Sampras beats Agassi in Champion Series L.A.

SVP · 10-16-2011, 02:40 PM

It was a real treat for me to see Sampras, Agassi, Courier, and McEnroe at the Champion Series tournament in Los Angeles last Friday. Agassi overpowered Mac handily in the first match 6-2. It seemed like Andre hit everything in the sweetspot- still the supreme ball striker. Sampras and Courier went to tiebreak in a wonderful match. Courier was crushing the hell out of his groundstrokes but Sampras always seemed to have the answer. He finished a lot of points off at the net and I was amazed at how he well he handled Courier's screamers right at him at him.

Fittingly Pete and Andre played each other in the final. Same old Sampras. He broke Andre early and then just cruised the rest of the way relying on his serve to finish out the match. He even threw in some second serve aces. It was wonderful to watch the variety in his game just like the old days: serves of all kinds, volleys, drop shots, slices, then occasionally matching Andre groundstroke for groundstroke.

One interesting thing to me was how each player's face looked close up. Their faces were hard to miss because the giant jumbotron screen at Staples Center projected their faces close up in high definition whenever they sat in their chairs during the changeovers. I have to say Andre looked the best to me- smiling constantly, content. He looks like he's "in a good place" in his life. Mac and Courier looked pretty good too. Poor Pete though. He may still be the Man on the tennis court but the years seemingly haven't been kind to him.

joe sch · 10-16-2011, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVP

It was a real treat for me to see Sampras, Agassi, Courier, and McEnroe at the Champion Series tournament in Los Angeles last Friday. Agassi overpowered Mac handily in the first match 6-2. It seemed like Andre hit everything in the sweetspot- still the supreme ball striker. Sampras and Courier went to tiebreak in a wonderful match. Courier was crushing the hell out of his groundstrokes but Sampras always seemed to have the answer. He finished a lot of points off at the net and I was amazed at how he well he handled Courier's screamers right at him at him.

Fittingly Pete and Andre played each other in the final. Same old Sampras. He broke Andre early and then just cruised the rest of the way relying on his serve to finish out the match. He even threw in some second serve aces. It was wonderful to watch the variety in his game just like the old days: serves of all kinds, volleys, drop shots, slices, then occasionally matching Andre groundstroke for groundstroke.

One interesting thing to me was how each player's face looked close up. Their faces were hard to miss because the giant jumbotron screen at Staples Center projected their faces close up in high definition whenever they sat in their chairs during the changeovers. I have to say Andre looked the best to me- smiling constantly, content. He looks like he's "in a good place" in his life. Mac and Courier looked pretty good too. Poor Pete though. He may still be the Man on the tennis court but the years seemingly haven't been kind to him.

Thanks for the report.
Good to hear AA is hitting the ball soo well again, I had heard that he was the most out of form earlier in these exhibitions. Wonder how the matches went in Seattle the day before ? Pretty sure I saw advertising for that event on the local TV during my stay last week. Also, I believe Mac is probably still recovering from a pull hamstring and probably not in his best form.

vegasgt3 · 10-16-2011, 04:42 PM

Pete looked like he tanked it for Andre. He could ace at will, but Andre played well indeed.

mad dog1 · 10-16-2011, 04:47 PM

i recall the score of the agassi & mac match being 6-3. this was mac's 2nd match since the pulled hammy so he was definitely still playing his way back into form.

i think the reason why pete wasn't all smiles was he hurt himself midway thru the final against agassi. he did call for 2 injury timeouts to have his quad/hamstring wrapped by the trainer. it was apparent when his serves lost alot of zip after the injury, but yet he played through and finished andre off with a number of aces still.

a few observations after seeing them play first hand. it's easy to see why people say andre is one of best ball strikers ever. he does indeed hit very cleanly. he just rips the ball. one thing that puzzles me is how many say he hits flat. based on what i saw, he hits w/ PLENTY of spin. sampras hits flatter than agassi. it's also easy to see why pete's serve is considered the best in history as well. he was able to effortlessly generate aces at will whenever he needed one. he'd be down 30-40. no prob. serve up 2 aces and it's advantage sampras. in fact many of his aces were 2nd serve aces.

mac was able to serve up a bunch of aces. agassi's groundstrokes are so good that whenever he got a ball near the service line, he'd step in and crush a winner. just amazing.

armed with his serve alone, i'm sure pete could probably take some sets off of current touring pros, but at his current age, there's no way his body can hold up to the daily grind of the ATP. i'm really glad i went to see these former champions play.

mad dog1 · 10-16-2011, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegasgt3

Pete looked like he tanked it for Andre. He could ace at will, but Andre played well indeed.

i don't think pete tanked it. he injured his hamstring or quad the night before in LA. he needed 2 injury timeouts and it was obvious something wasn't right before he took the 1st injury timeout because he wasn't able to got into his deep knee bend when serving. at his age, those types of injuries don't heal overnight.

vegasgt3 · 10-16-2011, 10:12 PM

sorry, but I was in the fifth row. It was like Big Time wrestling, a total exhibition, not too serious at all. In Vegas, Agassi is King, no way he was going to lose. It was still fun.

PeterFig · 10-16-2011, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mad dog1

i don't think pete tanked it. he injured his hamstring or quad the night before in LA. he needed 2 injury timeouts and it was obvious something wasn't right before he took the 1st injury timeout because he wasn't able to got into his deep knee bend when serving. at his age, those types of injuries don't heal overnight.

He was having issues with his hamstring last weekend in Seattle too so it's probably a lingering injury

10-16-2011, 02:40 PM	#1
SVP Rookie Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Southern Cal Posts: 328	Sampras beats Agassi in Champion Series L.A. It was a real treat for me to see Sampras, Agassi, Courier, and McEnroe at the Champion Series tournament in Los Angeles last Friday. Agassi overpowered Mac handily in the first match 6-2. It seemed like Andre hit everything in the sweetspot- still the supreme ball striker. Sampras and Courier went to tiebreak in a wonderful match. Courier was crushing the hell out of his groundstrokes but Sampras always seemed to have the answer. He finished a lot of points off at the net and I was amazed at how he well he handled Courier's screamers right at him at him. Fittingly Pete and Andre played each other in the final. Same old Sampras. He broke Andre early and then just cruised the rest of the way relying on his serve to finish out the match. He even threw in some second serve aces. It was wonderful to watch the variety in his game just like the old days: serves of all kinds, volleys, drop shots, slices, then occasionally matching Andre groundstroke for groundstroke. One interesting thing to me was how each player's face looked close up. Their faces were hard to miss because the giant jumbotron screen at Staples Center projected their faces close up in high definition whenever they sat in their chairs during the changeovers. I have to say Andre looked the best to me- smiling constantly, content. He looks like he's "in a good place" in his life. Mac and Courier looked pretty good too. Poor Pete though. He may still be the Man on the tennis court but the years seemingly haven't been kind to him. __________________ "My belief is that we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." -Dick Cheney

10-16-2011, 04:42 PM	#3
vegasgt3 Rookie Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 206	saw the match in Vegas Pete looked like he tanked it for Andre. He could ace at will, but Andre played well indeed.

10-16-2011, 04:47 PM	#4
mad dog1 Hall Of Fame Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 3,051	i recall the score of the agassi & mac match being 6-3. this was mac's 2nd match since the pulled hammy so he was definitely still playing his way back into form. i think the reason why pete wasn't all smiles was he hurt himself midway thru the final against agassi. he did call for 2 injury timeouts to have his quad/hamstring wrapped by the trainer. it was apparent when his serves lost alot of zip after the injury, but yet he played through and finished andre off with a number of aces still. a few observations after seeing them play first hand. it's easy to see why people say andre is one of best ball strikers ever. he does indeed hit very cleanly. he just rips the ball. one thing that puzzles me is how many say he hits flat. based on what i saw, he hits w/ PLENTY of spin. sampras hits flatter than agassi. it's also easy to see why pete's serve is considered the best in history as well. he was able to effortlessly generate aces at will whenever he needed one. he'd be down 30-40. no prob. serve up 2 aces and it's advantage sampras. in fact many of his aces were 2nd serve aces. mac was able to serve up a bunch of aces. agassi's groundstrokes are so good that whenever he got a ball near the service line, he'd step in and crush a winner. just amazing. armed with his serve alone, i'm sure pete could probably take some sets off of current touring pros, but at his current age, there's no way his body can hold up to the daily grind of the ATP. i'm really glad i went to see these former champions play. Last edited by mad dog1 : 10-16-2011 at 04:52 PM.

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