Sampras shows he still has game

[jasonbourne]

http://www.idahostatesman.com/104/story/63226.html

Pete Sampras has lost some of his hair since his days as the world's best tennis player. He doesn't appear, however, to have lost much of his game.The 35-year-old Sampras headlined the St. Luke's-Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Services (SLIERS) Tennis Shootout on Friday night at Qwest Arena and defeated American pro Robby Ginepri 7-5, 6-3.
He looked like the Sampras of old — or at least the Sampras of four years ago when he retired from competitive tennis.
"When he does some of those overhead shots, I remember those shots," said Boise's Donna Bari, one of the estimated 2,500 fans in attendance.
Sampras, who began playing more this year after going three years without picking up a racket, also displayed his picturesque serve and pinpoint forehand.
"I still want to play good tennis and be competitive for the crowd," said Sampras, the all-time leader in Grand Slam titles with 14. "I'm hitting three, four days a week as opposed to once a week. I'm starting to hone it in a little bit and starting to hit the ball real good."
Sampras lost to Ginepri in Houston earlier this year. They play again tonight near Atlanta.
"He looks more fluid and smoother with his stroke," said Ginepri, a 24-year-old who has two wins on the ATP Tour. "The serve is always going to be there. With the motion that he has, it's never going to break down."
Ginepri said that with a few more months of practice Sampras could crack the top 30 on tour. But Sampras said he is content to play friendly matches.
"I'm just glad I'm starting to play tennis again," he said. "I still have a lot of passion for the sport, still working hard at the sport, but not like I used to. I'm having fun with it. This is what it's all about, giving back to the sport that's been so good to me."
Sampras and Ginepri staged a clinic for several hundred local kids Friday afternoon and stayed for almost a half-hour to sign autographs after the exhibition.
"It was a good match," said Elaine Wolfe of Boise. "It's good for Boise to have that kind oftalent come here."

[jasonbourne]

http://www.tennisreporters.net/sampr..._121006_c.html

"A man's got to work," he said. "I still have a passion for the game. Playing tennis adds structure to my life." Hearing that Andre Agassi has been seen on the tennis courts only so shortly after his retirement at this year's U.S. Open, Sampras was taken aback. "I was shocked. After I retired, I didn't want to pick up a racket for months. … I've got to talk to [Agassi] in the next few months.”
Sampras brought a steady and confident game here, delivering booming aces, well-placed spin serves and razor-sharp returns. Of course, he was helped by the glossy super-fast SportCourt surface that played like the basketball court it was covering up. On one down-the-middle winner, Ginepri didn't have enough time to move five feet to get his racket on the ball. In his fifth set on both sides of the continent in 24 hours, Sampras did not seem winded in the least.
Though his backhand got a little loose in the second set, it was Sampras' personality and wit that was loose throughout the evening. When Ginepri couldn't run down a drop shot, he tossed his racket across the net. Pete didn't return it, but picked it up and tossed it deep into the crowd.
There is no doubt the sold-out crowd had one thing on its mind: throwing down its love on Sampras. MC Wayne Bryan boomingly announced him as "the greatest player ever" and the Atlanta fans showed their appreciation for his accomplishments as much as for his legendary running forehand.
Few interviews with Sampras don't include the questions about how he would stack up against Roger Federer. Sampras admitted that Federer is well on his way to breaking all the Californian's records. "Federer's a tremendous player. He's won Wimbledon and he stays back."
Sampras seemed upbeat on the state of men's American tennis, citing the success of Andy Roddick, James Blake and Ginepri. But, he conceded, the glory days of the 1990s – Sampras, Agassi, Courier and Michael Chang – will be hard for the US to repeat.
The Slam that eluded Sampras – Roland Garros – is still a subject he thinks about. "I should have tried a bigger racket. I'm a stubborn guy and I didn't want to change. There are some places where you feel comfortable and ones where you feel a little bit extra pressure."
Often criticized for not playing enough preparatory European clay-court tournaments, he said he tried playing just a few in some years and numerous ones in others. "But, neither strategy worked," he added a bit glumly about the only jewel missing from this champion's crown.

[jm4121]

I went to the exhibition match in Boise on Friday night. Pete won 7-5, 6-3. He was playing great, much better than their first exhibition match. He won the first set with huge groundies and some spetacular volleys. The second set was vintage Pete with his huge serve dictacting play. I know this was only an exhibition, but the level of play was supberb, and Pete was sharp (especially on the super fast court).

My opinion is that Robby wasn't playing 100% at first, as Pete started very slowly. But after the first 5-6 games, I believe that Robby and Pete played at a very high level. I will post a link for some pics, but they are not great quality as my camera is old and cheap.

[jm4121]

Here is link to pics, sorry for the poor quality:

http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q...&addtype=local

[Feña14]

That's fantastic that he's playing well. During the 1990's I used to love Sampras, everytime he played against Agassi I used to cheer for Pete.

I think Federer is a better player than Sampras but i'm glad he's back and hitting the ball well. There are new fans to the game that will be watching Sampras for the first time in his career in these exhibition matches so it's good that he's showing them what he can do, aswell as reminding his old fans exactly what we are missing!

[jackson vile]

I was front row, it was strange to see these guys as I have never seen any famous peopl everlol They just seemed like regular guys. Robby was really short and Pete looked to be almost my height. One of the big differences that I saw was in the rackets, you could tell their rackets were giving way way more into the shot even thogh some of the college players say had better serve ect than Robby?


Pete was really happy and smiled a lot during that match, they were playing on tiles so it was very fast and flat.

Pete's serve is amazing so flat fast and it lost no pace after bounce, he played just like on tv. But his serve was different not as deep and foot work was different.

You could tell Pete had one heck of a heavy racket


As for Robby the only thing that he had that tooked nice was his back hand, his serve arm motion was really bad, aslo Robby is bowlegged.

You could tell right away Robby was playing with a relatively light racket, it was not as solid and got knocked around a bit from Pete's serves and some ground strokes. It looked and sounded like Robby used a Hammer type of setup?

Robby was in a really bad mood from what seemed like from the start, Pete got him good on a volley return and Robby smiled for a second and that was itLOL

IMO I really don't understand what sets someone like Robby apart from some 5.0+ players, he did not seem that good at all, especially his serve.

IMO that score doesn't tell the full story IMO it was very one sided.


Do you really have to be good to play pro tennis? Or do you have to have the time money and recovery abilities to survive the tour?

[bribeiro]

You're delusional jackson vile, I watched Ginepri front row seats at the us open and he looks much better than any college player I've ever seen, he was serving 125 bombs constantly, and his groundstrokes looked phenomenal.

[Bjorn99]

You have to be partly insane to be a pro. Putting up with all the crap. Plus you probably have to spend 500,000 bucks to get to the first tournament, or your parents do. And from then on, you have to spend ten bucks to make 15 to twenty. Still, it is fun when you are playing the matches. Everything else is a full snore, except the groupies, they can be a lot of fun.

I have made a fair amount of money playing tennis, but spent more. The smart thing I did, was collect all the contacts who I met, who have large dough. Now I connect with them and do deals with them. Made it all worth it. I teach kids not to expect to make tons of money on the tour, but to find every rich wannabee and get their email address and phone number.

[Bjorn99]

And how good is Ginepri? Hmmm. He is really a moody guy. If he is feeling good physically and mentally he can wear you down. But if he isn't feeling all there, he can be had by anyone on the tour pretty well.

[carrwash13]

Originally Posted by jackson vile

As for Robby the only thing that he had that tooked nice was his back hand, his serve arm motion was really bad. It looked and sounded like Robby used a Hammer type of setup?

IMO I really don't understand what sets someone like Robby apart from some 5.0+ players, he did not seem that good at all, especially his serve.

First off ginepri has a good serve and there's nothing wrong with his motion. It's just more abbreviated and how people are now starting to serve. He plays with Babolats that are painted to look like the pure storm....not a hammer setup. Exhibitions are usually always set up and pre-decided who is going to win. I'd bet money that was the case here.

[CanadianChic]

When someone has that much skill can they ever really lose it? Age may slow them down but they will always be a force to be reckoned with on the court.

[West Coast Ace]

Some people just can't let go... So Sampras can still win on a ginned up, super slick surface against a guy who's enjoying his offseason - oh, boy. Better buy stock in the company that makes Depends! Tennis fans worldwide won't be able to control their bladders.

The slurs at Ginepri are uncalled for. He's got game - just not a Top 5 one. For a kid from Stone Mountain, GA, hardly a Mecca of the sport, he's having a nice career.

[austro]

Sampras really should be joining the seniors tour! I hope this is what he is gearing up for.

[cantstopme]

OK....westcoastace Robbie doesn't have a top five game. Andy Roddick does and two months ago after the US Open Pete thumped him in straight sets at the Elton John classic.

Yes these are expo matches, but you think Andy and Robbie don't want to win against arguablly the best ever????? Trust me, they are playing out there

[carrwash13]

Originally Posted by cantstopme

Yes these are exo matches, but you think Andy and Robbie don't want to win against arguablly the best ever????? Trust me, they are playing out there

I know they are playing but if you've ever talked to anyone whose ran an expo you'd know that alot of the time they are pre-decided....the promoters want to make sure the crowd gets what they want and they let the players know....

[BaseLineBash]

Wimby '07, you better believe it.

[Bjorn99]

A friend of my dad's ran the best exhibitions ever. Connors, Borg, Vites, McEnroe. He partied with them all, roomed with Vites for a year. I had a chance to meet him on several occasions and he generally said that they were cool with splitting the first two sets. But the third was generally real.

[EliteNinja]

Originally Posted by BaseLineBash

Wimby '07, you better believe it.

Word up!

Heck, can you imagine him making a surprise wildcard at Roland Garros?
I mean basically, if he just takes a shot and loses, it's no big deal.
But if he wins (0.001% chance to win), Federer would have a lot of work to do be GOAT.

[jackson vile]

Originally Posted by carrwash13

I know they are playing but if you've ever talked to anyone whose ran an expo you'd know that alot of the time they are pre-decided....the promoters want to make sure the crowd gets what they want and they let the players know....

No this one was not-predecided at all, don't get me wrong Robby had some really good shots but you could see that he was simply over powered and many of the times just could not get back, the ball was so low and fast he simply did not have a chance.

You are a nooby and it shows

[jackson vile]

In the second set there were many times where Robby attempted to crank up the juice on his serve and ect and even at one game had 3 aces (some how lol), but he got creamed and was very upset