HOLLYWOOD --
Tennis ace Pete Sampras is one determined
player.
On the court
and in courtship.
Back in
September of 1999, Sampras and some his
tennis buddies caught an L.A. screening of
the comedy Love Stinks.
Third Rock
from the Sun's French Stewart plays a man who
is pursued by a beautiful but neurotic woman
played by Bridgette Wilson.
Sampras was
amused.
He was
intrigued.
He was
smitten.
"Pete
half joked to one of his friends that he'd
love to meet me. His friend tracked down a
friend of mine and together they set us up
for a blind date," recalls the blond
beauty who became Bridgette Wilson-Sampras on
Sept. 30 last year.
"I agreed
to let Pete phone me and talk about the
possibility of a date. The first five minutes
of that phone call were painful.
"I had no
idea who I was talking to. I didn't know he
was one of the top-rated tennis players in
the world.
"The only
thing I really wanted to know was if he was
taller than me. The worst dates I've had are
with men who are shorter than me. I think
it's because we both felt uncomfortable.
"
Wilson-Sampras
admits she asked her telephone admirer to
send her a photo.
"I showed
it to a girlfriend and she put me in the
picture."
Wilson-Sampras
says it was not love at first sight for her
or Sampras, but adds, "after a few dates
I knew there was something special. In three
months I knew Pete was the one."
She later
discovered Sampras "had the same
feelings at the same time. My sister talked
to both of us independently and we pointed to
the same day as the one that made us certain
we were falling in love."
At the time
they began dating, Wilson-Sampras was filming
the romantic comedy The Wedding Planner in
which she plays Matthew McConaughey's wealthy
girlfriend who eventually loses her finance
to Jennifer Lopez, the couple's wedding
consultant.
Sampras
proposed while Bridgette was filming The
Wedding Planner. The timing, it turns out was
perfect.
"It was a
simple, quiet proposal, but it took me
completely by surprise. I honestly didn't see
it coming.
"I am
really glad I made The Wedding Planner. It's
what spurred me on to hire one to take charge
of Pete and my wedding.
"We
needed her desperately because we only had
six weeks to plan our wedding. Having someone
co-ordinate the wedding allowed me to
concentrate on the day rather than on the
incidentals."
One incidental
that Wilson-Sampras left to a real expert was
her wedding dress. It was designed for her by
America's famous gown designer Vera Wang.
"I
supposed it helped that I was marrying a
rich, famous tennis player. Vera usually
demands a lot more lead time than I gave
her."
Wilson-Sampras
says it is auspicious that she was married on
Sept. 30.
"Pete's
brother has the same wedding anniversary so
they can help each other to remember the
cards and presents."
She admits
since the wedding she and Sampras have had to
organize their time around each other's busy
schedules.
"Right
now, we both have demanding careers. We try
to visit each other on location but it's
difficult.
"We'd
love to spend an extended holiday in Greece
some time because that is Pete's heritage and
we both really want children, but I don't
think either is going to happen in the near
future."
During their
courtship, Wilson-Sampras asked her husband
to give her tennis lessons.
"I'd
never played tennis in my life, but I felt I
should learn how for Pete's sake.
"He was
very patient. I'm a bit of a slow learner and
not all that co-ordinated."
In April,
Wilson-Sampras stars in Just Visiting, John
Hughes' remake of the French film The
Visitors.
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Ignorance deserves a BIG
serve!
Blonde actress
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras has plans to join
her husband, "Pistol Pete" Sampras,
next week after his Australian Open Tennis
duties. It will be a getting-to- know-you
rendervous, as they're always at opposite
ends of the globe. Several weeks ago, she was
in San Francisco finishing filming on The
Wedding Planner, with Matthew McConaughey and
Jennifer Lopez, and she was talking by mobile
phone to Pete, who was across the Atlantic in
Portugal (for the Masters Cup).
Wilson-Sampras, questioned about her role in
the romantic comedy, couldn't believe some of
the dumb questions from international
journalists.
"So, the
Sampras part of your name...is that Greek?
Oh, so you got married recently? And is your
husband in the film industry? He plays sport?
What sport does he play? Oh...that Pete
Sampras!"
Unbelievable!
No wonder some
members of the Hollywood foreign press corps
have a reputation as know-nothings.
Wilson-Sampras
found it all rather amusing trying to explain
that her husband had won 13 Grand Slam
tournaments and dozens of other tournaments
around the world.
The excuse
from one journalist was that she didn't read
the gossip pages.
Wilson-Sampras
didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
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Courtship of Bridgette Wilson
was like Hollywood film
Boston
Herald (Publication date: 2001-01-31)
When tennis
superstar Pete Sampras proposed marriage to
Bridgette Wilson last June, the actress had
just finished working on the film "The
Wedding Planner." Given that film's
story line - the fiance (Matthew McConaughey)
falling in love with the wedding planner
(Jennifer Lopez) - it would have been
understandable if the actress had balked at
bringing in professional help for her own
nuptials on Sept. 30.
But she
didn't. Then again, neither did she hire
Lopez.
"It's
funny," Wilson-Sampras said,
"because, going back to `The Wedding
Planner,' I never thought about having it
done that way myself. Doing this movie made
me realize how much planning there is for a
wedding. Whether it's a ton of flowers or a
small number of flowers, you still have to do
it - and we did ours in six weeks. A planner
allows the bride to focus on all the details.
"It was
definitely a luxury to have someone be so
helpful and willing to do that. But
everything went so smoothly at my wedding, I
can't think of anything that was a
snafu."
"The
Wedding Planner" is a full-out romantic
comedy, but it deals with anxiety common
among brides-to-be.
"I was
very different from Fran, my character,"
Wilson-Sampras said. "She is having this
thing of, `Oh my gosh! What am I doing?' She
was checking in her heart for what she
wanted. She'd kicked into autopilot.
Personally, I didn't have those moments. One
minute before I walked down the aisle, I
hoped I wouldn't trip."
In "The
Wedding Planner," Lopez and McConaughey
experience love at first sight, which is no
rarity in the movies. But Wilson-Sampras said
she felt something pretty close.
"Love at
first sight is so bizarre to me," she
said. "Oh, you see someone walk in and
you'll spend your life with this person? But
it can happen very quickly with that
chemistry and evolve into something special.
"Within
three months I knew Pete was the person I
wanted to spend my life with. I never had
that before. People had said to me, `Oh,
you'll know when it happens' - and I never
trusted that. Until it actually
happened."
Her instincts,
she said, were confirmed at a party given by
her sister.
"It was
cool because we were doing these
questions," Wilson- Sampras said.
"My sister sat down and interviewed me,
and then she interviewed him with all these
questions. It was something fun she did for
my bachelorette party. For instance, she
asked me, `When did you know?' and `What was
the first thing you noticed about him?' and
`What was the first thing he noticed?' - and
every single one of our answers was the
same."
Wilson-Sampras
says she didn't know much about Sampras'
awesome athletic career - even though, at 29,
he has been a world champion for 14 years.
"We met -
it was not really a blind date; he'd seen me
in a movie, `Love Stinks,' " she said.
"He saw it in theaters when it first
came out and he was half-joking with a friend
when he said, `I'd like to meet her.' That
friend got in touch with a friend of mine -
and they were both at our wedding."
Their
"first date" was "a little
phone conversation. The first five minutes
are painful and then you get over that hump.
But I didn't know who he was. I hadn't
watched tennis before and when somebody
called and said his name, I wasn't sure who
he was. I said, `Is he taller than me?' . . .
Then I remembered I'd seen a picture and I
saw his face and that was familiar but I
hadn't put the two together, because I wasn't
familiar with tennis.
"I don't
play tennis and I never had a racket before
in my life," she added. "He's very
patient about it."
Pete Sampras
was the top-ranked player in the world
through most of the '90s. He has slipped
somewhat from that lofty position, but the
family isn't without a top ranking.
"The
Wedding Planner" was No. 1 at the box
office last weekend.
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