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“In tennis, no one takes your shots. As defensively reserved as I am, I had to cope with layers being peeled away from me, with what happened in Moscow (when he overcame terrible cramps to lead the United States to victory in the Davis Cup final in 1995), Australia (when he cried his eyes out on the realisation that Tim Gullikson, his coach, was dying in 1995) and the US Open (when he vomited on court playing Alex Corretja in 1996 and was accused of faking).

“I had no control over these things and that is what sport did to me. But I had a desire to be the best and I was willing to sacrifice everything to make it.

NI_MPU('middle'); “There were great high points — winning Wimbledon (in 2000) when my parents were there for the first time and sharing that with them. The 2002 US Open was for my wife, who was pregnant with Christian and yet was being blamed for what had gone wrong with my tennis over the two previous years.

“They (the press) said I got married and I was lazy, but I was just tired. The low point in life was dealing with Tim’s death, because death is something I’d never confronted before. It has been nine years and I still think of him constantly. In tennis, it was losing to (George) Bastl at Wimbledon in 2002. Do you know what was weird? I got to the press conference and I could feel I was going to cry. I got home and I did cry. I was so hurt, so sad, so very sad. It was the lowest I’d been as a tennis player.”

During that match, Sampras prised a letter from his racket bag and read it over and over. In it, Bridgette professed her love for him, whatever the result. It did not matter to her. He welled up.

That Sampras married an actress is hard to reconcile. “You have to find the right actress,” he said. “If Bridgette had been a glitzy glamour girl, I wouldn’t have gone out with her and certainly not married her. Once I got to know her family, where she came from, what she was like, I was totally comfortable. I couldn’t have lasted two dates if it involved being dragged from premiere to premiere.”

Sampras yearned acceptance, but his introvert nature had little appeal to the outside world. “I always wondered why, instead of taking me for what I am, it was always about what I’m not,” he said. “They didn’t want the reserved, quiet guy, they wanted me to do or say something to make their jobs easier. Do I feel the mainstream media didn’t appreciate me? Absolutely.

“From grand slams two ’til nine I got a reasonable response, nothing great; then from nine and ten onwards, as the record got closer, I found more people willing to appreciate. I was one of those who was happy to let my racket do the talking in a society that wanted more than just a great tennis player. I became very sensitive early on but it got to the point where, sure, I cared, but I just cared less.”

Today he will play a round of golf — he has a handicap of six — take Christian, his “extremely energetic” 2-year-old, to the range, work out for a couple of hours, then have a quiet dinner with Bridgette. No rush. No bother.

He has financial interests in Tennis magazine and the embryonic Tennis Channel, he may put some cash into NetJet, a company involved in private jets (not bad for someone who, when he won his first tournament in Philadelphia in 1990, feared the plane might crash and he would not be able to spend his $130,000 winner’s cheque).

He plays Texas Hold ’Em, the popular poker variety, a couple of times a week with his country club set. Pistol Pete to Poker Pete. Quite some transformation. Quite some man.

The legend