“Pete Sampras ruined 20 years of my life” – Goran Ivanisevic gets brutally honest about his ‘toughest’ opponent
Goran Ivanisevic recently opened up about the challenge of facing Pete Sampras for a major part of his career. Sampras and Ivanisevic locked horns 18 times on the ATP Tour, with the former leading the head-to-head record 12-6.
They faced each other four times at The Wimbledon Championships. In a recent interview with Vecernji List, the former Croatian tennis player mentioned that Sampras was the toughest opponent in his career. They competed in the final round of The Wimbledon Championships for the first time in 1994, which the former American player won 7-6(2), 7-6(5), 6-0.
He again dominated Ivanisevic during the grass-court Grand Slam semifinal next year with a thrilling five-set win 76(7) 46 63 46 63. Reflecting on these matches, Ivanisevic admitted that Sampras consistently won important points to clinch victories.
“Then the final and the man who ruined 20 years of my life,” Ivanisevic said. “Mr. Sampras. I played really well, but he was better. He won the first two sets in a tie-break, and then the third 6:0. Not because I played badly, but because he was one step ahead at every moment. I had a chance the next year. We met in the semi-finals, but even then he won in five sets. I was better the whole match, but he was winning key points. The story was repeating itself over and over again, like deja vu.”
Sampras and Ivanisevic again faced each other in the final round of the Wimbledon Championships, where the American cemented his dominance 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
