Sampras Biggest Rival

[rafafan20]

Who was Sampras' biggest rival in his playing career.

Growing up I loved Sampras-Agassi, still think its the greatest tennis rivalry there will ever be because of the contrast in styles and the competitiveness and mental toughness of the two individuals.

It was brought to my attention that it is "fact" that Hewitt, Safin and Roddick are Sampras biggest rivals.

I don't think that is true at all, maybe I am wrong...

[Razoredge]

He doesn't have any because unlike Federer he played in a weak era of tennis where no one had the skill and mentality to challenge him.

[helloworld]

Agassi is by far Pete's main rival, and he totally was on top of his rival throughout the whole career. unlike Federer who has been losing to his main rival since the first match. Federer couldn't even manage to beat baby Nadal on hard court in their first meeting. Don't even get me start with their grand slam encounters...

[Razoredge]

Originally Posted by helloworld

Agassi is by far Pete's main rival, and he totally was on top of his rival throughout the whole career. unlike Federer who has been losing to his main rival since the first match. Federer couldn't even manage to beat baby Nadal on hard court in their first meeting. Don't even get me start with their grand slam encounters...

Just goes to show what a strong era and rival Federer had that he was able to get demolished by him when he was just a 17 year old kid.

Sampras would **** himself if he had to face someone of such raw, natural talent.

[rafafan20]

This isn't a Federer comparison, I just want to know who thinks Sampras' main rival was, aside from any other debate.

[helloworld]

Originally Posted by Razoredge

Just goes to show what a strong era and rival Federer had that he was able to get demolished by him when he was just a 17 year old kid.

Sampras would not have lost to baby Nadal on hard court, period. Even Roddick has had no trouble against baby Nadal, see 2004 US Open.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDYsdEzp9is

[Razoredge]

Originally Posted by helloworld

Sampras would not have lost to baby Nadal on hard court, period. Even Roddick has had no trouble against baby Nadal, see 2004 US Open.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDYsdEzp9is

Sure, Sampras faced such a strong era of men's tennis, just look at his Wimby final vs Cedric Pioline.

[helloworld]

Originally Posted by Razoredge

Sampras would **** himself if he had to face someone of such raw, natural talent.

LOL. Roddick, a much lesser version of Pete Sampras, has had no trouble holding his own against your so called "raw, natural talent".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDYsdEzp9is

[Sabratha]

Originally Posted by helloworld

LOL. Roddick, a much lesser version of Pete Sampras, has had no trouble holding his own against your so called "raw, natural talent".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDYsdEzp9is

What's Roddick's H2H against Nadal?

[helloworld]

Originally Posted by Sabratha

What's Roddick's H2H against Nadal?

We're talking about baby Nadal here. Of course, Roddick is no match for prime Nadal. Yet, Federer couldn't care to beat any version of Nadal, baby or prime.

[abmk]

Originally Posted by helloworld

We're talking about baby Nadal here. Of course, Roddick is no match for prime Nadal. Yet, Federer couldn't care to beat any version of Nadal, baby or prime.

federer was 5-2 vs nadal outside of clay from 2004-07 ...

sampras was 2-6 vs krajicek in his prime ( almost all matches on medium-fast to fast courts )

chew on that

[Bobby Jr]

Hang on... If 17 year old Nadal could beat an already slam winning Federer.... and a much younger (and therefore worse player) Federer could beat Sampras then that means....









....Lukas Rosol is better than Federer and Sampras.

[rafafan20]

Originally Posted by Bobby Jr

Hang on... If 17 year old Nadal could beat an already slam winning Federer.... and a much younger (and therefore worse player) Federer could beat Sampras then that means....









....Lukas Rosol is better than Federer and Sampras.

19 year old Donald Young straight setted Rosol though in 09... So Donald Young is GOAT

[Bobby Jr]

Originally Posted by rafafan20

19 year old Donald Young straight setted Rosol though in 09... So Donald Young is GOAT

How could I miss that? I stand corrected.

[Sabratha]

Originally Posted by helloworld

We're talking about baby Nadal here. Of course, Roddick is no match for prime Nadal. Yet, Federer couldn't care to beat any version of Nadal, baby or prime.

Nadal beat Roddick 6-7(6), 6-2, 7-6(6), 6-2, at the 2004 Davis Cup. Nadal was 18 years old at this point, so he was scoring wins over prime Roddick at just 18.

Now hang on about Federer not beating "baby or prime Nadal", he's lost to Federer in 2005 at Miami, although it was an incredibly close match. It's still a win and he still beat Nadal, so that renders that argument null.

He also beat Nadal in 2007 at Hamburg, 2009 in Madrid and this year at Indian Wells. His wins at Wimbledon in 2006 and 2007 count towards the ending tally. Also the fact that Federer has been schooling Nadal at the Tennis Masters Cup every time they've played.

[zagor]

Where's Pioline as the option in the poll?

[zagor]

Originally Posted by helloworld

We're talking about baby Nadal here. Of course, Roddick is no match for prime Nadal. Yet, Federer couldn't care to beat any version of Nadal, baby or prime.

Eh, Roddick beat Nadal in both 2008 and 2010 which are widely recognized as Nadal's best years.

[helloworld]

Originally Posted by zagor

Eh, Roddick beat Nadal in both 2008 and 2010 which are widely recognized as Nadal's best years.

That proves even further that big servers even with no game can still dominate prime Nadal. Pete with plenty of game to back up his huge serve would be virtually unbeatable against Nadal on fast surfaces.

[zagor]

Originally Posted by helloworld

That proves even further that big servers even with no game can still dominate prime Nadal. Pete with plenty of game to back up his huge serve would be virtually unbeatable against Nadal on fast surfaces.

LOL! Should have seen this one coming, everything should be spinned to bolster Pete's greatness .

Every match-up is a story for itself, therefore drawing absolute conclusions about a hypothetical match-up from a specific match-up is faulty in itself.

[tennis_pro]

Originally Posted by helloworld

Agassi is by far Pete's main rival, and he totally was on top of his rival throughout the whole career. unlike Federer who has been losing to his main rival since the first match. Federer couldn't even manage to beat baby Nadal on hard court in their first meeting. Don't even get me start with their grand slam encounters...

Agassi was a goner in 1993, first half of 1994, most of 1996 and 1997-1998 - these are only Sampras' prime years. Wow, if Federer only had 1 year when Nadal didn't reach a FO final, he would smack Sampras' records and the Samprastards mouths for good. Instead, Nadal was there ALL the time, challenging him on every surface (compared to Agassi who had issues taking 4 games in a set on grass against Sampras), then Djokovic joined the party in 2007, Murray in 2008 and none has ever fallen out of the top 4-5. What was Agassi's ranking at the end of 1997 again?