pistol Pete

Choosing a single cover image to represent Pete Sampras’ impressive career, and specifically his amazing run during the 1990s, was a bit difficult for a few reasons. First, even though Sampras is most notable for his grass court play, the cover is for the United States Tennis Association, he therefore needed to be shown at a U.S. event. Second, as a premier player, his matches were scheduled during primetime (at night) which wasn't ideal for film (still being used at the time), and images were often grainy and not up to cover quality. I have been an admirer of the artist Lauren Uram’s torn paper technique for a while, and felt the Sampras cover would be the perfect opportunity to make use of her talents. The montage portrait was fashioned by combining bits of paper with type: championship titles and scores were woven into the illustration.