Before Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic changed the landscape of tennis, Pete Sampras was the most decorated player in the sport.
He claimed 14 Grand Slam titles in his career, including seven Wimbledon titles and five US Open crowns.
He dominated much of the 1990s tennis landscape and his fierce rivalry with Andre Agassi was one of the biggest talking points of the decade.
The American has largely stayed out of the limelight since retiring from the sport in 2002, which includes any sort of coaching or punditry roles too.
However, Sampras as returned to the sport, of sorts, and fans are far from happy.
More US Open news
Sampras has appeared in a video for Kalshi, which is the US Open’s controversial new ‘official prediction market partner’.
Many have lambasted the US Open and Kalshi’s partnership as more corporate greed from the US Grand Slam, particularly when players often receive abuse from bettors on social media.
On social media, fans were far from happy with Sampras linking up with the sports betting company and they shared their veciforious opinions.
“Pete Sampras purposefully disappears for 25 years, re-emerges as a spokesman for Kalshi. This sucks, man,” said one angry fan in the comments of the video.
Another wrote: “Out of the public eye for two decades and then comes back to accept a huge payday from Kalshi. Good to know that my hatred for him when he played was justified.”
“Pete Sampras shilling for a prediction market … YUCK,” said another disenfranchised fan.
“Imagine dominating tennis for over a decade, winning a record number of slams and then completely disappearing for over 20 years,” said another. “No interviews. No commentary. No coaching. And then re-emerging to advertise a sports betting company. Must have a been one hell of a check.”
Others were quick to bring up Sampras’ rivalry with Agassi too in light of the news of him joining Kalshi.
One said: “This is why Agassi clears Sampras” while another wrote: “Not a fan anymore. Agassi is my 90s GOAT.”
Jessica Pegula has been one of the more outspoken players at the US Open when it comes to the Grand Slam partnering with betting companies.
Players can’t do anything related to betting sponsorships, while tournaments profit from a large part of this business,” said Pegula in one of her post-match press conferences.
It’s a complicated issue because we get so much negativity from people who gamble. And sometimes it doesn’t even matter if you win or lose, right? It doesn’t change anything,” she continued.
“We get a lot of hate on social media for this, so it’s difficult when you then see those same companies become big sponsors of the tournament, perhaps advertising on the sidelines or on television. It’s complicated.”
It’s currently unclear if Sampras’ partnership with Kalshi will extend any further than the video he has featured in.
