"My wife pretty much put her career on hold to travel with me" - When Pete Sampras spoke about his family & the final stages of his career

Before the Big 3 era began in 2003, Pete Sampras was the biggest name in tennis and held the record for the highest number of Grand Slam titles on the men's circuit.

The American won the Australian Open twice, the US Open five times, and the Wimbledon Championships as many as seven times, taking his tally to a staggering 14 Majors. In an old interview, the former World No. 1 said he wished that people who thought he was a natural knew how hard he had always trained.

"I just wish for people to see how hard I have trained over the years. I put in a lot of time and a lot of hard work. I was focused. I would win events, come home, take a few days off, and go back on the tennis court. I mean that was kind of my life," Pete Sampras said.

Sampras married former actress Bridgette Wilson in 2000 and as he revealed in the interview, she put her career on hold to travel with the tennis star just so they could be together. After going through a lean period after winning his 13th Major at Wimbledon in 2000, there was a lot of criticism in the press, not just towards Sampras but also his wife, which bothered him.

"Every time I walked into a press conference or did interviews about retirement and stopping and marriage, I was so tired of it," he added. "I had enough and I just wanted to win one more Major. My wife pretty much put her career on hold to travel with me because we wanted to be together. But it was hard, it was taxing on our marriage. There's no question. I wasn't doing well, few people in the press blamed her, and that bothered me. You can criticize me but don't criticize my family."

The American legend fought hard and won the 2002 US Open, after which he decided to retire from professional tennis.

"As I won it and I came home and was sitting with all these interviewers asking me these questions. I was just like I shut them all up. Like I had the last laugh. And that really felt good for me," Pete Sampras said.

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Pete Sampras & Andre Agassi were fantastic, geniuses: Mariano Monachesi

Andre Agassi (L) and Pete Sapmras

During a recent interview with Punto de Break, former player Mariano Monachesi said that in his era, players like Thomas Enqvist, Jonas Bjorkman, Goran Ivanisevic, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi were geniuses.

"When I started on the circuit, there were the Thomas Enqvist, the Jonas Bjorkman, the Goran Ivanisevic, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi ... those players were fantastic, they were geniuses. We must not pay attention to those who say: 'it was a different tennis, it was a worse tennis,'" Monachesi said.

The Argentine further stated that tennis at the time was different and great, just like today.

"It was a different tennis, and it was great, just like today's tennis is a different tennis, and it's great. At the time that Guillermo Vilas played, when tennis was played more slowly, obviously, he had the ability to win points with 25 balls," he added.