Air Force when Pete was a boy. His mom, Georgia, is a housewife and he has a brother, Gus, and two sisters, Stella and Marion. At the age of three, Sampras could "both throw and kick a ball in a straight line," his dad told
World Tennis. "I didn't know that Pete would play tennis, but I knew he was an above average athlete." When Sampras was seven, his family moved to Rancho Palos Verdes, California, when his dad accepted a new job. Because the weather was nice so much of the year, Sampras and his sister Stella began to play tennis, a game they'd hardly ever played in Washington. "[In Washington] the only tennis Pete and I had played was against the basement wall and at the local high school tennis courts," Stella once told
World Tennis. First coach
As a child, Sampras's hero was legendary Australian tennis star, Rod Laver. When Sampras was nine he met Peter Fischer, his first coach. Fischer was a pediatrician--a doctor who specializes in caring for children--who also taught tennis. He encouraged Sampras to learn all aspects of the game, changed his backhand from a two-handed to one-handed stroke, and taught him how to compete on the tennis court.
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