is pete sampras the greatest

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rafa and roger would have less grand slams if they were playing sampras in his prime.

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[quote="Enforcer"][quote="Haddie-nuff"]Well if thats not an attempt at Wumming I dont know what is.....

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OK!!!!

pauline1981 wrote:rafa and roger would have less grand slams if they were playing sampras in his prime.

I would also argue that Sampras would have less slams if he was playing Roger and Rafa in last 5-6 years or so.

FEDERER: “I am very happy with what I have. Sure I cannot hit a double handed backhand, I wish I could. But it’s fine. I wish I had a serve like Sampras but I’m happy with mine. I wish I had volleys like (Tim) Henman or (Stefan) Edberg or (Pat) Rafter but I’m happy with what I have. I have tried to become the best player I can be over all these years and I think I did really well. I’m surprised how well I actually did.

“I grew up in the era of Sampras, Henman and (Richard) Krajicek and all those guys who kept coming in, I would have loved to have played an even better serve and volley game. Even though I know I can play it well. I don’t know if surfaces have slowed down or if my volleys are just not good as the other guys or if the guys return so much better today. I guess it’s a combination. I would like to play much more moving forward but it is very difficult in this day and age.”

Well there you go Tenez, even Fed states that he was not as good a volleyer as Sampras, but I am sure you will explain that away as Fed's noble nature and respect for his boyhood idol. The game definetly has changed Roger is right about that. But Pete played the fast court big serve game as well as anyone before or after because just like the players today who have to play with the technology and conditions they have Pete had to win with the tour he was given and he did it beautifully. In fact, the main reason I think Pete's accomplishments on grass were more impressive was that in Pete's era he faced more great grass court competition from Edberg and Becker, to Phillipousis, Krajicek, Ivanisevic, and all the way up to Federer and hewitt. Outside of Roger, none of the top players right now are natural grass court players because the tour has evolved to a more power baseline game with heavier spinning shots and taking the ball a bit later but putting a bigger faster swing on the ball. Murray's favorite surface is hardcourt, so is Novak's, nadal's is clay, even soderling and Berdych are better hardcourt or indoor players than grass court players.

I just read through this whole thread, wow some very knowledgable tennis fans and very technical too.

I'm just a fan , an observer but I IMO, Pete Sampras was a better grass-courter than Roger Federer, he could do serve and volley and his big serve suited grass.

Even when Roger won 5 in a row and he played Nadal I could not understand why Roger did not serve and volley, I think he made life harder for himself and would have beaten Nadal on grass with serve and volley in the final he lost.

Watching Roger play Tsonga last night , I thought about it again, why try and compete with a guy much stronger than you with more power when you can hit the ball in the corner , run into the net and force him to do the impossible shot.

I think Roger's success on grass is more to do with his ground-strokes, he had the best and that is why he won, I do not believe he had a classic grass court game like Sampras or Becker and Edberg.

Federer in his prime won 6 out of 9(66%)
sets against a 34-35 year old Agassi in the
US Open. Sampras won 12 out of 15(80%$sets
against Agassi in the US Open with virtualy
no age difference.It is very difficult to make
a clear GOAT case for players of different eras
however it is indisputable that Sampras played
against Connors Lendl McEnroe Becker Edberg Chang
Agassi Courier Wilander Stich an assemblage
much stronger than the players of 2003-2008
era.Federer's confidence took a big hit after
the exhibition games with Sampras.He never
regained his Wimbledon form after those games.
Sampras is the greatest of his generation and
Federer WAS of his .....till Nadal showed up.

Welcome to the forum Faust

Enjoy the debates

Sampras yoùr my number one