"Pete Sampras & Roger Federer are very secure people...both were okay with losing if they try to do what they do best" - Paul Annacone

Paul Annacone worked with legends like Roger Federer and Pete Sampras during his coaching career that spanned about two decades. The American recently shed light on how the best of the best cope with the pressure ahead of a marquee clash.

Annacone, a former World No. 12 in men's singles, was employed by Taylor Fritz last year. He has a lot of experience working with top players. Annacone coached Pete Sampras from 1995 to 2002. He also had a brief stint with Roger Federer in the early 2010s, guiding the Swiss to his Wimbledon triumph in 2012.

The 60-year-old recently appeared on John Keith Fraser and John Lloyd's podcast 'Rock n Roll Tennis,' where the topic of Sampras and Federer feeling nervous ahead of important matches at Slams came up.

In response to a question regarding the pre-match rituals of Federer and Sampras, Annacone said most top players have nerve-racking experiences deep into a big tournament. He also claimed that since the two tennis greats were secure in their abilities, they were able to navigate past such situations time after time.

"Fortunately for me, you're talking about two of the greatest that have ever played [Sampras and Federer]. So first of all, they're very secure people," Annacone said on the Rock n Roll Tennis podcast (21:00). "And the one thing that a lot of players forget, and I try to remind this to Taylor often, is guess what? They get nervous too. He gets nervous."

"Roger gets... everybody gets nervous. The great ones figure out how to manage that. And a lot of it is because they've been in that situation before," he added.

Annacone further stated that both Federer and Sampras were not afraid of losing, and that all they cared about was executing their tactics to a tee.

"And what I mean by that is Pete and Roger both were guys that were okay with losing matches if they try to do what they do best, you know, and that's about the security," he said (22:50).

---

"Pete Sampras was very much a creature of habit" - Paul Annacone

Pete Sampras kisses the 1997 Wimbledon trophy

During the interaction, Paul Annacone also gave anecdotal evidence of how Pete Sampras shaped his big-match playing mentality that helped him win 14 Major titles.

"Someone like Pete was very much a creature of habit. We generally would find one or two spots (in his game) where we ate dinner... we would be watching movies or playing cards or whatever," the American said. "And there would probably be literally a three to five-minute conversation about the ideas of what you were going to do the next day."

"So Pete was that model, three to five minutes at night during dinner, a little bit the day before during practice. And then the day of, just literally Pete... three or four bullet points and focus on what he could do well. And that's why, you know, it's easy to coach someone that's really secure," he added.

Annacone was first employed by Sampras because the latter's coach Tim Gullikson had contracted a brain tumor in early 1995. Sampras recorded four consecutive Wimbledon triumphs in 1997-2000 under Annacone's tutelage in what was a fruitful partnership.