2000 Wimbledon final: Sampras v Rafter

[Aneto]

Why people say that the grass(Wlimbledon) court is slower nowadays?

[Laurie]

Originally Posted by BeHappy

Fantastic! How about the 1999 final some day? The 1999 agassi and the 1992 courier finals both had amazing rallies. They show that Sampras was definitively the best player in the world, either at the net or from the back.

The 1999 Wimbledon final is all over youtube. One chap uploaded it in 13 parts and there's a french version of the match - the whole match in one go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCnOpY5mfhY

[Laurie]

rest of 4th set including presentation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeewusl2v_g

Now, I'm off to upload Kvitova v Azarenka 2011 Wimbledon semifinal in 3 parts, I absolutely love Kvitova's game!

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by Laurie

The 1999 Wimbledon final is all over youtube. One chap uploaded it in 13 parts and there's a french version of the match - the whole match in one go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCnOpY5mfhY

Picture quality is very poor though.

[forthegame]

Wow, Sampras' backhand is like a FH in it's own right!

[forthegame]

TBH, S&V on EVERY point has to be boring, no? Not sure if I want this sort of tennis to reign again. I like players who can add variety to their game. Baseline, S&V, net approaches etc. I enjoyed this clip but it became rather monotonous after a while.

[Laurie]

Originally Posted by forthegame

TBH, S&V on EVERY point has to be boring, no? Not sure if I want this sort of tennis to reign again. I like players who can add variety to their game. Baseline, S&V, net approaches etc. I enjoyed this clip but it became rather monotonous after a while.

I like this match a lot but I agree with you to a certain extent. I actually always preferred watching two attacking players on hardcourt. Many of them were more likely to stay back on their second serves more often and there were some great all court Tennis as a result. Players like Sampras, Becker, Henman and Phillippoussis did that a lot. Players like Krajicek, Edberg and Rafter served and volleyed more on the second serve on hardcourts during their peak, although they would stay back from time to time as well. All of these players had baseline games whereas in the 2000s many serve and volleyers had no baseline game and weren't that good at returning - Taylor Dent, Wesley Moody, Max Myrni, Micheal Llodra, Ivo Karlovic, it became the domain of the journeyman.

I uploaded Sampras v Becker from the 1994 Italian Open two months ago, look at their different approach to the game compared to grass where they served and volleyed on everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUP2FxtK0VQ

[Limpinhitter]

Originally Posted by Aneto

Why people say that the grass(Wlimbledon) court is slower nowadays?

It is slower. I read that the grass was blended with a variety that has more tolerance for being cut very short. The shorter the grass is cut, the less of the waxy blades of the grass there is for the ball to skid off of. Wimbledon has always been a bit different from other grass courts due to the hard compacting of the substrate making the bounce higher than on other grass courts. Now, it is also slower than other grass courts due to the shorter cut of the grass. I would guess that it now plays similar to painted cement which was the prevailing hardcourt before they started adding an aggregate in the paint.

[Laurie]

Originally Posted by Limpinhitter

It is slower. I read that the grass was blended with a variety that has more tolerance for being cut very short. The shorter the grass is cut, the less of the waxy blades of the grass there is for the ball to skid off of. Wimbledon has always been a bit different from other grass courts due to the hard compacting of the substrate making the bounce higher than on other grass courts. Now, it is also slower than other grass courts due to the shorter cut of the grass. I would guess that it now plays similar to painted cement which was the prevailing hardcourt before they started adding an aggregate in the paint.

We know that the process began in 1995 as it was well documented then as it it is now. Sampras said in his book that the grass had changed but the same players were still getting to the latter stages of Wimbledon during that period.

Pat Cash in 1999 through 2001 period often described the grass as hard and high bouncing (on BBC commentary), favouring players with big kick serves and allowed a lot of rallying as well.

[Tagg]

i remember watching this ages ago, didn't think i'd get to thank the person who put it up! ta!

great tennis videos, really makes you appreciate youtube

there's a guy called jsnple (i think?) who has uploaded whole matches from the 90s

mostly sampras, but quite a bit of agassi, becker as well

great channel