Sampras Serve of Federer Forehand?

[Cacoepy]

The Scenario - You are a young, up and coming player on the ATP Tour. Analysts have put you on their 'one to watch' list, however, they feel you don't posses any major 'weapons', and this could hold you back from being a top player. Disheartened by this news, you trudge off in the rain with no destination in mind, and as the Sun starts to disappear over the horizon and the night sets in, you are approached by a mysterious figure. He gives you the opportunity to possess either Sampras' serve or Federer's forehand for the rest of your career.

Now assuming this guy is legit, which option do you take?

[90's Clay]

Pete's serve (especially the 2nd serve and placement) made it extremely difficult to break him.

Fed's FH is huge but he has other very good weapons in his game as well.

I would rather just have close to an unbreakable serve that I could rely on in the clutch

[federer_FREAK]

The serve is probably the most important shot in tennis so I would definitely take Pete's serve.

[Prisoner of Birth]

The serve. Federer is better than Sampras at everything except the serve. So forehand wouldn't be as big an advantage as the one thing that Sampras has over Federer.

[paulorenzo]

often times, federer's own serve determines how well his forehand performs. though fed's forehand would be nice to have on return games, i'd favor sampras's serve.

now, if in this hypothetical situation i didnt have to play tennis for a living, i'd take fed's forehand. more chances to show off.

[90's Clay]

Originally Posted by Prisoner of Birth

The serve. Federer is better than Sampras at everything except the serve. So forehand wouldn't be as big an advantage as the one thing that Sampras has over Federer.

What the heck.. No he isn't.

Sampras is wayyy more all court player.. Better transition to the net, better feel, better net play, more athleticism and pure speed

Feds got a better inside-out FH, but Pete's is better on the run

Similar BH's though Fed's is a bit better

Fed isn't better at everything. Take your pink Fed shades off

[smoledman]

Originally Posted by 90's Clay

What the heck.. No he isn't.

Sampras is wayyy more all court player.. Better transition to the net, better feel, better net play, more athleticism and pure speed

Feds got a better inside-out FH, but Pete's is better on the run

Similar BH's though Fed's is a bit better

Fed isn't better at everything. Take your pink Fed shades off

Fed is better at the forehands, backhand smash, half volleys, trick shots and defense.

[President]

Federer forehand is the best of all time, Sampras serve wasn't. IMO Roddick had a better serve even if we are excluding very tall people.

[90's Clay]

Originally Posted by President

Federer forehand is the best of all time, Sampras serve wasn't. IMO Roddick had a better serve even if we are excluding very tall people.

pfttt. Roddick doesn't have the disguise or placement nor the 2nd serve Pete had.. Thus why Fed could totally pick Roddick's serve apart.. Its fast but also pretty readable

[tennis_pro]

This isn't a fair comparison. Everyone would take a big serve over a big forehand just because it's the most important stroke in tennis.

A better question would be - what would you consider higher quality/better - the Sampras serve or Federer's forehand.

[Prisoner of Birth]

Originally Posted by 90's Clay

pfttt. Roddick doesn't have the disguise or placement nor the 2nd serve Pete had.. Thus why Fed could totally pick Roddick's serve apart.. Its fast but also pretty readable

Federer was ripping Sampras's serve apart as a baby in 2001.

[President]

Originally Posted by 90's Clay

pfttt. Roddick doesn't have the disguise or placement nor the 2nd serve Pete had.. Thus why Fed could totally pick Roddick's serve apart.. Its fast but also pretty readable

Federer is unusually good at taking care of big serves, look at how a great returner like Djokovic fared against Roddick's serve. Roddick hits the serve bigger and has a very good 2nd serve (maybe not as good as Sampras but still one of the best ever) and most importantly he gets a way higher percentage of first serves in than Sampras.

[90's Clay]

Originally Posted by Prisoner of Birth

Federer was ripping Sampras's serve apart as a baby in 2001.

Pete had 26 Aces

[JMR]

Originally Posted by 90's Clay

What the heck.. No he isn't.

Sampras is wayyy more all court player.. Better transition to the net, better feel, better net play, more athleticism and pure speed

"All-court play" can be divided into four main areas:

1. Net play
2. Aggressive, short-point groundstroke play
3. Steady, long-point groundstroke play
4. Defense

Sampras is better at No. 1; Federer is better at No. 2. Federer is much better at Nos. 3 & 4.

"Better feel" belongs to Federer too. He has Mac-class hands; Sampras is not quite in that league.

Feds got a better inside-out FH, but Pete's is better on the run

I'll give you that, but the problem is that Federer hits about 10x as many inside-out forehands as Sampras hits running forehands in a typical match.

Sampras has the better serve, but Federer has the better return of serve.

[JMR]

Originally Posted by 90's Clay

Pete had 26 Aces

Sampras had 26 aces and 9 double-faults (net +17). Federer had 25 aces and 6 double-faults (net +19).

Sampras had a higher first-serve percentage (69 to 62), but Federer won a higher percentage of points on both first (82 to 76) and second (51 to 45) serves.

[psYcon]

have to go with Federer's forehand. Did anyone consider what use Sampras' serve has on clay? He failed to make a big impact there and probably forehand has way more importance on clay than a serve.

[Paul Murphy]

The Fed FH, like the rest of his game is a thing of beauty, but if I wanted to win the most number of matches I'll take Pistol's serve.

[ctoth666]

Neither. I'll take the Chardy forehand. That shot is monstrous. I've never seen Federer hit forehands as huge as Chardy.

[MindoverMatter]

Originally Posted by ctoth666

Neither. I'll take the Chardy forehand. That shot is monstrous. I've never seen Federer hit forehands as huge as Chardy.

You would take Chardy's forehand over Sampras' serve or Federer's forehand?

[SStrikerR]

Originally Posted by MindoverMatter

You would take Chardy's forehand over Sampras' serve or Federer's forehand?

He wants the forehand that works for about 5-10 matches per year and sucks the rest of it.