Unreal speed by Sampras!

[Bobby Jr]

Originally Posted by Jack Romeo

...but i think that in a pure sprint, sampras still edges all of them slightly.

Yeah, on the run his dead winner hitting ability was outstanding. He could just get so much weight on the ball with his technique/grip on his forehand even when really stretched.

[stormholloway]

Originally Posted by Can't think of a name

sure he's fast..but to be honest the video looks like its been speed up a little. I know Agassi's duck walk is fast..but not that fast

Nothing in this video suggests it was sped up. Sampras moved like a freakin panther on court.

[Limpinhitter]

Check out Laver's speed on this point. He misses that pass wide, but, he really motors to get to it. (Ignore the sound, the syncro is way off).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...PQV6ns#t=3892s

[BobFL]

Yep, even M Jordan commented how well Pete was conditioned. In pure athleticism Pete >>> Nadal. Pete was natural and had very 'thick' muscles whereas Nadal is more watery and soft. His moved like a fluid and stayed very low to the ground. Nadal covers the court beautifully but looks very erratic and choppy. Federer is in different league altogether. Nole is Gumby

[Jack Romeo]

Originally Posted by BobFL

Yep, even M Jordan commented how well Pete was conditioned. In pure athleticism Pete >>> Nadal. Pete was natural and had very 'thick' muscles whereas Nadal is more watery and soft. His moved like a fluid and stayed very low to the ground. Nadal covers the court beautifully but looks very erratic and choppy. Federer is in different league altogether. Nole is Gumby

like i said, sampras was a natural athlete. it's easy to imagine him doing track and field - hurdling or sprinting, in particular. nadal might be a decathlete.

nole and federer are great athletes too, but it's not as easy to imagine them doing track and field. maybe the 400, 400 hurdles or 800 running events. or maybe nole could be a high jumper, as that discipline seems to require a lean, lithe build with a lot of flexibility and springiness.

with roger, it's easier to imagine him as something else - a figure skater perhaps. it's not hard to picture him nailing quad and triple jumps effortlessly. people keep saying how graceful and elegant he is. those are the qualities of a great figure skater, right?

[stormholloway]

Originally Posted by Limpinhitter

Check out Laver's speed on this point. He misses that pass wide, but, he really motors to get to it. (Ignore the sound, the syncro is way off).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...PQV6ns#t=3892s

Laver reminds me a lot of Sampras actually, they way they move, the way they hit the forehand.

[stormholloway]

Originally Posted by Jack Romeo

with roger, it's easier to imagine him as something else - a figure skater perhaps. it's not hard to picture him nailing quad and triple jumps effortlessly. people keep saying how graceful and elegant he is. those are the qualities of a great figure skater, right?

I remember hearing that Roger was an outstanding soccer player as a kid. He had to pick one sport or the other but from what it seems, he would have been a solid pro in soccer.

[DeShaun]

Pete is the greatest athlete tennis ever saw, except for Pancho.
Pete is a hair ahead of Rafa.
And then it goes:
Federer
Navratilova
Becker
Rafter
etc.
...

[Jack Romeo]

Originally Posted by DeShaun

Pete is the greatest athlete tennis ever saw, except for Pancho.
Pete is a hair ahead of Rafa.
And then it goes:
Federer
Navratilova
Becker
Rafter
etc.
...

i would actually put graf slightly ahead of navratilova. if we're including the women, i think she is the best ever in terms of pure athletic ability.

i think becker and rafter are physically similar to nadal. people just don't tend to think of them as similar because the playing styles are so different.

[Limpinhitter]

Originally Posted by DeShaun

Pete is the greatest athlete tennis ever saw, except for Pancho.
Pete is a hair ahead of Rafa.
And then it goes:
Federer
Navratilova
Becker
Rafter
etc.
...

I would put Borg and Laver right up there with Pete and Pancho. Federer might not have had the explosiveness, but, his movement and footwork technique was the most efficient I've ever seen.

[Jack Romeo]

Originally Posted by stormholloway

I remember hearing that Roger was an outstanding soccer player as a kid. He had to pick one sport or the other but from what it seems, he would have been a solid pro in soccer.

i heard about that story too. a lot of the european players play soccer. but, yes, if roger had gone to team sports, soccer would be the one where he would most likely excel. on the other hand, if sampras had gone to team sports, maybe he could be a basketball player.

when we talk of athletic ability, we think of sports that really measure it - and these are sports that we see in the olympics. there's a reason why track and field is also called athletics. because these disciplines require pure athletic ability. whether we talk about power (throwing events), explosiveness (sprints, hurdles, jumping events), speed (sprints) or stamina (distance running and hurdling) - these are characteristics that we see in track and field.

for these reasons, i thought of the different track and field disciplines to compare the athletic abilities of sampras and today's top players. but with roger, he had something else - grace and elegance. plus the fact that he is often described as a metrosexual, so that's the reason why i thought of figure skating instead of athletics.

[NLBwell]

Originally Posted by robow7

The guys that you fear of their court coverage are those that don't look like they're moving fast at all but seem to casually get to everything in plenty of time to set up and hit rather than having to hit out on the full run.

As Coach John Wooden used to say, "Be quick, but don't hurry."

[SystemicAnomaly]

Originally Posted by Sid_Vicious

Is it just me, or does Sampras exhibit some ridiculous foot-speed to chase down Agassi's swinging volley?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...zR8BYaHc#t=40s

It is ridiculous that people claim that Djokovic/Nadal-like speed has never been seen in tennis before...

Agassi was no slouch himself in the foot-speed department. Many have remarked that he was, at times, nearly as fast as speed/agility demon, Michael Chang. Other speed demons of the past include Borg, Hewitt, Blake, Federer and Davydenko.

Of the current crop of speedsters, you should also include Monfils, Murray, and Björn Phau.

[DeShaun]

Originally Posted by Jack Romeo

i would actually put graf slightly ahead of navratilova. if we're including the women, i think she is the best ever in terms of pure athletic ability.

i think becker and rafter are physically similar to nadal. people just don't tend to think of them as similar because the playing styles are so different.

Steffi's work rate on court was unparalleled, but I gave the nod to Martina based on her doubles output. Martina was always playing two draws at once (often going deep in both)--singles and doubles, always.
Not so with Steffi. Steffi's top gear in singles was the best, however, it was positively frightening how athletic she was.

[Sid_Vicious]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfgEPq70y4k&feature=plcp

Old thread, I know. However, I wanted to share that video with you guys.

The first point is another great example of Sampras's speed on court.

[hoodjem]

Originally Posted by Sid_Vicious

Is it just me, or does Sampras exhibit some ridiculous foot-speed to chase down Agassi's swinging volley?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...zR8BYaHc#t=40s

It is ridiculous that people claim that Djokovic/Nadal-like speed has never been seen in tennis before.

I don't believe that a 2001 Fed would have beat this Sampras.

[LeeD]

When you talk court speed, it's hard to leave out Chang, Kriek, Solomon, Santoro, and Rochus.

[psYcon]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

I don't believe that a 2001 Fed would have beat this Sampras.

It's a highlight reel. Fed in 2001 was playing shots in his highlights that were even more unreal.

[TheFifthSet]

Originally Posted by TennisMD

Also heard Brad Gilbert say Nadal had 4.2 speed, was this Gilbert hyperbole or fact? Lets say both very fast. Also court coverage entails anticipation not just raw speed.

That's absurd. 4.2 is as fast as any NFL player playing today. Neither Pete or Rafa are even close to being that fast. Gael Monfils is faster than both of them -- of course, out of all top 10 players in the open era, he has some of the poorest shot selection, so that negates it pretty well.

[rkelley]

Originally Posted by Sid_Vicious

Is it just me, or does Sampras exhibit some ridiculous foot-speed to chase down Agassi's swinging volley?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...zR8BYaHc#t=40s

It is ridiculous that people claim that Djokovic/Nadal-like speed has never been seen in tennis before.


Some extra fun info about the vid:

-Go to 2:10 to see Sampras's feet completely miss the ground.
-Returning Clinic by Sampras.

To the OP, Sampras was running to his right even before the ball got to Agassi. He guessed that Agassi would go to the open court and ran to cover it. Agassi went for the open court and Sampras was able to get there. Don't see anything particularly amazing speed-wise. A good get on Sampras' part.

Originally Posted by Can't think of a name

sure he's fast..but to be honest the video looks like its been speed up a little. I know Agassi's duck walk is fast..but not that fast

I don't see that the video was sped up. Even in the 90's they were hitting hard and running fast. Either of those two guys could play today and do well.