The Coefficient Of Friction Of Pete Sampras

Heres a question for ya.. When is the last time you read a human interest piece about Pete Sampras? Heres a better question for ya.. Have you ever read a human interest piece about Pete Sampras? No? Thats shocking.

Chest hair. Either you have it, or you dont. Or you have a random smattering of it. But there is no gray area. Only a gray hair-ea. Pete Sampras might not be the father of the modern game of Tennis, but hes got ties to their Royal Family. A family that isnt bound by biology, but by the blood and sweat left on the surface and the grand slam trophies hoisted in the air. A family lacking hair of chest on their crest until Pete Sampras played his way in.

The lineage of modern Tennis can be summarized by tracing the 'passing of the torch.' It goes back to Bobby Riggs who passed the torch on to Jack Kramer whom gave it to Pancho Gonzalez. The crown went from Gonzalez to Ken Rosewall and he handed it to Rod Laver. Rod Laver named a few arenas, and then turned the game over briefly to Jimmy Connors who determined that Bjrn Borg was a better suitor. Borg gave way to John McEnroe who gave way to Ivan Lendl. Lendl slowly relinquished the title of heir, the title earned by none other than Pete Sampras. Before his time, it was common knowledge that a tennis star couldnt perform with a Body Hair Index (square inch of body hair per 100lb. of body weight) greater than 40 (Connors was once labeled as pushing the envelope).

Prior to Sampras, it was the norm for a tennis star to look about as masculine as the Dutch Boy. For years it was the baby face being the face of the sport. After the infusion of Sampras, it became okay to be as hairy as an Italian truck driver. A watershed moment. And who would have thought that such a consistently dominant presence lacking flair (basically, the Andy Pettitte of the ATP) could possibly have brought about such a unique watershed moment for all of Tennis? At the time, it looked like another dominant presence was asserting himself atop the world rankings. But what those actively looking didn't see, was a door opening. You're welcome, Roger Federer.

Federer may admit that Sampras is an influence. But he wont go as far to say hes his hair-apparent. Federer will claim that it was hard-work, diligence, natural talent, and detailoriented preparation that got him to where he is. What he won't claim, is that he broke through on a trail that was blazed by Sampras. A gentlemans game that used to be offered only to the well-groomed social elite, professional Tennis was once an exclusive club that implicitly denied hairy men. It wasnt until the woolly warrior Sampras created some friction against the institution of tennis, leading to what we see now: hairy men that are commonplace on center court.

We once thought that chest hair couldnt thrive bridled underneath fabric. And Tennis was once opposed to the idea of a hyper-masculine poster boy. But Pete proved us otherwise, merging and dissipating the myths. He demonstrated to naysayers that massive tufts of abrasive hair could be resilient enough to survive for 5 sets underneath a neck-line, and obedient enough to also oblige. He then blew them away with his play between the baseline and the net. He ushered in an era of Mens Tennis as a sport fueled by testosterone that forges gentlemen. Making it the intense version of golf. A sport of integrity and class, sportsmanship and humility. A sport that until he arrived, was not sponsored by Barbasol.

Pete Sampras is a pioneer that nobody talks about. An innovator that brought about subtle change. In the spotlight he was winning grand slams, behind-thescenes he was breaking down barriers. Obstacles nobody knew were there, because nobody knew they were upholding them. Subconsciously denying the hairy man his equal due. But Sampras fought hard for equality, and gave us 286 dominating reasons to reconsider the constituency of professional Mens Tennis. The number 286? That is not the number of budding follicles still hyperfunctioning on Sampras chest. That is the number of weeks he has spent as the number 1 rated Tennis player in the World. All while playing with his sweater still on. Federer has since passed that mark, but ultimately should thank Sampras who afforded him the opportunity.

There was no one like him before his time, and someone that was sort of like him shortly after. But what Sampras did, and what he represented, created a nownoticeable impact. So influential to me in fact, that a non-avid tennis fan such as myself is writing about him years later, in the month of Movember.