This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 12/10/2015.
“Pistol Pete” Sampras earned his nickname from his astonishingly accurate serves and became known as one of the greatest players in tennis history. He is the former #1 player in the world and still holds the ATP record of six year-end #1 rankings, which came consecutively from 1993-98. Sampras became the first professional to break Roy Emerson’s pre-Open Era record of 12 Grand Slam titles, ending his career with 14. The first of those 14 Grand Slam titles came in 1990 at the U.S. Open in Flushing, NY. Sampras skated through the first four rounds of tournament play and found himself in the Quarterfinals facing Czechoslovakian tennis player Ivan Lendl. Sampras was able to defeat Lendl in five sets, breaking Lendl’s record streak of eight consecutive men’s finals reached. His next opponent was John McEnroe, who he defeated in four sets to advance to the finals against fellow American Andre Agassi. Sampras made quick work of Agassi defeating him in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 and 6-2 to capture his first career Grand Slam title. Two “Wilson” manufactured “PRO STAFF” graphite tennis racquets used during the 1990 U.S. Open. Each racquet bears the player initials “PWS” in white on all four faces. Both racquets have been signed by Sampras, the orange handle in blue ink and the purple handle in black marker, in our opinion the signatures rate a strong 7 overall. The racquets are properly labeled, were presented to us as match-used and in our opinion show excellent signs of match-use with four broken strings on each racquet. Accompanied by a LOA from JSA and an additional LOA from Pete Sampras’ brother, and partner in Pure Sports Management, Gus Sampras.
Shown here at left is the Letter of Authenticity from Gus Sampras, Pete's brother and partner in Pure Sports Management, which states one of the racquets was used during the 1990 U.S. Open where Pete won his first ever Grand Slam Title. The other racquet, which clearly shows signs of match-use, could possibly have been used during his record-breaking streak at Wimbledon. Indicators such as the detail on the grip, the grip tape, placement of the Wilson logo and the horizontal black string second from the bottom leads us to believe that it could well be the racquet he's shown holding at the moment of victory. We were told by our consignor that both were donated to a charity auction by his brother Gus, who unfortunately just grabbed a second racquet without documenting its lineage.