"He’ll be lucky to qualify into tournaments" - When Andre Agassi opened up about his early impressions of a teenage Pete Sampras

Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras are two of the greatest tennis players of all time and forged arguably the fiercest rivalry of the sport during the 1990s.

In his book "Open: An Autobiography", Agassi mentioned his very first senior match against Sampras in the second round of the 1989 Italian Open. The eight-time Grand Slam champion recalled beating his future rival in juniors when the latter was only nine years old.

Agassi wrote that the next time he saw Sampras was just months before their match at Rome. Surprisingly, he stated that the latter was practicing and that all the shots he was hitting looked bad.

"I take my faux Donnay (racket) to Rome and play a kid I recognize from juniors, Pete Something. Sampras, I think. Greek kid from California. When I played him in juniors, I beat him handily. I was ten, he was nine. The next time I saw him was some months ago, at a tournament. I can’t recall which one," Agassi wrote.

"I was sitting on a beautiful grassy hill beside my hotel, just after winning my match. Philly and Nick were sitting alongside me. We were stretched out, enjoying the fresh air, and watching Pete, who’d just taken a beating in his match. He was on the hotel court for a post-match practice, and nearly every ball he hit looked bad," he added.

Andre Agassi claimed that Pete Sampras' backhand was awkward, which led to his brother Phil saying that he would never make it on the ATP Tour. Agassi, at the time, believed that Sampras would be lucky to qualify for tournaments while his coach Nick Bollettieri felt that whoever tinkered with his backhand should be ashamed.

"He missed three of every four swings. His backhand was awkward, and one-handed, which was new. Someone had tinkered with his backhand, and it was clearly going to cost him a career. 'This guy will never make it on the tour', Philly said. 'He’ll be lucky to qualify into tournaments', I said. 'Whoever did that to his game should be ashamed', Nick said," he added.

Agassi eventually went on to defeat Sampras 6-2, 6-2 in their first tour-level meeting in Rome and ended up reaching the final of the tournament before losing to Albert Mancini.

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi locked horns in 16 finals

Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras with Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi locked horns in 16 finals throughout their 34-match rivalry, with the former winning nine of them and the latter winning the other seven.

The first title clash between the two came at the 1990 US Open, with Sampras winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to win his maiden Grand Slam title. They met in another four Major finals and the only time Agassi won was a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(6), 6-4 victory at the 1995 Australian Open.

The last title clash between the two, like their first, came at the US Open. The year was 2002 and Sampras beat Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to win his 14th Grand Slam title in what turned out to be the final professional match of his career.