ing the second round in the French Open, losing in
the first round at Wimbledon, and reaching the
fourth round in the U.S. Open.
During the 1990’s, Sampras made himself fa-
mous. Early in the summer of 1990, in Manchester,
England, Sampras won his first professional tourna-
ment. Later that year, in the U.S. Open, he defeated
Andre Agassi in the final match to become the youn-
gest man ever to win the tournament, which marked
the first of his record-setting fourteen grand-slam
singles titles. More victories in grand-slam tourna-
ments followed in the decade: at the Australian
Open in 1994 and 1997, at Wimbledon from 1993 to
1995 and then from 1997 to 1999, and at the U.S.
Open in 1993, 1995, and 1996.
Among the grand-slam tournaments, only victory
in the French Open eluded Sampras. The clay courts
in that tournament worked against his favorite style
of play, marked by powerful serves that were more
effective on grass, as at Wimbledon, or on a hard sur-
face, as at the U.S. Open. Nevertheless, he some-
times played exceptionally well on clay, as in Moscow
during the 1995 finals of the Davis Cup, when his
skill and determination in singles as well as doubles
helped the United States defeat Russia.
After the 1990’s, because of age and a genetic ten-
dency toward anemia, Sampras lost enough quick-
ness and endurance to make it hard for him to stay at
his peak. Nevertheless, he won Wimbledon in 2000,
and he won the 2002 U.S. Open in a final against
longtime rival Agassi. After that tournament, al-
though he played exhibition matches and partici-
pated in a senior tour, he effectively retired from
topflight competition.
Impact Some experts consider Sampras to be the
greatest tennis player of all time, while others point
to his failure at the French Open as a reason for
choosing someone else for that unofficial honor.
Nevertheless, his record itself is beyond dispute. For
286 weeks, he held the top rank among the world’s
tennis players, including every week between April
15, 1996, and March 30, 1998. At the end of each of
six years in a row, from 1993 to 1998, he emerged
ranked number one. Without doubt, Sampras was
the best tennis player of the 1990’s.
Further Reading
Branham, H. A.Sampras: A Legend in the Works. Chi-
cago: Bonus Books, 1996.
Parsons, John.The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Tennis: The
Definitive Illustrated Guide to World Tennis. London:
Carlton Books, 1998.
Rich, Sue.The Tennis Handbook: A Complete Guide to
Acing Your Game. New York: Three Rivers Press,
2006.
Victor LindseySee also Agassi, Andre; Olympic Games of 1992;
Olympic Games of 1996; Seles, Monica; Sports;
Tennis. Saturn Corporation
Identification Small-car division of General
Motors
Date Started production in 1990
Place Spring Hill, Tennessee; Detroit, Michigan
The creation of Saturn Corporation was an attempt by Gen-
eral Motors to use innovative management strategies and
systems to build economical vehicles that would compete
with Japanese imports in terms of quality and cost.
The oldest and largest automotive conglomerate in
the world, General Motors (GM) created a wholly
owned subsidiary, Saturn Corporation, in the mid-
1980’s, and conducted a nationwide search for a lo-
cation for its final assembly plant, which was built in
Spring Hill, Tennessee. GM created a unique distri-
bution network of new dealerships with a new sales
philosophy: no-haggle pricing where the manufac-
turer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) was the nation-
wide price, with no discounting. Each dealership
had its own region so that there was supposedly no
competition among Saturn dealers, only against all
other carmakers.
Although GM had for over two decades built
nearly identical vehicles on the same platforms un-
der different marques, Saturn was allowed to create
its own subcompact vehicle platform with a unique
engine (initially, a 1.9-liter in-line 4 with single-cam
and dual-cam versions). The final assembly plant
in Tennessee had a management structure that
blended union and management personnel. All
Saturns built throughout the 1990’s had polymer
(hard plastic) dent-free side panels, but by 2007, the
use of polymer side panels had been discontinued
on all Saturn vehicles. There were innovative struc-
tures at Saturn, including work teams of six to fifteen
persons with an elected team leader, but design and742 Saturn Corporation The Nineties in America