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A Champion's Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis | 
 enlarge | Authors: Pete Sampras, Peter Bodo
Publisher: Crown
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.06
You Save: $10.89 (44%)
New (26) Used (4) from $14.06
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 903
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.5 x 0.9
ISBN: 0307383296
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.342092
EAN: 9780307383297
ASIN: 0307383296
Publication Date: June 10, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20080721215920T
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Product Description
Pete Sampras is arguably the greatest tennis player ever, a man whose hard-nosed work ethic led to an unprecedented number one world ranking for 286 weeks, and whose prodigious talent made possible a record-setting fourteen Grand Slam titles. While his more vocal rivals sometimes grabbed the headlines, Pete always preferred to let his racket do the talking.
Until now.
In A Champion’s Mind, the tennis great who so often exhibited visible discomfort with letting people “inside his head” finally opens up. An athletic prodigy, Pete resolved from his earliest playing days never to let anything get in the way of his love for the game. But while this single-minded determination led to tennis domination, success didn’t come without a price. The constant pressure of competing on the world’s biggest stage—in the unblinking eye of a media machine hungry for more than mere athletic greatness—took its toll.
Here for the first time Pete speaks freely about what it was like to possess what he calls “the Gift.” He writes about the personal trials he faced—including the death of a longtime coach and confidant—and the struggles he gutted his way through while being seemingly on top of the world. Among the book’s most riveting scenes are an early devastating loss to Stefan Edberg that led Pete to make a monastic commitment to delivering on his natural talent; a grueling, four-hour-plus match against Alex Corretja during which Pete became seriously ill; fierce on-court battles with rival and friend Andre Agassi; and the triumphant last match of Pete’s career at the finals of the 2002 U.S. Open.
In A Champion’s Mind, one of the most revered, successful, and intensely private players in the history of tennis offers an intimate look at the life of an elite athlete.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
a champions life by pete sampras July 25, 2008
Great story of a great athlete, Pete is a great champion and yet a
normal and humble kind of guy... his words are sincere and the book is a
good read...
Reliving Pete's Career July 22, 2008
I've been an avid Petenik since the kid won the U.S. Open at the tender age of 19. I was living in NYC at the time and got to see him play at Flushing Meadows just once during the first Grand Slam that he won. This book took me back to that time (and earlier), and walked me through the fantastic wins and frustrating losses that I watched on TV. As a result, I am rummaging through my vast piles of video tapes of his matches and converting them to DVDs so I can enjoy them again without worrying that they will fall apart.
 Champion's Mind July 8, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book gives great insight into how to achieve your goals. From a young age Sampras knew what he wanted to achieve and worked hard to accomplish it.
The book is for Sampras and tennis lovers. It focuses on specific matches and the story behind them.
Great summer sports read.
Even Federer can't top this one July 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As Jon Wertheim said, "Consider this book Sampras' 15th grand slam." More than a tennis memoir, the always private and unassuming Sampras, of all people, let's you get inside of his head. Especially, as he discusses the latter stages of his career when sportswriters, fellow players and other experts considered his championship days to be over. Pete openly lets readers in on what went through his mind and how he was able to overcome any thoughts that kept him from focusing on one thing throughout his career, winning tennis matches.
Couldn't put it down! June 23, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I cracked open the book on a transatlantic red-eye flight thinking that I would read a couple of chapters to put me to sleep. Boy, was I wrong! I finally slept but only after finishing the book.
I am a tennis nut but I thought the content would be appreciated even by people that aren't tennis nuts. He covers his career and key matches but there is a lot of coverage given to people, his relationships and what made him a champion. It is difficult to walk the fine line of sounding confident without coming across as arrogant but Pete Sampras does a good job of that throughout the book like he did/does in real life - he talks about the Gift and how he went about harnessing it. He has very candid commentary about a number of other fellow pros like McEnroe, Connors, Lendl, Federer, etc. He talks about his relationships and competition with his generation of American players (Agassi, Courier and Chang) in a lot of detail as well as his relationship with his coaches through the years. All in all, if you are a tennis fan (or follow sports in general), this is a must read!
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