Best Sampras performance please?

[Laurie]

From my youtube collection:

Sampras v Henman 1998 Vienna quarterfinal 6-0 6-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmbervegakA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q84AZ1Qsys

Sampras v Rafter 1997 Davis cup semifinal 6-7 6-1 6-1 6-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35ve0wcJ3Rg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxQEBebE_yg

Sampras v Safin 2000 Masters cup (ATP world tour finals) 6-2 6-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL8HMY0VcXY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tbRr97sKyM

Sampras v Becker 1994 Italian Open final 6-1 6-1 6-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUP2FxtK0VQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4ChjWNhZbI

Sampras v Agassi 1999 Wimby final 6-3 6-4 7-5. I reuploaded the whole match last week, I had it before in highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU2jDlwg4Sg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmAfaSOwqDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8ZmWQcNKzo

I would like to upload the 1999 Cincinnati semifinal and 1999 Los Angeles final but haven't got round to it yet, I want to upload some matches involving Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova first.

[Steve0904]

Originally Posted by 90's Clay

Why make a poll here at **** Warehouse exactly?

Federer wins all polls heres.. Best USO player by 1000 votes over Connors and Pete (despite Sampras with more success there along with Connors), best well built guy, prettiest, strongest, fastest etc..

This place is infested with **** bias. Its only reasonable to make a poll on a truly objective tennis board. This place certainly isn't the place

Yet you keep coming here. I think you're what people call a sucker for punishment. Seriously though, don't leave, I have barrels of fun laughing at your posts everyday.

[TheFifthSet]

Originally Posted by 90's Clay

Sampras didn't need to consistently break per set. He just needed the one break to win the set since it was so difficult to break him.

I was going by the level that Pete attained in the 1999 wimbledon final, which was the highest level Ive ever seen from a player. Moreso, then any matches I've seen from Fed level wise


1999 Wimbledon final Sampras blows Any Fed you got off the court.

Sampras had plenty better performances than that final, which is overrated. agassi got 44% of his first serves in that day. If Sampras was in such killer form, he would be able to break him MORE than 3 times in 15 return games, regardless of how comfortable he was on serve. He'd be able to do it in his sleep considering how well he was supposedly playing, and given how poorly Dre was serving. I think if Fed was having a good serving day he'd have an excellent chance versus this Sampras. Moreover, although he was characteristically dominant on the first serve, Pete lost more points on his second serve than he won. Pretty tame for such a legendary display.

I've seen the match plenty of times and while it was a good/great performance, it was nowhere near the pinnacle of tennis excellence.

[TheFifthSet]

Originally Posted by tennis_pro

Sampras doesn't hold a candle to Federer when Federer is at his best. Not even close lol.

I don't get posts like this either. They're two all-time greats, who, when on their best day, can blow out pretty much anyone. While I believe peak Federer is better than peak Pete, to say it wouldn't be close is absurd. Pete's serve ALONE would ensure that the match would be close.

[Cup8489]

Originally Posted by TheFifthSet

I don't get posts like this either. They're two all-time greats, who, when on their best day, can blow out pretty much anyone. While I believe peak Federer is better than peak Pete, to say it wouldn't be close is absurd. Pete's serve ALONE would ensure that the match would be close.

I'm starting to think pete's serve is overrated tbh.

[TheFifthSet]

Originally Posted by Cup8489

I'm starting to think pete's serve is overrated tbh.

Well I definitely don't think it was the unanimous best serve of all time, heck it MIGHT not even be top 5, but it was definitely an all-time great serve. He's third in first serve points won all-time, something like 3rd-4th on pct% of service games won, and was only broken 4 times in 7 Wimbledon finals. It might be a tad overrated but it is still in the running for greatest serve of all time. It would be a tough ask for Federer or for anybody. If they're both at the top of their games its foolish to think either would blow the other off the court. That's simply nonsensical.

But you may be right, the way some people talk about Sampras, its as if his serve NEVER wilted, it was NEVER broken etc etc.

[Cup8489]

Originally Posted by TheFifthSet

Well I definitely don't think it was the unanimous best serve of all time, heck it MIGHT not even be top 5, but it was definitely an all-time great serve. He's third in first serve points won all-time, something like 3rd-4th on pct% of service games won, and was only broken 4 times in 7 Wimbledon finals. It might be a tad overrated but it is still in the running for greatest serve of all time. It would be a tough ask for Federer or for anybody. If they're both at the top of their games its foolish to think either would blow the other off the court. That's simply nonsensical.

But you may be right, the way some people talk about Sampras, its as if his serve NEVER wilted, it was NEVER broken etc etc.

I agree with your post. I mean, realistically.. Roddick's serve, as a standalone shot, had very similar numbers up until the last year of his career (and we all know that he's admitted to major shoulder issues in that year)

but look at the ease with which Federer handled the Roddick serve, and almost every big serve in his prime. Only the very biggest serves for pace could really do anything to him, and only if they were hitting their spots.

He's never had trouble with the Sampras serve in any of the times they've played..
I'm just saying, if he had a day like that AO 2007 semi... Sampras wouldn't get out of trouble very easily with his serve, and I doubt he'd match Roger on the ground. and with the way Fed was passign that day, Sampras would struggle at net as well.

[TheFifthSet]

I agree with your post. I mean, realistically.. Roddick's serve, as a standalone shot, had very similar numbers up until the last year of his career (and we all know that he's admitted to major shoulder issues in that year)

but look at the ease with which Federer handled the Roddick serve, and almost every big serve in his prime. Only the very biggest serves for pace could really do anything to him, and only if they were hitting their spots.

Roddick's game is 10x inferior to Sampras. While Fed's performance @ 2007OZ was lethal, it was pretty much target practice given how poorly he was approaching.

He's never had trouble with the Sampras serve in any of the times they've played..
I'm just saying, if he had a day like that AO 2007 semi... Sampras wouldn't get out of trouble very easily with his serve, and I doubt he'd match Roger on the ground. and with the way Fed was passign that day, Sampras would struggle at net as well.

They've only played once, though.

Yeah I agree Sampras wouldn't get out of trouble very easily. I didn't say he would. Just that it wouldn't be a blow-out either way, especially at Wimbledon considering Sampras' game was tailor-made for grass and how he was broken only 4 times in 7 finals, and the US Open. It would likely be one-sided on clay, but not anywhere else imo.

and again, while I agree Fed was supreme in that match, look at Roddicks approaches. They were subpar. Roddick simply does not know how to patrol the net, yet he kept going there like a headless chicken in that match.

[dlam]

IMO, the best Sampress performance was QF 1996 US Open against Corretja.
I was sure he was going to lose going to the 5th set.
He looked weak,dizzy, vomitted a few times, and umpire called time on him.
Meanwhile Corretja was jumping up and down and looked really fit.
Somehow he manage to win , this was a heart of a champion, he went on to win easily in the finals against Chang.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=444672

[abmk]

Originally Posted by TheFifthSet

Sampras had plenty better performances than that final, which is overrated. agassi got 44% of his first serves in that day. If Sampras was in such killer form, he would be able to break him MORE than 3 times in 15 return games, regardless of how comfortable he was on serve. He'd be able to do it in his sleep considering how well he was supposedly playing, and given how poorly Dre was serving. I think if Fed was having a good serving day he'd have an excellent chance versus this Sampras. Moreover, although he was characteristically dominant on the first serve, Pete lost more points on his second serve than he won. Pretty tame for such a legendary display.

I've seen the match plenty of times and while it was a good/great performance, it was nowhere near the pinnacle of tennis excellence.

Originally Posted by zagor

I think Pete's 1999 YEC F performances against Agassi is better (by a solid margin) than his 1999 Wimbledon F performance actually, just my impression of his level of play in both matches (I didn't compare stats or something so I don't know how accurate my opinion is).

*finally* a few point this out ..that performance is over-rated beyond belief ....

that wasn't even pete's best performance on grass, IMO that would be the wimbledon QF vs stich in 92 ...I wonder how many of the so called die-hard pete fans even saw that performance !?

and yes , 99 YEC final was a bit better than the wimbledon 99 final

[falstaff78]

Originally Posted by mattennis

Some good ones:

1997 AusOpen SF against Muster and Final against Moya.
1996 US OPEN Final against Chang.
1993 US OPEN QF against Chang.
1997 Wimbledon QF against Becker.
1995 Wimbledon Final against Becker.
1997 WTF Final against Kafelnikov.
1997 Cincinnati Final against Muster.
1999 Cincinnati SF against Agassi.
1999 Wimbledon Final against Agassi.
1999 WTF Final against Agassi.
1996 WTF Final against Becker.
1994 WTF SF against Agassi and Final against Becker.
1994 Miami Final against Agassi.
1995 Indian Wells Final against Agassi.
1995 Australian Open QF against Courier.
1996 Roland Garros QF against Courier.
2000 Wimbledon Final against Rafter.
1997 Davis Cup against Rafter.
1995 Davis Cup final against Kafelnikov.
2002 US OPEN QF against Roddick.
2001 US OPEN QF against Agassi.
2002 US OPEN Final against Agassi.

There are so much more...but I am already tired.

In youtube there are highlights of many of these matches and more...

There were so many other great players from that time that you missed. You should check them also...

that's awesome. I'll start working my way through these. From the little bit of him that i saw this weekend, the man looked like a force of nature. watching pete there are times when you just wonder how the hell did this guy EVER get his serve broken?!?

thanks again.

[falstaff78]

Originally Posted by abmk

apart from the ones mentioned by mattennis :

1. wimbledon QF vs stich in 92 .... a better performance than the overhyped wimbledon 99 final performance IMO ..

2. USO final vs agassi in 90

3. Davis cup vs phillippoussis in 97

other classic matches :

corretja in USO 96 QF
agassi in AO 2000 SF
federer in wimbledon 2001 4R

thanks a lot abmk.

[falstaff78]

Originally Posted by BeHappy

His 1999 summer finals against Agassi was his peak in my opinion. All of them, Wimbledon, TMC, there were a few other ones too.

The 1997 AO final versus Moya was very good too.

thanks a lot

[falstaff78]

Originally Posted by Devilito

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPsu-zL2Ah0

thanksthanks

[falstaff78]

Originally Posted by Laurie

From my youtube collection:

Sampras v Henman 1998 Vienna quarterfinal 6-0 6-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmbervegakA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q84AZ1Qsys

Sampras v Rafter 1997 Davis cup semifinal 6-7 6-1 6-1 6-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35ve0wcJ3Rg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxQEBebE_yg

Sampras v Safin 2000 Masters cup (ATP world tour finals) 6-2 6-3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL8HMY0VcXY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tbRr97sKyM

Sampras v Becker 1994 Italian Open final 6-1 6-1 6-2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUP2FxtK0VQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4ChjWNhZbI

Sampras v Agassi 1999 Wimby final 6-3 6-4 7-5. I reuploaded the whole match last week, I had it before in highlights
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU2jDlwg4Sg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmAfaSOwqDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8ZmWQcNKzo

I would like to upload the 1999 Cincinnati semifinal and 1999 Los Angeles final but haven't got round to it yet, I want to upload some matches involving Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova first.

these are awesome. this is exactly what I was looking for. ie Sampras just crushing the hell out of people. Thanks so much!

[falstaff78]

Originally Posted by dlam

IMO, the best Sampress performance was QF 1996 US Open against Corretja.
I was sure he was going to lose going to the 5th set.
He looked weak,dizzy, vomitted a few times, and umpire called time on him.
Meanwhile Corretja was jumping up and down and looked really fit.
Somehow he manage to win , this was a heart of a champion, he went on to win easily in the finals against Chang.

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=444672

thanks for the suggestion

[Laurie]

Originally Posted by abmk

*finally* a few point this out ..that performance is over-rated beyond belief ....

that wasn't even pete's best performance on grass, IMO that would be the wimbledon QF vs stich in 92 ...I wonder how many of the so called die-hard pete fans even saw that performance !?

and yes , 99 YEC final was a bit better than the wimbledon 99 final

I think it it easy to get carried away when looking in hindsight 14 years after the event but I don't think that performance was overated by any stretch of the imagination, it is easy to get caught up in overexcitement and make pronouncements.

But in context, Agassi had just won the French Open so became the first player in decades to hold all four majors in his career. Plus the day before he played one of the best matches I have seen Andre play against Rafter in straight sets (semis were on Saturday due to weather problems backing up the schedule). And he was set to take over as world number 1 and was seen as slight favourite with the pundits / media.

And after being 3:3 love 40 in the 1st set, the pundits thought their prediction would be realised, so the way Sampras responded from that position is not overated, it was his best performance in a big match, its a shame it wasn't an epic because that's what people want to remember (five set thrillers) but Agassi was playing really well and Sampras just raised his level to where Agassi couldn't match.

Sampras' performance against Stich was excellent, his return of serve and passing shots were superb on a slightly muddy surface (again bad weather to blame there).

I also like Sampras' performance against Bjorkman in 2000, that's not talked about much but Sampras made Bjorkman look almost like an amateur for a set and a half.

[abmk]

Originally Posted by Laurie

I think it it easy to get carried away when looking in hindsight 14 years after the event but I don't think that performance was overated by any stretch of the imagination, it is easy to get caught up in overexcitement and make pronouncements.

But in context, Agassi had just won the French Open so became the first player in decades to hold all four majors in his career. Plus the day before he played one of the best matches I have seen Andre play against Rafter in straight sets (semis were on Saturday due to weather problems backing up the schedule). And he was set to take over as world number 1 and was seen as slight favourite with the pundits / media.

And after being 3:3 love 40 in the 1st set, the pundits thought their prediction would be realised, so the way Sampras responded from that position is not overated, it was his best performance in a big match, its a shame it wasn't an epic because that's what people want to remember (five set thrillers) but Agassi was playing really well and Sampras just raised his level to where Agassi couldn't match.

Sampras' performance against Stich was excellent, his return of serve and passing shots were superb on a slightly muddy surface (again bad weather to blame there).

yeah, problem is in the wimbledon 99 final while pete's serving, volleying, ground game were all brilliant , his returning wasn't. it wasn't anywhere near stellar.

agassi's returning, ground game and passing were all very good, but serving ? only 44% first serves in... that simply does not cut it for him against any good grass court player ..

and inspite of that sampras had 'only' 61% of the serves returned

put any excellent server on the other side of the net ... pete would've struggled a lot more ....

contrast to 63% of the serves returned vs a far superior serve & serving performance by stich in wimbledon 92 QF

also I've heard people saying loads of things like he thumped agassi from the baseline & all that .....really ? they were about equal from the baseline ...

and then this one takes the cake :

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showp...4&postcount=38


"Maybe not in terms of the scoreline, but Sampras totally outplayed Agassi in that match, even in rallying and returning."

I was like WTF !?

which is why I said the match was over-rated ....

Originally Posted by Laurie

I also like Sampras' performance against Bjorkman in 2000, that's not talked about much but Sampras made Bjorkman look almost like an amateur for a set and a half.

haven't seen that match ..

[Mustard]

Originally Posted by abmk

yeah, problem is in the wimbledon 99 final while pete's serving, volleying, ground game were all brilliant , his returning wasn't. it wasn't anywhere near stellar.

Sampras got the crucial breaks, and left Agassi floundering. As Agassi said afterwards "He played very big at the right times, and he's won for a very good reason".

Originally Posted by abmk

agassi's returning, ground game and passing were all very good, but serving ? only 44% first serves in... that simply does not cut it for him against any good grass court player ..

and inspite of that sampras had 'only' 61% of the serves returned

put any excellent server on the other side of the net ... pete would've struggled a lot more ....

contrast to 63% of the serves returned vs a far superior serve & serving performance by stich in wimbledon 92 QF

also I've heard people saying loads of things like he thumped agassi from the baseline & all that .....really ? they were about equal from the baseline ...

and then this one takes the cake :

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showp...4&postcount=38

Oh, come on. Agassi was outplayed in the 1999 Wimbledon final. Sampras delivered where it mattered most in the match, and in a big way. Sampras wasn't like a peak Federer, dominating statistics in virtually all departments. Sampras had periods where he just cruised without doing anything brilliant, but at his best, he struck at the crucial times to get the crucial break, win the crucial point etc. Sampras lived on the edge a lot more, a fine line between brilliant, very good, good, ordinary and poor. Against Agassi in the 1999 Wimbledon final, Sampras was brilliant at nearly all the crucial moments of the match. That's why it's one of Sampras' best ever performances, as was his 1992 Wimbledon quarter final win over defending champion, Stich.

[Laurie]

Originally Posted by abmk

yeah, problem is in the wimbledon 99 final while pete's serving, volleying, ground game were all brilliant , his returning wasn't. it wasn't anywhere near stellar.

agassi's returning, ground game and passing were all very good, but serving ? only 44% first serves in... that simply does not cut it for him against any good grass court player ..

and inspite of that sampras had 'only' 61% of the serves returned

put any excellent server on the other side of the net ... pete would've struggled a lot more ....

contrast to 63% of the serves returned vs a far superior serve & serving performance by stich in wimbledon 92 QF

also I've heard people saying loads of things like he thumped agassi from the baseline & all that .....really ? they were about equal from the baseline ...

and then this one takes the cake :

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showp...4&postcount=38


"Maybe not in terms of the scoreline, but Sampras totally outplayed Agassi in that match, even in rallying and returning."

I was like WTF !?

which is why I said the match was over-rated ....




haven't seen that match ..

Gosh ABMK, you sound like you are having a moan just to be contrary.