Wimbledon Review 2000
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History was in the air from the very start in 2000; the new millennium bringing with it great changes at the All England Club. The Millennium Building - built on the site of the old No.1 Court - was opened with extensive new facilities for players and members of the press.
To mark the arrival of 2000, the club celebrated nearly 70 years of its history with a parade of former champions. The seats were packed on the middle Saturday as 64 winners of singles and doubles titles lined up the famous court.
From Sidney Wood, the 1931 champion, and the 93-year-old Bunny Austin, through to Rod Laver, Margaret Court and Billie Jean King and on to John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, they were introduced to the crowd, took their applause and then posed for their photographs. The stellar gathering was led by Andre Agassi, the link with the present, who, wrapped in a track suit, appeared first and then sprinted off to prepare for his match. An historic occasion, indeed.
Then there was Pete Sampras. He declined his invitation to attend the parade as he had more pressing matters on his mind. For most of his career he had been rewriting history and as he came to The Championships for the 12th successive year, his CV already looked very impressive. But there was one record left to be broken, one more chapter left to write. The year before, on Centre Court, he had equalled Roy Emerson's tally of 12 grand slam singles titles. Now he could beat it.
2000 was Sampras' last Championship title at Wimbledon, beating Pat Rafter in an emotional rollercoaster of a Final. He came to London on the back of a serious back injury and not having won anything since March and again his chances were not great. He had even been beaten at Queen's two weeks before but still Wimbledon worked its magic on the man. And him on it. Even the tendinitis that had almost felled him in the early rounds was shaken off as Sampras wrote his own chapter in the history books.
He burst into tears and then ran for the back of the stands
to find his parents, Sam and Georgia, who had flown in overnight
to see their son make history. It was Sampras' last great
moment at the All England Club. Two lean and title-free years
later, he was rewriting the record books again, winning his
14th grand slam title at the US Open by beating Agassi. That,
he thought, was enough and with nothing left to achieve and
no prospect of bettering those last two grand slam triumphs,
he called it a day. History could take care of itself from
now on.
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