When I think of Pete Sampras, the first word which comes to my mind is clinical. The second, which Vijay Amritraj often reffered Sampras with, is champion. In sport, there is always the contemporary versus past debate. We always like to ponder over and even conclude wherever possible who the greatest ever has been. Is Tiger Woods better than Jack Nicklaus? Is the recent Australian cricket team even better than the invincibles of 1948 and the West Indies of the 80s? Did Lance Armstrong do enough to become the best ever in his sport? Is there ever going to be some one who is going to emerge as good as a Bobby Fischer, Mohammad Ali, Nadia Comaneci or a Don Bradman?

Aren’t all sporting competitions set to find out who the best is given the time and place? So dwelling over the greatest over eras is only natural. We even compare the greatest of various sports to try and evaluate the greatest sports persons to have graced us with their presence. So some one will argue that Michael Jordan was the greatest as he changed the face of basketball while others will go for Mohammad Ali as he stretched beyond sport itself while yet others while vouch for Bradman as his margin over cricketers in any era is vastly bigger compared to any sportsperson in his or her sport.

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