I wrote this article in direct response to a comment left by Abhishek Singh in my previous article. Before Federer, and much before Nadal and Djokovic, there was Pete Sampras, who dominated global tennis in the 90s in a way that is hard to explain. And, the self-absorbed pre-teen fanboy that I was, I came to believe in some sort of a “cosmic connection” with him.

In this article, I take up my childhood hero’s career and life, his Achilles heel, his surprising Greek connections — and try to make some honest sense of my personal childhood superstitions I had built around him.

Hope you too will find echoes of your own childhood memories here.