On this day: Sampras completes mad dash to end the year at No. 1 for record-breaking sixth year on ATP Tour

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On this day: Sampras completes a mad dash to end the year at No. 1 for the sixth straight year

American Airlines enters season finale with Marcelo Rios in battle for first place

November 26, 2025

When Pete Sampras defeated Andre Agassi in the 2002 U.S. Open final to win his final professional match, he won a record 14th Grand Slam title and equaled Jimmy Connors’ record of five U.S. Open men’s singles crowns. The American also ended his career as the number one player in the PIF ATP rankings for 286 weeks.

These records seemed insurmountable at the time, but all three records were eventually tied or broken by the Big Three. Still, Sampras has at least one record that remains untouched: his six consecutive year-end No. 1 rankings from 1993-98. Roger Federer achieved the feat four years in a row (2004-07), Novak Djokovic achieved it three years in a row, and Rafael Nadal has never been ranked No. 1 in consecutive seasons.

“This is the ultimate achievement. It may never be beaten,” Sampras said of the milestone, which was confirmed on November 26, 1998. “I’m trying to stay humble through it all, but the record speaks for itself. It’s a little overwhelming.”

During Sampras’ six-year reign, he was knocked from the top six times and fought his way back to the top of the PIF ATP Rankings multiple times.

He was never closer to year-end honors than he was in 1998, when Marcelo Rios knocked him off the top spot twice for a total of six weeks. Sampras holds a narrow lead over the Chilean in the PIF ATP rankings after losing to eventual champion Patrick Rafter in the US Open semifinals. The final two months of the ATP Tour season will determine whether Sampras can break Connors’ record of five consecutive year-end No. 1 rankings.

In an effort to stop Rios, Sampras played seven ATP Tour events in October and November. Rios made a mad dash to the finish line with six strokes.

“It’s not fun, to be honest,” Sampras said. “I had one chance to break this record, six years in a row. I was like, ‘Well, if I have to come here [in Europe] In three or four weeks, I’ll be doing it. I did it.

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Sampras’ 1998 run-in began with a first-round defeat in Basel before a crucial wild-card victory in Vienna the following week led to a fourth title of the season, while Rios also lifted his trophy in Singapore. (Sampras’ spot in Vienna was offered by Boris Becker, who offered the American his own wild card.) The pair next traveled to Lyon, but withdrew due to a breakdown. Sampras withdrew before the quarterfinals due to back problems, and Rios withdrew from his semifinal match against Tommy Haas.

Next up are two ATP Masters 1000 events in Stuttgart and Paris. Rios reached the quarter-finals in both events, while Sampras reached the semi-finals and finals in their respective events, extending his lead in the PIF ATP Rankings.

But Sampras stalled in Stockholm, and the mental toll that late-season effort took on him was clear. After losing the first-set tiebreaker and ultimately losing in three sets to world No. 29 Jason Stoltenberg, the typically stoic American broke out in a rare outburst and smashed his racket.

“Even under the best of circumstances, the European Tour in the autumn is no picnic,” Sampras wrote in his autobiography, “The Champion’s Mindset.” “It’s cold, it gets dark early, and you’re playing night matches in big arenas under artificial lights. It’s an atmosphere that makes you feel like you’re living in some weird parallel universe at the end of a long, grueling Grand Slam season.”

However, the American’s first-round exit in Stockholm came with a glimmer of hope: It gave him two weeks of rest before the ATP World Tour Championship (now the Nitto ATP Finals), where year-end No. 1 honors will be decided.

Sampras enters the season finale in Hannover with a slim 33-point advantage in the PIF ATP Rankings, which means he needs to tie or surpass Rios’ total at the year-end exhibition to fulfill his No. 1 mission. As the pressure mounted, Sampras rediscovered his best form in the group stages, posting a 3-0 record and losing just 15 games in six sets against Evgeny Kafelnikov, Carlos Moya and Carol Kucera.

While the American was defeated in the semifinals by eventual champion Alex Koretja — two years after Sampras defeated the Spaniard in the quarterfinals of the 1996 U.S. Open (Sampras famously vomited on the court during the match) — he had earned year-end No. 1 honors long before the knockout rounds. Rios was forced to withdraw with a back injury after losing to Tim Henman in the first round-robin match, confirming Sampras’ No. 1 spot. He was eating spaghetti in a hotel when he heard the news.

Sampras’s sixth consecutive year-end No. 1 ranking remains a record in the PIF ATP Rankings. Only Sampras and Djokovic, who have won the year-end No. 1 honor eight times, have achieved the feat more than five times combined.