A Champion's Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis

Pete Sampras' "A Champion's Mind" is indeed a 15th grand slam.

It never ceases to amaze me how generally people that move quiet, are soft spoken and calm are, turn to be the best writers, authors and talkers. Sampras' may have got a bit of help from his editor, but still it is impressive how relaxing and smooth this book can be... pretty much as his tennis was.

It is an interesting read that I recommend not only to tennis fans but also to people that are into knowing what is it that spins around the brain of successful people: from their first steps, through their growth, their falls, their peaks and finally their retirement. Pete basically gets naked on subjetcs as his family, coaches, trainers, friends, competitors, basically everything he never talked about during his days on the tour.

Another fun point worth every penny is Sampras' sarcastic sense of humour. Sometimes I felt I was reading something written by Conan O'Brien or David Letterman. Probably it is because as I said earlier you have this serious, non-emotional guy telling you this unexpected line at a very uptight situation. One example is what Sampras thought when he met Bridgette Wilson (whoever read the book will know what I'm taking about).

Objetive and no auto-flattering behavior, Sampras shows respect for himself, his peers and his predecesors as well as the new school of tennis players. One thing I would really like to ask Pete is why he placed Ivan Lendl as one of the GOAT, instead of perhaps the one player people relate him most -Pancho Gonzales-; the others named I agree. From my read, it seemed like Sampras had a bit more of respect for Lendl because of Ivan being so friendly and helpful to him during his first days on the tours. Who knows. After all, a few chapters into the book you realize that Pete is human, has a heart, has feelings and emotions, and may be a little subjective at times. Yet I wouldn't argue with him as I'm not even a Pro Tennis Player.

A Champion's Mind deserves 5 stars and no less, because it delivers what it says and it delivers what people would always expect from Pete Sampras: nothing else but 100% high quality.

This is a regurgitation of Pete Sampras' career as he saw it. This is not an in depth analysis. For example, no mention of his first two girlfriends that traveled with him extensively. Nor, is it substantially in depth on match play, a point her or there but generally an overview of the match with many matches in important tournaments skipped completely.

But what this book does perfectly is a general perspective of Pete's influences, how he developed and also how hurt he was by some of what the press said. How would you like to turn the TV on and listen to an announcer call your wife the Yoko Ono of tennis?

What comes through loud and clear is this is a class, quiet guy with a passion and ability for tennis. And that was enough for him. Unfortunately, it was not enough for Connors and McEnroe who at different times felt they needed to take shots at him.

Now, I must admit I am a big Pete Sampras fan so maybe the bar is lower for me. But reading the flow of his development and career, his great parental influence, and the setting of his career makes this a worthwhile book if you have any interest in tennis at all. I strongly recommend this book for tennis fans.

This was a great book, I bought it for my husband who is a big Sampras fan, but I read it, and it was great! He did a great joy talking about his life and his family.

This book is everything most sports autobiographies are not. It's well written, interesting, revealing and honest. The title says it all - the reader is taken on a journey into the mind of a champion. It might be debatable whether Sampras was the most talented player of his generation but it is undisputed that he made the most of what he had, and this book shows you how he did it.

Sampras doesn't engage in any false modesty, cheap shots, boring self-promotion or irrelevant ramblings. He takes to the task of writing about his life in tennnis with the focus, skill and execution that befits a man who was the world's #1 ranked tennis player for 6 straight years.

I haven't read a better sports autobiography.

This book was by far the greatest tennis book i have read yet. It sends not only a message to tennis players about the physical aspect of the game, but the tremendous mentality you must posess in order to make it to where Pete did. He did a great job of laying that on the table and i believe this book can help out even our top notch players today by taking a look at the game through Petes great career. He doesnt try to beat around the bush or be modest, he tells it how it is and i think many will benefit from that. This is a great book not for just Sampras fans, but anybody looking to taking their game to the next and most important step; getting the mentality down. It helps you look at things differently on and off the court to better yourself. Would recommend to anyone!