My analysis of Pete & Fed

[ferocious4hand]

I know...I too am tired of these threads. Since I've got nothing to do at work today I started my own comparsion.

Ground game
Forehand
Sampras- Eastern, Hit mostly flat, deadly on the run, has trouble with high bounce.

Fed- Semi-western, able to hit flat and spin, incredible angles, lots of variety, excellent at putting mid court balls away, the best 4hand in tennis history

4Hand Adv: Fed

Backhand
Sampras- Topspin, flat and slice. trouble with high bounce, less consistent, uses slice occasionally to prolong a pt or to come in.

Fed- Topspin, flat and slice, Trouble with high bounce (clay only?), more consistent than Pete’s, utilizes the slice to neutralize opponent’s shot or to lure weak volleyers in. Very good defensive shot.

BH Adv: Fed

Net game
Sampras- Serve and volleys, solid off both sides. Great half-volley pick-ups and dropvolleys. Chip & Charge occasionally. Very athletic at net. Slam dunk overhead

Fed- not a natural S&V’er, solid off both sides although I find his 4hand volley to be less consistent than bh’s. Sometime he doesn’t bend or get low enough to pick up low volleys. Good hands. Comes in to finish off points. rarely C&C. Very solid overheards.

Net game Adv: Sampras

Service
1st Serve
Sampras- Bread & Butter. Considered one of the best motions in the game, excellent placement and pace. Difficult to read. Ace machine. Time and time again delivers the goods when it matters most.

Fed- Very efficient motion, good place and placement. Difficult to read. Uses 1st serves to set up rest of his game.

1st serve adv: Sampras

2nd Serve
Sampras- Excellent pace-swings just as hard as 1st serves w/spin. Good place ment. Difficult to read
Fed- Excellent Spin- often kicks at shoulder height. Decent pace. Difficult to read

2nd serve adv: Sampras (Slightly)

Movement

Sampras- Very quick & agile, excellent footwork. Excellent net coverage. Buttery steps.
Fed- Great anticipation, very quick & agile, excellent footwook. Very hard to ace. Buttery steps. Slides well on Clay

Movement Adv: Fed (Clay Advantage)

Others
Offence- Even: Fed’s got the better ground game, Pete better Serve & Volley
Defense- Fed: keeps the ball in play more often and neutralizes opponent’s shots better than Pete.
Return- Fed: Gets more returns back, harder to ace. Neutralizes the server. More offensive than Pete’s return.
Counterpunch- Fed: Defense to offence much better than Pete

Intangibles
Stamina- Even? Haven’t seen enough 5 setters from Fed to determine his oncourt stamina
Strategy- Fed: his ability to read the game is better than Pete. Able to change tactics. Coachless ’04-‘05

Overall: Fed

How did I do? Am I missing anything here?

[jamauss]

One thing that Sampras says when asked about how he'd play Federer, and I agree; I think Sampras is one of the few guys that was good enough at attacking the net and S&V'ing that he could have put a lot of pressure on Federer's return game. With Sampras' huge service game (including 2nd serve) I don't see Federer hitting a lot of offensive returns, which would just increase Pete's chances of being able to come in and volley the return. I'm sure Federer would still pass Pete often enough to get to 30 or deuce on Pete's service games, I just see Pete holding serve against Federer better than most of his opponents today do.

[iscottius]

You can not compare thier games on paper and predict the outcome of the match. I agree in general with your eval, but would sampra's strehgths nuetralize Fed's stregnths? would Pete take the racquet out of fed's hands with serve & volley? Pete's groundies are a little underrated since he S&V'd most his career.

One thing is for sure, Pete is a champion and so is Fed, so the intimidation factor that Fed enjoys would not be present.

[Nick Irons]

I know...I too am tired of these threads.

You read my mind.

[ferocious4hand]

One thing that Sampras says when asked about how he'd play Federer, and I agree; I think Sampras is one of the few guys that was good enough at attacking the net and S&V'ing that he could have put a lot of pressure on Federer's return game. With Sampras' huge service game (including 2nd serve) I don't see Federer hitting a lot of offensive returns, which would just increase Pete's chances of being able to come in and volley the return. I'm sure Federer would still pass Pete often enough to get to 30 or deuce on Pete's service games, I just see Pete holding serve against Federer better than most of his opponents today do.

I agree Pete's S&V would be tough for Fed to handle however I disagree the pressure part. B/C Fed returns well it will force pete to serve bigger and come up with more aggressive volleys this creates pressure for Pete not Fed.

[jamauss]

I agree Pete's S&V would be tough for Fed to handle however I disagree the pressure part. B/C Fed returns well it will force pete to serve bigger and come up with more aggressive volleys this creates pressure for Pete not Fed.

What exactly do you mean by "force pete to serve bigger" ? Pete has possibly the toughest all-around serve in the history of the game. He was always Mr. Clutch when it came to his serve. I didn't know it was possible for him to 'serve bigger' than he already did.

We both agree Fed returns well but he's not exactly facing guys that serve the way Pete does. Fed can neutralize the serve of somebody like Roddick because while Roddick has great pace, he does not have the placement and variety like Sampras. Plus, wasn't Pete's 2nd serve just pretty much another 1st serve? I remember seeing a lot of 2nd serve aces from him during his career. It seems like in today's game, a lot of players are content to just spin the ball into the box and hope it's good enough to keep them in the point.

[ferocious4hand]

You can not compare thier games on paper and predict the outcome of the match. I agree in general with your eval, but would sampra's strehgths nuetralize Fed's stregnths? would Pete take the racquet out of fed's hands with serve & volley? Pete's groundies are a little underrated since he S&V'd most his career.

This was not a prediction of who would win, I'm simply comparing what I saw from Pete in his glorious days and from what I see from Fed Today. I could care less who wins, I was bored at work and wanted to point out what I perceived as both of their strengths and weaknesses.
Alot of peps on the board argue Pete's offensive S&V would create problems for Fed and I agree however we don't talk about how Fed's offense would also hurt Pete. IMO, both of their offensive skills will create problem for their opponent but Fed's defensive skills just might that have the slight edge in the end....I don't know, I'm rambling again:confused:

[/QUOTE]One thing is for sure, Pete is a champion and so is Fed, so the intimidation factor that Fed enjoys would not be present.[/QUOTE]

True, but Fed would probably not be intimated by Pete either ie wimbledon '02

[ACE of Hearts]

Fed did a pretty good job when he faced Sampras in 2001.I know alot of Sampras fans will talk alot of smack that he wasnt the same Sampras but he served pretty good even for him in that match.Fed wasnt even the same player he is now and he did a good job with his serve.I think Fed's return game is so underrated.

[ferocious4hand]

What exactly do you mean by "force pete to serve bigger" ? Pete has possibly the toughest all-around serve in the history of the game. He was always Mr. Clutch when it came to his serve. I didn't know it was possible for him to 'serve bigger' than he already did.
I meant "bigger" in that he'll need to vary his placement, spin etc. when a server is pressured to serve against a good returner it puts pressure on them to get more 1st serves in. I'm not saying Fed would break Pete easily, simply stating there will be more pressure on Pete's Serve than Fed serving to Pete.

We both agree Fed returns well but he's not exactly facing guys that serve the way Pete does. Fed can neutralize the serve of somebody like Roddick because while Roddick has great pace, he does not have the placement and variety like Sampras. Plus, wasn't Pete's 2nd serve just pretty much another 1st serve? I remember seeing a lot of 2nd serve aces from him during his career. It seems like in today's game, a lot of players are content to just spin the ball into the box and hope it's good enough to keep them in the point.

I agree there's no one who can serve or volley like pete in today's game. U right that Andy's serve is different than Pete's in that he doesn't come in to pressure the opponent. But Fed will make Pete volley and volley and volley and come up with better volleys to beat him. In the end I still think Fed will have the edge b/c I just don't see Pete's defense and return games to bother Fed.

[ferocious4hand]

Fed did a pretty good job when he faced Sampras in 2001.I know alot of Sampras fans will talk alot of smack that he wasnt the same Sampras but he served pretty good even for him in that match.Fed wasnt even the same player he is now and he did a good job with his serve.I think Fed's return game is so underrated.

I so agree. IMHO I think if both of them played at their primes, it won't come down to the number of aces or service winners won it'll be who's breaking who

[jamauss]

All I can say is this; I want to see a Fed/Pete exhibition and I want it to happen yesterday. Somebody get on this, please!

Oh, and in that match I want to see Fed hit one out wide to Pete's forehand and Pete nail it for a winner like in the AO match against Agassi. :)

[federer_nadal]

Serve bigger to me doesnt mean serving faster, it means going for more, more often. Well at our level serving bigger means faster at the pro level most of the players are maxed out there alot of the time.

I also dont think that the OP was predicting the outcome of their match against each other he is just saying how they match up when playing others.