that favored backline play and power serves rather than the
intense volleying and improvisational net play that had,
just a decade earlier, made the game among the most popu-
lar sports in the world.
Early in the decade, tennis faced enormous chal-
lenges. When the introduction in the 1980’s of
larger, sleeker metal and fiberglass rackets that in-
creased the velocity (and accuracy) of first serves
turned the sport into a game of aces and short ral-
lies, fans found the new play dull. More problematic,
however, the insulated world of professional tennis
(the best players were selected for private training as
early as twelve and privately schooled) had created a
cadre of pros unable, and often unwilling, to bond
with fans. Tennis pros seemed unapproachable and
self-absorbed. Given the tremendous pressures, the
best players emotionally and physically burned out
while still teenagers. With overscheduling of dozens
of tournaments during an overlong season, televi-
sion ratings inevitably declined. The problems ten-
nis faced were perhaps best summarized by the de-
cade’s two defining rivalries: for the men, Pete
Sampras and Andre Agassi; and for the women,
Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.
The Rivalries With his power and explosive fore-
hand game, Sampras was perfectly fitted for the new
era of tennis. Not surprisingly, “Pistol Pete” domi-
nated grand-slam play in the decade (save the clay
courts of the French Open). Indeed, in 2000,Sports
Illustratednamed him the sport’s athlete of the cen-
tury. By decade’s end, Sampras had accumulated
more than sixty singles titles (including twelve
grand-slam titles) and had spent more weeks ranked
number one than any player in the sport’s history
(including 286 consecutive weeks). However, it was
his decade-long rivalry with Agassi that gave Sam-
pras, otherwise perceived to be robotic and dull, his
best moments. Although he was born within a year of
Sampras, Agassi had been part of the 1980’s brat era
and had made his name with his rock-star persona,
his long hair, his outrageous lifestyle, and his credo,
taken from his commercials for Canon cameras, that
“Image is everything.” By the 1990’s, however, Agassi
rededicated himself to the game and emerged,
against Sampras’s baseline game, as the decade’s
dominant court player, directing play from mid-
court with remarkable eye-hand coordination that
allowed him to return even Sampras’s rocket-serves.
Agassi developed into a fierce volleyer known for
both his stamina and his deep court shots that com-
pelled opponents to run; he was thus perfectly
suited to challenge Sampras’s power game. The ri-
valry made for the decade’s most compelling ten-
nis—indeed, tennis’s highest-rated television cover-
age in the decade came with the 1995 U.S. Open
final between Sampras and Agassi. By the numbers,
Sampras dominated the rivalry (winning twenty of
the thirty-four matches), but if Sampras collected
the titles, Agassi captured the imagination.
For the women, German Steffi Graf emerged in
the mid-1980’s because, like Sampras, her style fit
the new power game. Indeed in her grand-slam
sweep of 1988, she relied on her forehand power,
her devastating first serves, and her methodical con-
trol of the baseline. Like Sampras, during the 1990’s
she dominated the world rankings (377 weeks at
number one) and accumulated dozens of tourna-
ment wins (including twenty-two majors, second
only to Margaret Court Smith). It was in the early
1990’s, however, that Graf was challenged by Monica842 Tennis The Nineties in America
Pete Sampras reacts after defeating Andre Agassi in the U.S. Open
on September 10, 1995. (AP/Wide World Photos)