the stolen trophies. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so a miss still teaches you something. Play it solo or print it for a tennis night.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who beat Sampras in the 2001 US Open?
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Hewitt, then 20, won 7-6, 6-1, 6-1 for his first major; Sampras had beaten three former champions in a row to get there and was playing his second match in barely 24 hours.
Q 02Who last won four straight Wimbledons before Sampras?
Björn Borg
Björn Borg won five in a row from 1976 to 1980. After the last of his own four, at dusk in 2000, Sampras climbed into the stands to hug his parents, who had never before come to watch him there.
Q 03Who beat Sampras and finished 2000 as No. 1?
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo Kuerten clinched it at the season-ending championship in Lisbon, beating Sampras in the semi-final and then taking the title to end eight straight years of American year-end No. 1s.
Q 04On his Davis Cup debut in the 1991 final, Sampras lost both his singles as which host nation took the trophy?
France
France: on an indoor court in Lyon the 20-year-old lost to Henri Leconte and Guy Forget, and the hosts upset the heavily favoured Americans for their first Davis Cup since 1932.
Q 05Which major title eluded Sampras?
The French Open
The French Open: its slow clay took the sting out of his serve, and his best run ended in a straight-sets semi-final loss to the eventual champion.
Q 06Born in Washington, D.C., Sampras grew up in which state?
California
California: his parents left the Washington suburbs for an easier life in a softer climate, not for tennis, and the warm weather let him play for most of the year.
Q 07Sampras's mother Georgia emigrated to America from which country?
Greece
Greece: Georgia Sampras was born near Sparta, came to America in 1960, and met her husband in the Washington hotel beauty salon where she worked.
Q 08Which legend was the young Sampras's great idol, whom he met and played at 11?
Rod Laver
Rod Laver: Sampras said no American star was his idol; he admired the Australian's fairness and humility, and modelled his serve-and-volley game and calm manner on him.
Q 09Which coach converted Sampras's two-handed backhand to one hand with Wimbledon in mind?
Dr. Peter Fischer
Dr. Peter Fischer, a paediatrician who had never coached before, made the switch when Sampras was 14; the boy struggled with the one-hander at first, but it suited the serve-and-volley game they were building.
Q 10Which coach taught Sampras the flat, driven forehand he kept for his whole career?
Robert Lansdorp
Robert Lansdorp, a gruff drill sergeant of a coach, fed him hundreds of balls an hour until driving flat through the ball was automatic; Tracy Austin and Lindsay Davenport learned the same stroke from him.
Q 11What was Sampras's world ranking at the start of 1988?
893
No. 893: he turned pro that year at 16, and by December he had climbed almost 800 places to No. 97.
Q 12Whom did Sampras beat in the 1990 US Open semi-finals?
John McEnroe
John McEnroe, unseeded at 31, lost in four sets. Sampras's parents were too nervous to watch and spent the match at a cinema seeing Presumed Innocent; a day later he was the tournament's youngest men's champion.
Q 13Whose streak of eight straight US Open finals did Sampras end in the 1990 quarter-finals?
Ivan Lendl's
Ivan Lendl's: the three-time champion had played every final since 1982 and fought back from two sets down, but the 19-year-old pulled away 6-2 in the fifth.
Q 21Which coach of Sampras fell ill during the 1995 Australian Open and was later diagnosed with brain cancer?
Tim Gullikson
Tim Gullikson: with his coach flown home ill, Sampras came from two sets down in his quarter-final, weeping in the fifth set after a fan shouted that he should do it for his coach.
Q 22Who took over as Sampras's full-time coach in 1995 after his coach fell ill?
Paul Annacone
Paul Annacone began as a stand-in while the regular coach was treated for a brain tumour, stayed until the end of 2001, and was called back in 2002 for the run to a last US Open title.
Q 23In which city did Sampras win all three of his matches in the 1995 Davis Cup final?
Moscow
Q 14Sampras's first professional title came in 1990 at an indoor event in which city?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia: the U.S. Pro Indoor was where he had lost his first professional match two years earlier; this time he beat two top-10 players on the way to the title.
Q 15After losing his 1991 US Open title defence, Sampras drew criticism for saying he felt what?
Relieved
Relieved: he said it felt like a load of bricks coming off his shoulders, and later admitted he had not been sure he could win another major.
Q 16Who beat Sampras in the 1992 US Open final, a loss he called a "wake-up call"?
Stefan Edberg
Stefan Edberg, the defending champion, won in four sets; Sampras later admitted he had given up 'just a touch' during the match, and said it was the first defeat that really hurt.
Q 17Sampras played only one Olympics, losing a two-set lead in the third round in which host city?
Barcelona
Barcelona: on the slow clay of the 1992 Games he led Andrei Cherkasov by two sets and lost in five, and the Russian went on to a bronze medal.
Q 18Whom did Sampras beat in the 1993 Wimbledon final for his first title there?
Jim Courier
Jim Courier lost in four sets. It was quite a turnaround for Sampras, who had lost three of his first four matches at Wimbledon and complained that the bounces on grass were unfair.
Q 19Roughly how many aces did Sampras serve in 1993, a season total no player had reached on record before?
About 1,000
About 1,000: no one had reached four figures since the tour began counting aces in 1991; he was dangerous enough to hit aces even with his second serve.
Q 20Whom did Sampras beat in the 1994 Australian Open final?
Todd Martin
Todd Martin lost in straight sets; the next year the two Americans paired up to win the doubles that put their team ahead in the Davis Cup final.
Moscow: Russia laid slow clay inside the Olympic Stadium to blunt his serve, yet he won two singles and the doubles, collapsing with cramp after the five-set opener.
Q 24Who ended Sampras's Wimbledon run in 1996, the only year he lost there between 1993 and 2000?
Richard Krajicek
Richard Krajicek, a Dutch outsider who took a seed's place in the draw only when another player withdrew, won in straight sets and went on to take the title.
Q 25Sampras famously vomited on court during a 1996 US Open quarter-final against whom?
Àlex Corretja
Àlex Corretja held a match point in the final-set tiebreak; Sampras, sick with dehydration, saved it with a lunging volley, hit a second-serve ace, and won when the Spaniard double-faulted.
Q 26Sampras's only five-set Grand Slam final was the 1998 Wimbledon final against whom?
Goran Ivanišević
Goran Ivanišević had also lost the 1994 final to him. Three years after this defeat, ranked 125th and needing a wildcard just to enter, the Croat finally won the title.
Q 27Which Chilean challenged Sampras's No. 1 ranking in 1998?
Marcelo Ríos
Marcelo Ríos took the top spot that March, ending Sampras's run of 102 straight weeks; he remains the only man to be world No. 1 without ever winning a major.
Q 28Sampras said 'ten Grand Slams' was the difference between himself and which Australian rival in 1998?
Patrick Rafter
Patrick Rafter had one major to Sampras's eleven when a disputed line call decided their 1998 Cincinnati final; weeks later the Australian cut the gap to nine by beating an injured Sampras on the way to a second US Open title.
Q 29Whose record of 12 major titles did Sampras equal at Wimbledon in 1999?
Roy Emerson's
Roy Emerson's: the Australian won all 12 as an amateur by 1967, the year before professionals were let into the majors, and the record stood until Sampras passed it at the same tournament a year later.
Q 30Sampras's 2000 Wimbledon win equalled whose all-time record of seven gentlemen's singles titles?
William Renshaw's
William Renshaw's: the Englishman won his seven in the 1880s, when the holder skipped the draw and defended his title in a single match against the winner of the rest.