Flickers of charisma shine through clouds of tedium

You can be the most boring sportsman in the world and yet be incredibly successful - just look at Pete Sampras, Steve Davis and Mika Hakkinen. Great champions all, yet as colourless as a black and white movie.

Sampras has won 12 Grand Slam tournaments without revealing the person behind the persona. Steve Davis was so stuffy and formal in his snooker heyday that he earned the title 'Mr Boring'. And Grand Prix ace Hakkinen is anything but racy outside of his mean machine.

But, surprise, surprise, some charisma has started to shine through the dull clouds that whirl about the trio, giving rise to thoughts that their straight public face has been masking bright personalities.

Sampras has always cut a lonely figure on the centre courts of the world. While rival Andre Agassi has been cheered on by celebrity girlfriends like Brooke Shields, Barbara Streisand and, currently, Steffi Graf, Sampras has stood alone and, so it was perceived, aloof.

His parents have never seen him win any of his Grand Slam titles and sightings of girlfriends are as rare as eagles being spotted over Wimbledon. Enter the new Sampras. He arrived at Wimbledon with a willingness to express his views on current tennis happenings - he criticised the walkout of Spaniards Albert Costa and Alex Corretja - and was open about his personal affairs.

His bride-to-be was seen on his arm and in the crowd during his games and he promised to plead with his folks to fly in from California if he reached the last four. 'My parents are a bit like me. They don't like all the attention. They're very shy people who don't like to be around with the media,' Sampras said.

And there is more. Sampras has been courting controversy over an injury that some players feel he has exaggerated to fool around with his opponents' minds. But Jonas Bjorkman, who Sampras whacked in straight sets despite playing with an injured ankle, and others, believe that the top seed is trying to gain by faking the pain. So intrigue has been added to the new Sampras mix.

Davis has also undergone something of a transformation in the past week, during the World Nine Ball Pool Championship in Wales. When playing snooker, Davis is as stiff as his tuxedo and as animated as a waxwork at Madame Tussaud's.

But clad in jeans and loose-fitting shirt, and armed with a chubby pool cue, Davis has been a revelation. He is not expected to win against expert pool players and this has released the extrovert in Davis. Facial expressions that normally range from A to B have taken in the full alphabet as matches have unfolded, he has attempted outrageous pots and played his way into the knockout stages in the style of a maverick. Nobody is calling him Mr Boring during this tournament.

Hakkinen is blandness personified outside of his race car and does not have an extra gear to drive his personality forward. The headlights of publicity dazzle him and his rhetoric tends to end up in cul-de-sacs.

Lately, however, he has started to crack the odd joke and joust a little with interviewers. He seems less uptight now that the focus has shifted to teammate David Coulthard and his battles with Michael Schumacher. With Coulthard and Schumacher receiving the lion's share of attention, Hakkinen is playing the cameo role with an unexpected, and welcome, lightness.