[intense music]
[producer] All right,
now, we're giving
every one of you aces,
you number ones, the trivia.
Since the inception
of the ATP rankings,
there have been 29 number ones.
That's not so many, actually.
[producer]
Tell me how many you can name.
We're doing it with everybody.
I'm not picking on you.
Ooh. Yeah, hard one.
I don't think
I can name all of them,
but I would probably
get to 20 or something.
♪
Ilie Nastase.
Nastase was
the first one in '73.
-Borg.
-Borg.
-Borg came around.
-McEnroe.
-Klaus.
-Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
I'm not even going for order.
Get the easy ones
out of the way.
-Federer.
-Federer.
Federer.
-Nadal.
-Nadal.
-Djokovic.
-Carlos.
Muster.
-How many are we at?
-Uh, okay.
I wish I'd prepared for this.
Okay, let me think back.
Who else was there?
Stefan Edberg. Andre Agassi.
Some of my favorite
players growing up.
-Boris Becker.
-Wilander.
-Pete Sampras.
-Sampras.
-Agassi.
-Agassi.
-Muster.
-Muster?
Oh, man.
-This is disappointing, man.
-Rios touched number one.
-Moyá.
-Then Kafelnikov.
-I can count myself.
-Um... Guga.
-Edberg.
-It's a wonderful place to be.
♪
The best player in the world,
and, you know,
that's one of the things
that I'm the most proud of.
[intense music]
Looking back at all the success
all the Swedish players
had in the '80s,
you know, we had five players
in the top ten at one stage.
{\an8}Most of the players came
from small cities, at the time.
Mats and myself being
from the same area in Sweden,
you know, just two hours apart,
it's almost unheard of.
One of the things that's really
triggered
that belief
that I could get on the tour
was when I was 15,
Mats Wilander wins the
French Open at 17 years of age.
From then on,
things started to change.
{\an8}Stefan and me, we played
in the juniors together,
{\an8}and he was just the perfect
player in the juniors.
{\an8}He won all four
Junior Grand Slams.
{\an8}That never happened before.
But the transition
getting into the pro tour,
it was not easy,
at least not for me.
Playing from the back
of the court, you know,
people really got
to my back end, which was weak,
because I wasn't quick enough.
It was a wake-up call
because you're used
to winning everything,
and suddenly,
you're not winning any matches.
[Cahill] You can suffer,
as a junior,
from having early success.
{\an8}That transition to the seniors
is really difficult
{\an8}because you need weapons,
you need finishing skills,
{\an8}and most importantly, you need
to shore up your weaknesses.
{\an8}[commentator speaking
in another language]
My backhand was weak,
so the solution
is you kick serve,
you come in behind
your first and second serve.
They can't get at your back end
at the back of the baseline.
I'll be up at the net, and
I'll be hitting my best shot,
the backhand volley.
It was a little bit
of a solution, you know,
changing my game, and that's
how I won a lot of matches.
I played differently.
{\an8}[speaking in another language]
[Carillo]
Stefan Edberg shows up.
{\an8}He's a serve and volleyer,
he's got one-handed backhand.
What are you doing?
You-- This is not Swedish.
♪
[commentator]
Game, set, match, Edberg.
{\an8}I love watching Edberg.
He had a big kick serve.
{\an8}Moved really well.
Great volleys.
{\an8}His backhand volley
was incredible.
He was smooth,
you know, he was graceful.
[Becker] I think what
set him apart was the footwork.
{\an8}[commentator]
He was like a Baryshnikov.
Like, he was floating
on the court.
His bearing was elegant,
you know.
He was a classical
tennis player,
like, from another age.
I mean, Edberg was a dream.
{\an8}His serve and volley
was like throwing a carpet
{\an8}from the baseline to the net.
You know, it just unrolled.
It was just perfect.
How do you say bravo
in Swedish, Stefan?
{\an8}Um, bravo.
I never really liked
the spotlight,
but I've accepted it.
As a professional athlete,
you have a responsibility,
you know, for the way
you conduct yourself.
He stays cool, he stays calm.
Because there's fire
in everybody who's out there.
{\an8}[commentator] Edberg was
a little upset
{\an8} with that return serve.
{\an8} It was far too high.
{\an8}[Edberg] Being out there
for hours and hours,
{\an8}yeah, it's not always
{\an8}that you have good thoughts
in your mind.
Some people need to show it
more than others.
Say things, or do things,
or get involved
with the crowd or umpire.
There are certain things
you would have liked
maybe to scream, but you don't,
because you have
a certain reputation.
Everybody's going
to know about it.
Thank you. Thank you.
I think the last time I really
broke a racket was, actually,
I think I lost
a match as a junior.
But, you know,
this frame was so strong,
you couldn't really break it.
There's an ATP
Sportsmanship Award,
and Edberg won it so many times,
they said the hell with it,
let's just call it
the Stefan Edberg Award.
{\an8}They often say
nice guys finish last,
{\an8}but, of course,
in Edberg's case,
{\an8}nice guys finish first.
{\an8}[intriguing music]
{\an8}In August 1990, in Cincinnati,
{\an8}one of my favorite places
to play tennis.
Before going into this week,
I knew that I had a chance
to become number one.
Sometimes you feel you're
really tired, you're losing.
[crowd cheering]
Then, suddenly, you get
a few free points,
and you get a chance,
and suddenly,
your energy level goes up,
and you win that point,
and suddenly,
you're back in the match again,
because we all know that
the one who wins the last point
wins the match.
[commentator]
What an effort.
The number one player
in the world,
Stefan Edberg.
[crowd cheering]
I wasn't really drinking
any alcohol at all,
but what I do remember
is my Chandon champagne
that was open on the balcony,
in the hotel room
in Cincinnati, with my wife.
Huge moments,
a sip of champagne.
{\an8}[producer]
{\an8}[commentator]
{\an8}[Edberg] I've been
the number one-ranked player
{\an8}in 1990 by the end
of the year, 1991.
{\an8}And I really wanted to get
a third year in there in '92,
{\an8}and I knew that I had a chance,
{\an8}but I played
some really poor matches.
That really frustrated me.
You have to enjoy it
while you can,
because it's never
going to last forever.
You do have to work hard
to stay there.
All right, okay.
Yeah, it was about time when
I see this picture. [laughs]
It's from 1991,
the finals in Melbourne.
That's, um, was the moment
when I became
officially world number one.
[intense music]
{\an8}In Germany, the tournament
they showed every year
{\an8}was Wimbledon.
So, young boys
were obviously influenced.
My goal, growing up,
was always, at one time
I want to play
on Wimbledon's Centre Court.
My very first round
at Wimbledon,
they put me third match
on Centre Court.
I was, at the time, 6'3",
and I think I walked around
like I was 6'8",
because you know,
you all of a sudden feel
"Wow, that's the place to be."
And then,
as the tournament went on,
I had a couple of tough matches,
but I had this "never say
die" attitude already then.
[crowd exclaiming]
[Carillo] Becker came on so big.
He was like,
I can drive on the ground,
and make the volley,
and stand up again,
and make the other volley.
Like, he was treating
Centre Court
like it was a playground.
He loved being out there.
[crowd cheering]
For no good reason, he thought
he could win Wimbledon at 17.
Like, really? Really?
You're supposed to be in awe.
You know, this is Wimbledon.
{\an8}[crowd cheering]
I remember the night before
I was dreaming about it,
holding up the trophy already.
In my mind,
I already pictured it,
that I'm going to win the match,
and I wasn't afraid.
[grunting with effort]
[crowd cheering]
And once it was match point,
I wasn't
all of a sudden surprised
that I had match point.
You're not afraid
to do that extra jump.
[commentator] That's it.
He's done it.
And that wins it.
What an incredible achievement,
and how good that was for
tennis, and for German tennis.
And he really became
a superstar overnight.
[Becker] I mean,
they called me a phenomenon.
There's a German word,
Wunderkind, the wonder boy.
But I was 17 and a half.
I wasn't even allowed
to drive in Germany.
♪
{\an8}[speaking in German]
There was a poll taken.
who Boris Becker was.
{\an8}[speaking in German]
Less than
could name the chancellor
of their country.
{\an8}[Kayser]
[Becker] Naturally, I didn't
win every tournament after.
And, you know,
the press had a field day.
He had his famous
[Wertheim]
This happens a lot.
{\an8}The glow fades,
{\an8}and eventually the results
don't come anymore,
{\an8}and you go from being
hunter to the hunted.
Who doesn't want to take down
the Wimbledon champion?
And it gets to you.
It gets to you now.
But imagine 17, or 18, or 19.
I wasn't comfortable at all.
I mean, some of these things
were embarrassing for me.
You know,
how could a 17-year-old
carry a nation, all of a sudden?
Taking that mantle over
was very heavy.
At times, it was too heavy.
But most importantly, nobody
asked me whether I wanted it.
Fast-forward 12 months.
When I came to Wimbledon
to try to defend it,
they said,
winning it at 17 is unusual.
Defending it at 18,
it's impossible.
Even my coach
and manager thought,
"It's not going to happen."
[uplifting music]
I must have been
in the zone for two weeks
because 18 years old...
{\an8}[crowd cheering]
{\an8}[commentator]
...I lost one set
for the whole tournament.
{\an8}[commentator]
[crowd cheering]
[Wertheim] Becker played
like no one else played tennis.
No one else had that serve,
no one else had that grip.
It was a lot of offense
and a lot of power.
I was the first
real power player
where I would
overpower opponents
with my serve,
with my ground strokes,
the way I was hitting the ball.
And I thought I had
a little bit more horsepower,
so they would double-fall,
they'd get nervous,
they're making easy mistakes,
and I'd put pressure on them.
[crowd exclaiming]
[crowd cheering]
I had a lot of power,
but I was a slow mover.
My footwork wasn't great.
So, in order to get
to some of these ba*ls
at the net or at the baseline,
I had to dive.
I loved playing football,
I was a goalkeeper,
I was a striker, so, diving
wasn't difficult for me.
But when I did it
in the tennis court,
what I would do
to get to a ball,
it was surprising,
and maybe it was
a little bit intimidating
for the opponent.
[Drucker] Boris Becker brought
a new level of physicality
and agility
and athleticism to tennis,
and it was fitting
that he began to have a rival
with someone else
who played that way.
[tense music]
Becker-Edberg was
a sneaky good tennis rivalry.
It was an interesting contrast
in styles,
it was an interesting contrast
in temperaments.
{\an8}I mean, my heroes were
Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg.
{\an8}Growing up, I remember watching
the biggest tournaments.
Showing me how
the game can be played.
[crowd exclaiming]
With Becker,
it was big and bold.
Becker would use the crowd,
and he would show his fury.
Every now and then,
Stefan would just throw
the tiniest fist
if he won a big point.
Like, that was, ooh, Stefan
is really showing it, you know?
They were nothing alike.
Boris would be jetting off
to Monte Carlo,
and Edberg would be repairing
to his garden in Sweden.
It was difficult for me to play
Stefan because I liked him.
He was just a great guy.
With Lendl, I didn't get along.
With McEnroe,
I didn't get along.
It was easy to get excited
to play these guys.
{\an8}Stefan was a nice guy.
{\an8}Even on the court,
he was fair play.
{\an8}He would clap you, good shot.
Just a gentle, nice man.
How do you get angry with that?
How do you get psyched up?
[crowd gasping]
[crowd cheering]
[Wertheim] Go back
and look at the stats.
One or the other won Wimbledon
five out of six years.
We played three
Wimbledon finals in a row.
It should have been the fourth
one, but I messed up somehow.
But I really enjoyed it.
I think he did as well.
[crowd cheering]
I played in the Wimbledon final
in '88, '89 and '90,
and only winning
one out of three.
That kind of sucks, right?
This number one ranking
is missing from my CV.
Either it was Wilander,
then Lendl, it was a long time,
then Edberg.
I was always two.
I was like the longest
number two in the world,
never becoming number one.
I mean, how many weeks?
{\an8}[producer]
{\an8}There you go.
Imagine, you go crazy.
{\an8}♪
{\an8}The night before,
I couldn't sleep.
{\an8}I was so excited.
If I beat Lendl tomorrow,
I'm going to be
the new number one.
[Carillo] And Lendl
loved the Australian Open.
He loved the heat
of the Australian summer.
A lot of players
could not win 21 sets
playing in that kind
of summer heat.
But this was a very driven guy.
He wanted to prove that
he deserved to be number one.
[commentator] That's it!
Becker is the new champion.
[crowd cheering]
[somber music]
The strongest feeling
I had was relief,
like, I've done
that now, finally.
[crowd cheering]
In a spur of the moment,
I left the court.
[commentator] Becker
still hasn't reappeared.
I didn't want to have
a winner's speech.
I didn't want to have
a presentation,
because I felt that this moment
now only belongs to me.
I just wanted to be alone.
♪
And then one of the linesmen
ran after me,
saying, "Boris,
the whole world is watching.
You need to come back.
You need to hold the trophy.
You need to get
the presentation."
[crowd applauds]
And then he convinced me.
Yeah, I cannot say
very much right now.
{\an8}It's just unbelievable
for me at this moment.
{\an8}And thank you all.
And I'm sorry. Thank you.
[crowd cheering]
I mean, you want
to be there forever, right?
But obviously, you can't.
{\an8}[producer]
{\an8}Way too short. 12 weeks.
It's very difficult
to be there once.
It's even more
difficult to stay.
But you don't want
to pass the torch.
You want to keep it
as long as you want.
And if someone takes it over
from you, you're upset.
You don't like it.
It's a problem.
{\an8}[producer]
Uh, Courier. Yeah, Jim.
[intense music]
[commentator]
Edberg versus Courier,
the top two players
in the world,
in the final
of the Ford Australian Open.
{\an8}I remember running up against
Stefan Edberg in the final
{\an8}and Stefan had beaten me badly
in the US Open final
{\an8}in the prior major.
But you look at the rankings
and you realize,
"Well, this is a real shot.
I'm going to get to number one."
Jim Courier, at the time,
he was coming on
very, very strong.
He was younger than I was.
He was hungry.
And he played
some exceptional tennis.
[commentator]
Oh, good point by Courier.
[Carillo]
He was very determined.
He was trying to prove
that he could be
the next great American.
It all sort of just
happened in a flash,
and I went for it from there.
♪
[commentator]
Game, set, match, Courier.
{\an8}[Evans] Jim Courier grew up
in a family
{\an8}growing oranges
in central Florida,
{\an8}with no special education,
but a big brain.
{\an8}Very intelligent boy.
{\an8}It was not a big tennis town,
and he was a baseball player.
{\an8}You look at his backhand grip,
it was like this crazy-a*s...
{\an8}It was a baseball grip.
But he didn't just want to be
some kid from Florida
who was good at tennis.
He wanted to be much more.
{\an8}He really wanted
to become great,
{\an8}and he took every step possible,
{\an8}and that included
sharpening his skills,
{\an8}going to Europe,
competing there.
Most young players,
after three weeks,
you know, they've seen
the Eiffel Tower,
and they-- they wanted
a hamburger.
Jim found himself
a French girlfriend,
and learned the language.
♪
{\an8}[speaking in French]
I still had areas in my game
that needed development
and I knew that,
we'd had a plan with my coaches
that we were going to continue
to work, no matter what.
[Wertheim]
This is not a player necessarily
kissed by the gods.
This was working, and studying,
and controlling
everything he could control.
[Carillo] As Jim would say
time and again,
hard work is a talent.
Dedication is a talent.
In the beginning, he was just
kind of a basher of the ball.
{\an8}Then he got hold
of a terrific Spanish player
{\an8}who became a coach,
José Higueras,
{\an8}who taught him
how to play on clay.
My coaches, they taught me
how to think on the court.
They gave me another set
of eyes to use, to be aware.
You can't get
too inward-looking.
You have to be aware that you're
playing chess against someone,
and you have
to watch their moves,
and be ready to counter-program.
{\an8}♪
[Agassi] Jim was strong.
{\an8}I wouldn't call him fast,
{\an8}but I would call him
a hard mover,
{\an8}like, he was going to go
after everything.
And you knew his legs
weren't going to fail him.
You had to just sort of say,
"Damn, props,
I want to go back to my
hotel room and take a nap."
{\an8}[commentator speaking in French]
Winning that put me in
a different place, mentally.
It gave me an incredible
amount of confidence and belief.
It certainly also added
a little bit of pressure.
I definitely had
high expectations for myself.
[Carillo] He knew that
he deserved to be there
because he had outworked
everyone around him.
Jim said,
"The hell with this.
I want to take
that next bump up."
[Courier] There's no doubt
that a number one player
carries a huge target.
That's a big scalp
for any player
in the locker room to try
and get a win against.
It's a badge of honor, also,
and it's something
that gives a lot of confidence
when you carry it.
{\an8}♪
{\an8}[commentator]
{\an8}[speaking in French]
{\an8}[speaking in French]
[Wertheim]
He wins Roland Garros,
charms the crowd
by speaking in French.
He'd go to Australia,
and he'd dive in the river.
[indistinct shouting
and cheering]
For a guy who won four majors,
and was the youngest player
ever to reach the final
of all four majors, Jim Courier,
he's sort of a sneaky,
underrated career.
Jim Courier becomes
number one in 1992,
and it's a real testimony
to his strong work ethic,
and devotion to the game.
[crowd cheering]
But by 1993, his good friend,
and one-time doubles partner,
Pete Sampras,
had really blossomed
into his game.
♪
Oh yeah, this is my first...
first Wimbledon in '93.
{\an8}♪
This was a big moment
against Courier.
We were both battling
for that top spot.
[Evans] Jim almost
got to a point
of being able to beat
Pete Sampras.
[crowd cheering]
Pete was just too good
on the serve and volley.
[commentator] Great serve
there, by Sampras.
[crowd cheering]
[Sampras] Pretty cool
to look back, you know.
{\an8}I had a lot more hair
back then, too.
{\an8}But I think this was
the beginning
{\an8}of my dominance.
Man, I was so young
and so green.
And at 19, you know,
I got into the Open,
and I got through
the first week,
and I remember playing
Lendl in the quarters.
McEnroe there in the semis,
and then Andre in the finals.
[commentator] Game, Sampras.
I was serving huge.
I was doing everything
I wanted to do.
I had nothing to lose.
It was a fairy tale.
I remember,
because I called this match,
we had a tight shot
of Andre's eyes.
And they were scared.
[man in crowd] You got this!
[Agassi grunts]
[commentator] Game, Sampras.
[crowd cheering]
I had no business
winning the Open at 19.
I don't think I was ready.
I don't think my game was ready.
But the next thing I knew,
I was holding up that trophy.
And I just felt a--
a little overwhelmed.
I just, I wasn't used to it.
I wasn't ready for it.
I was uncomfortable.
-Congratulations.
-Thank you.
-Has it all sunk in yet?
-Not really.
-It's been a really long week.
-Yeah.
A lot of interviews,
but each day
it's gotten a little
bit better and better.
It took me a minute,
you know, I was a little shy.
I was a little bit apprehensive.
A lot of times
you'd be more comfortable
if you could have your arms
so that they can move,
so they're not supporting
your weight at all.
I learned that
I needed to do some things
that I didn't want to do,
and it was part of the job.
It took me a couple years
to kind of find my feet.
But once I did, I just felt
a pretty good balance.
[reporter] This 21-year-old
son of Greek immigrants
is one of the superstars
of sport.
Pete, to hear the title,
World Champion Pete Sampras,
doesn't sound bad, does it?
Well, I'm very happy.
I thought I played good tennis.
♪
In '93,
I got to be number one.
This was a big moment
in his career.
♪ What I got to know ♪
I'd like to congratulate Pete.
Not too many people get
to the top, buddy, so enjoy it.
♪ All right, baby, come on ♪
♪ See what you do ♪
♪ Let's get it, get it ♪
[announcer] This year he won
10 titles on the IBM HP Tour,
more than any other player
for the second consecutive year.
In every respect, Pete Sampras
is the number one
player for 1994.
♪
{\an8}[producer]
{\an8}I would say I bring...
{\an8}danger.
[grunts]
I was dangerous.
The people
were scared to play me.
[Kafelnikov] The whole
athleticism of his game
was fantastic.
{\an8}He could shift
a couple of gears more up
{\an8}to play as well as he can.
{\an8}The bigger the moment,
the more trouble he was in,
{\an8}the better he played.
That was Pete's genius.
You can't coach it.
[crowd cheering]
I just had this inner belief
about my game, under pressure,
that I was going
to come through.
[commentator] Fastest serve
so far of this match.
My jump overhead, I think,
was the most exciting shot.
{\an8}As a kid, I saw Noah do it,
and I thought, you know,
{\an8}that looks pretty cool,
the way he does that.
I was pretty good at basketball,
and so I started to do it.
You know, I could jump.
I think my second serve
won me a lot of Wimbledons.
-Come on!
-[Cahill] Deadly second serve.
That serve was a b*mb.
{\an8}I played against,
you know, McEnroe, Connors,
{\an8}Wilander, Lendl, but Pete,
{\an8}he was probably
the toughest player
{\an8}I played during my career.
♪
{\an8}[Becker]
I've never played Djokovic,
{\an8}I've never played Rafa,
I've never played Roger,
{\an8}but Pete was the best thing
{\an8}I've ever seen
on the other side of the net.
Pete's the reason I quit.
♪
Maybe the best match
I've ever played
was the ATP final
in Hanover against Pete,
and he still beat me
{\an8}[commentator]
{\an8}[speaking in German]
{\an8}[reporter] Okay.
I realized that on my best day,
and on his good day,
he's better than me.
I couldn't take that.
[crowd cheering, whistling]
[Sampras]
I felt like, at that time,
I was the man to beat.
I was number one in the world,
and things were going well
for me on the court,
but off the court,
it was definitely
a little more stress.
Pressure, expectations,
you don't sleep well,
you don't eat well.
I got an ulcer
for a couple years,
and wasn't feeling well,
and was losing weight,
and it really
is a single-minded focus
that is not for everyone.
It's an internal will to just
grind through tough matches,
you know, tough conditions.
{\an8}Really hard moments.
{\an8}1995, Sampras' coach and very
close friend, Tim Gullickson,
{\an8}had been forced
to leave Melbourne
{\an8}and head back
from Australia to the US
{\an8}due to some serious
health concerns.
[Sampras] Off the court,
I was dealing with a friend
and a coach that
was having some problems.
I was trying
to keep my sh*t together.
[commentator]
This is not Sampras
at his top, I've got to say.
And a fan yells out,
"Come on, Pete,
do it for your coach."
[Sampras]
And, you know, I broke.
I felt exposed,
I felt vulnerable.
[indistinct shouting]
{\an8}[man]
{\an8}[audience laughing]
It's an intimate moment,
and you know, you almost
want to do that in private.
You know, I remember
feeling relieved,
it felt good to physically
let it go a little bit.
[crowd cheering]
-[commentator] He's got it!
-[crowd cheering]
We're not robots,
we're human, and...
it's not always perfect,
you know, your life,
and there's always something
you're dealing with,
and that was certainly
the case for me,
and I think for a lot of people.
[Agassi] You don't get to number
one by accident, right?
You get there because you
bring something new to the sport
that anybody else out there
obviously hasn't seen
because they couldn't
deal with it.
♪
{\an8}[Drucker] Andre Agassi grew up
in a real working-class family.
{\an8}His father was an
Armenian immigrant,
{\an8}he'd been an Olympic boxer,
{\an8}and Mike saw tennis as
the passport for his children.
I was just
simply raised to believe
I was going to do it
better than anybody.
His father developed
a ball machine that just kept
spitting ba*ls at Andre
from the time he was young,
and he grew up hating tennis,
but he was
so unignorably good at it.
{\an8}There's a joke when Ivan Lendl
first saw him play,
{\an8}he said, "Oh,
he's a haircut and a forehand."
[commentator]
That's a terrific shot.
Andre Agassi became
number three in the world at 18.
People were instantly aware that
this guy was hitting the ball
with a power and a speed
that had not been seen before.
[crowd cheering]
You know, he was different.
I just loved his game,
I loved his game style.
♪
{\an8}When Andre was at his best,
{\an8}he was the toughest player
to play against.
You get that feeling
of Andre's playing
ping-pong on a tennis court.
-[crowd cheering]
-He just controls the game.
♪
He could get on my serve,
I could hit
those big kick serves,
and I knew
he was there to return.
[commentator]
Agassi eats those for lunch.
{\an8}And when he served, I could chip
it back and get to the point,
{\an8}he could run me around,
{\an8}and then I'd come to the net,
and he'd pass me.
[crowd cheering]
Hey, pretty bloody ugly.
[commentator] Rafter says,
"What do I have to do here?"
He's sucking wind, right there.
[Rafter] And he would
ignite the crowd,
and he could look even better
than what he already
bloody looks.
[reporter] When he walked out,
instead of wearing sweatsuits,
he had on a pair of jeans.
And let me tell you, there's
a lot of teenyboppers around,
and they went nuts.
He was a big deal,
and he already had
all manner of endorsements.
Way before he became
number one in the world.
[commentator]
Down the line, it's good!
Agassi!
{\an8}Within this
very conservative game,
{\an8}you come out
and are an iconoclast,
{\an8}people are naturally
going to gravitate towards you.
[commercial announcer]
What is the image of a rebel?
[Carillo] He thought
it was a throwaway line.
Image is everything.
And then,
he was pilloried for it.
Like, you're supposed to be
this great athlete.
Image isn't everything.
Yeah, it's just because he was,
I guess, a bit of a rebel,
and when you're a kid, you're
maybe a bit drawn to that.
With Agassi,
you've got the bleached mullet,
the denim shorts,
you've got the pink Nikes.
{\an8}He was the one
with the private jet
{\an8}before private jets
were cool.
[Nathan] It all cohered into
this very cool sense of style,
style in a way that is harder
to see on the tour now.
Everything's curated
in a certain way,
where it felt a little
more loose and organic
back in the Agassi days.
Our first guest
is one of tennis'
most flamboyant personalities,
-Andre Agassi! Andre!
-[audience cheering]
{\an8}No one was more primed
for People magazine
{\an8}than Andre Agassi.
He embraced the celebrity.
He was dating famous women,
like Barbra Streisand.
Yes, if you forgot, Andre Agassi
dated Barbra Streisand.
And then, of course, was his
romance with Brooke Shields.
Brooke Shields at the time
was the hottest model around.
{\an8}He was living a rock star life.
The sport of tennis
was also really going
from country club
to mass interest.
He was such a great player,
but it was hard
to track him properly.
He didn't win
a major until 1992.
[grunting with effort]
[commentator] Game,
set, match, Agassi.
[crowd cheering]
He won Wimbledon, of all-- like,
that's your first major, really?
♪
He was technically
the soundest player
I ever saw play the game.
Once he got that extensions off,
it's all good for him,
and his tennis.
[Carillo] If you want to have
the Grand Slam
championship match
of your dreams,
all you want
is a guy like Pete Sampras
and a guy like
Andre Agassi butting heads.
He's the one guy
that I've always felt
that I can go out
and play good tennis,
and he can still beat me,
and I can't say that
about a lot of guys on the tour.
[commentator] Oh!
Sampras, he tracks it down.
When you add his execution
in big moments
to his serve in big moments,
to his movement in big moments,
to his volleys in big moments,
you're just like,
"Okay, there's one thing
that's clear today.
I got to play
my best, and pray."
With a lot of these rivals,
there's a very satisfying
contrast in personalities,
and sometimes as a writer,
you want to avoid
the trope of fire and ice,
but they were so clearly that.
[Sampras]
He grew up in Vegas.
I grew up in Palos Verdes,
two very different environments.
Andre, very expressive
on the court.
He wore his emotion
on his sleeve.
He dressed a little more wild,
and I was very, um,
a little more vanilla,
so to speak.
Mariah Carey, ugh!
Where's Pearl Jam
when you need 'em?
And he was just, you know,
a little more outgoing.
[reporter] Did you remove
your body hair?
[Agassi] Yeah, I guess
you could say that.
It makes me
a little more aerodynamic
-out there on the court.
-[laughter]
I remember a really cool,
I think it was
the Spike Jonze commercial.
[rock music playing]
Anytime you could get
them counter-posed
against one another,
it was just really entertaining.
Pete and I were friends,
but then you have to
define that more sharply,
you know.
I think a friend wants
to be understood, you know,
and as competitors, the more
somebody knows about you,
the more they can weaponize it.
You can't be too close
to your opponents,
but I liked Andre, you know.
We didn't have
to hate each other.
{\an8}[commentator] The two most
expl*sive players in tennis
{\an8} are in today's final.
Pete Sampras of the USA,
the number one player
in the world,
takes on Andre Agassi.
This was a big, important event.
A lot of money's on the line,
prize money,
there's TV contracts.
This was a big-- you know,
after the four majors,
this was the biggest event.
Pete Sampras wakes up,
he's feeling dehydrated.
I was battling
an ulcer at the time,
and I woke up feeling nauseous,
and feeling--
my stomach, I just was off.
And I stick my head
in the training room,
and Pete is on the floor.
He's just depleted,
completely depleted.
And I said, you know,
I don't think I can play.
You know,
maybe if I got an IV in me,
and they asked Andre
if that was cool.
Would you give him
two or three hours to recover?
Internally, I said to myself,
"I can't beat this guy sick."
I don't deserve
to win this tournament anyhow.
It's like, sure.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] And Andre Agassi
graciously allowed a delay,
because the rules
would have allowed Agassi
to be named a champion.
He went out on the court,
and I thought
he was going to be
a walking zombie.
He goes with a 5-1 lead,
like, out of nowhere.
[commentator] I mean,
here's a guy who shouldn't
really even be out here.
[commentator 2] You got it.
I was not expecting that,
the way
I was feeling in the morning.
He just showed up, and went
to another level, beat me 3-3.
[commentator]
Four aces in the final game,
and Pete Sampras is
the Lipton champion for '94.
Tennis culture
doesn't exist in a vacuum,
and the leaders set the culture,
and they have
this act of sportsmanship.
People remember this,
and other players remember this.
Unless I can beat
the best player in the world,
I don't deserve
to take home the trophy.
And I certainly
don't deserve it
if I can't beat him
when he's sick.
[laughter]
{\an8}[Drucker] 1995 was the real peak
point of their rivalry.
Agassi, in April of '95,
becomes number one.
He beats Sampras
in the Miami final
in the third-set tiebreaker.
I told my dad who was going
into open-heart surgery
that I'd get him next week,
so I'm going to dedicate
this win to my dad.
[crowd cheering]
I was glad to tick
the box for my dad.
I mean, you know, my father
always introduced me as a future
number-one tennis player
in the world when I was seven.
You know,
it was important to him.
[upbeat rock music]
{\an8}Playing Pete in the finals
in '95,
{\an8}it was a big deal.
The rivalry
was really coming into its own.
[crowd cheering]
[crowd cheering]
That's for you, Timmy!
Once I got a taste
of being number one,
I was like,
I'm not going to let this go.
I'm going to do what I can
to stay on top for as long
as I can, and work hard
and sacrifice.
[Wertheim]
I think in the mid-to-late '90s,
Pete Sampras kind of
still ruled the roost.
But in the meantime,
you really got a sense
of how diverse tennis was,
how global tennis was,
and also how competitive.
If you get hot,
you better stay hot,
because there's someone else
who's going to be
close to you in the points race.
[Muster]
Obviously, Pete and Andrew
were the better players.
I don't want to compare myself
with either of these guys
because they've been
such great players,
but it's nice to crash
someone's party at the time.
[laughs]
[commentator] Muster,
one of the most difficult
players to play in the world.
[Kafelnikov] I'm not going to
even describe...
what it felt like to play him.
{\an8}To be honest, I wish Novak,
Rafa and Roger have played him
{\an8}when he was on his best,
because that was unbearable.
[Agassi] Tomas,
he was going to smother you.
[grunting with effort]
Muster wasn't
like a venomous snake,
he was like a python.
He'd get you
and you weren't dead,
you felt like you're still alive
and there could be a chance,
but he knew you were dead,
"I have you,
and every time you exhale,
I'm going to squeeze."
[commentator]
An emphatic finish.
{\an8}When you are playing,
{\an8}you've got to be
a bit of an as*h*le.
And that's something
maybe that I had,
and maybe some people didn't
like me for that,
but I was a tough cookie
and I'd never give up
and I'd fight
with anything I had.
{\an8}[commentator]
When somebody was really
struggling physically,
playing those angles,
I'd play another angle,
absolutely demolish them,
pay me back,
for all the pain I had
to get there,
you feel a bit of that.
{\an8}'89 was a really good
start of the year.
The first time
cracking the top ten,
which is kind of a milestone
for a tennis player.
{\an8}A couple of hours before
the final was to begin,
{\an8}we get word that Muster
was in a car accident.
I was behind the car
and the trunk was open,
and then, suddenly,
it just went boom.
{\an8}I hear the squeaking tires,
{\an8}the car backed up,
and twisted my whole knee,
{\an8}and police,
and ambulance and everything,
{\an8}all my ligaments were gone,
and that knee was a mess.
From one moment,
you have the happiest day,
you crack the top ten, all that,
and then 45 minutes later,
your whole life
turns upside down.
[reporter]
Although he realized that
his tennis career
might well be over,
Thomas refused to give in.
[dramatic music]
[Carillo] Within weeks,
he had jerry-rigged this bench
where he could be hitting
whilst sitting down.
Being really fixed
in that chair, holding on.
I really got
muscly around there.
I was hitting
the ball enormously hard,
like, just from my upper body.
And he was playing tennis
within half a year.
You've seen Rocky and, you know,
you get that kind of
mindset that you are
unbeatable and undestroyable.
♪
[Carillo]
I mean, that is a career-ender.
That could have been.
And he became number one
after that.
{\an8}I mean,
that tells you everything
{\an8}you need
to know about Thomas Muster.
[grunting with effort]
[commentator] That's it!
Serve, set match.
Muster.
[commentator 2 speaking
in French]
When you play well
and you keep winning,
you don't think as much
about winning or losing.
You just do what you do,
and it just happens,
and it just becomes
a great journey.
I think I deserve the number one
because of the '95
exceptional season.
People said Thomas Muster
never had talent.
He was a hard worker.
Hard-working is a talent.
You don't win a Grand Slam
and you're not number one
in the world and you don't win
or 44 in your career
if you're not talented.
[commentator] Muster hasn't lost
the knack of lifting trophies.
How many more times
are we going to see this sight
in the next couple of months?
It's crazy.
In my mind, a perfect movie.
I don't think ever anybody
thought that an Austrian
could be number one in tennis.
I pushed some mountains away
for people to believe.
{\an8}If I look back,
I don't know how I did it.
[Sampras] To see someone else
take my spot,
it bothered me.
So, that was sort of my drive.
And I didn't like it.
It was like,
"Oh, I'm happy for--"
No, I was pissed that I wasn't
number one at the time.
{\an8}During the reign of Sampras,
{\an8}we're also seeing
the game globalize.
{\an8}We're seeing the tour
get a lot deeper.
Talent pipelines
we hadn't seen before.
[Wertheim] You had this
revolving cast of players.
They didn't look similar.
They were from oceans
away from each other.
They played differently.
They had different philosophies.
All getting to number one.
[reporter]
Marcelo Ríos is facing
the biggest moment of his life.
A thousand Chileans rented
a couple of planes
just to watch him try to become
number one in the world.
Every time I played
a South American
in Key Biscayne, it was like
I was playing an away game.
Now with Marcelo,
who is going for something
that the world was aware of,
it seemed to be cranked up
an extra octave or two.
[reporter] A raucous atmosphere
for the men's final.
[crowd cheering]
Marcelo Ríos was gifted.
A lefty who could hit
any spot he wanted.
[commentator]
Pinpoint hitting.
He could take the ball
as early as I could take it,
if not, in some cases, earlier.
He knew what he was doing
when he came forward.
And he was 5'8".
You know, I mean,
you know how gifted
you have to be to just
dominate the way he did?
[commentator]
Ríos can do it all.
Yeah, the guy was really
talented.
[commentator] Approach the net
with extreme caution.
He is an extraordinary
counter-puncher.
{\an8}[Moya]
{\an8}[commentator]
It's turned into a soccer game.
I just remember thinking,
I got three to five hours
to figure this out,
out here.
And I didn't realize
that I really only had
about two hours
because he just
absolutely chopped me.
[commentator] Men's tennis
has a new number one.
{\an8}[Ríos speaking in Spanish]
[crowd cheering]
[man]
Number one in the world.
What a great honor.
We congratulate you.
There had never been
a South American
to hit the number one ranking.
He comes back and he's given
a hero's welcome.
Thousands of people.
It's interesting how there
come moments when an athlete
becomes something other than
just a successful athlete
but becomes a national hero.
[chuckles]
{\an8}[Moya speaking in Spanish]
Spanish tennis had been
around for a long time,
and there were great
Spanish champions,
men and women.
And I think he understood
that he could have
a role to play,
and to add on to that legacy.
[commentator] Are we seeing
what is the start of one
of the next great players
in Carlos Moyà?
{\an8}[Ciriza speaking in Spanish]
{\an8}[Moya speaking Spanish]
[commentator] Moyà,
with a huge return.
{\an8}[speaking Spanish]
{\an8}[players grunting]
[crowd cheering]
[commentator]
Set match, Moyà.
{\an8}[Ciriza speaking Spanish]
{\an8}[Moya speaking Spanish]
{\an8}[Ciriza speaking Spanish]
[grunts]
{\an8}[Moya speaking Spanish]
Think about this pocket.
I mean, this is a very
compressed number of years.
And you've got Thomas Muster,
burly, clay court specialist,
you had Marcelo Ríos, this
quirky wildly talented lefty,
then it would be
Carlos Moyà from Majorca.
I think it's
all really speaks well of tennis
that it creates space
and can accommodate
all of this difference.
[commentator]
Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov
has become known
as the marathon man of tennis
having played more matches
than anyone else on the tour.
I felt like there was,
for me, opportunity.
And, you know,
why don't you take opportunity?
You know, opportunity comes
once in a lifetime.
You should not waste it.
That number one position
was something
I was hunting all the time.
[commentator] 14-love.
[Kafelnikov] I completely knew
my physical ability.
I didn't
waste time on the court.
Kafelnikov was tireless.
He practiced hard,
he played singles hard.
In 1996, when he won
the French Open singles,
he also won
the French Open doubles.
[Medvedev]
He's the last player to win
Grand Slam in singles and
doubles in the same tournament,
so that's a huge
achievement.
{\an8}For example, me, I don't see
myself playing doubles.
{\an8}I would be dead, physically.
{\an8}He was a monster.
I had a strong will
and I've always been driven
about reaching some goals.
To win the tournament,
to become a top ten player,
you know, to win the Slam and,
you know, of course,
to become number one.
And I learned that nothing
can stop me if I wanted
to accomplish something.
When the match come
into these crucial stages...
I know what to expect.
It was huge, it was beyond
anything I could have imagined,
you know, to see your name
on top of the world.
I still, up to this date,
I can't even believe that.
It was a huge story
in Russian newspapers,
first Russian ever to become
number one in the world.
I got a telegram
from the president at the time,
Boris Yeltsin sent me,
and it was
the big congratulations, saying,
"We're really proud."
{\an8}[announcer speaking in Russian]
Kafelnikov was the first great
tennis player of Russia,
and he still remains, I think,
the greatest Russian ever.
I'm really proud.
I'm really proud of what I did.
And, of course, once I became
number one,
I became hunted.
You know,
everyone wants to chase me.
I felt like perhaps finally
we made a competition
to Pete Sampras,
who was the king
of the ATP ranking at the time.
You're always looking, "Who's
trying to take me off my spot?"
Like, son of a b*tch,
I'm getting back on top.
Tennis is like boxing.
We've been competitors,
and we're all fishing
in the same pond.
It was tough to be friends
with a lot of the guys
that I was playing with,
knowing that they're
taking food off your table.
You need to have this anger
sometimes in yourself
when you have to put on court.
I'm in your face,
and then I'm also going to be
fighting to the very end.
You've got to, you know,
somehow find a way
to compete even harder.
Applying pressure,
increasing the level
of power until you fall.
I felt like, "What
are you doing on my court?
Like, I'm world number one."
Because there is
only one number one.
I mean, that's a very profound
statement, but it's true.
[producer] Cut, and--
I was number one in 1973.
It's very nice to be
the first one.
I'm a big
nostalgia tennis lover,
knowing the history of
the game is important to me.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
That was fun.
Thank you.
Thanks, guys.
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