sampras or federer?

who had the better strokes/speed?

  • Total voters
    105
The Gorilla

The Gorilla

Banned
ok,here's what I was thinking today,sampras arguably moved better than fed,arguably had a better forehand than fed,volleys better than fed,arguably had a better backhand than fed,definitly had a better serve than fed,so maybe he was the better player?The idea of this poll is to work out who was better in each individual category and then add the results up to see who was the better player.Bear in mind,he hit that forehand with an eastern grip and with a racquet 10 inches smaller than federer's.

most of us haven't seen sampras play in a while,also his backhand when he hit a similar vein of form with it as fed did against blake in the masters cup,and his speed when retrieving a drop volley,pls watch this vid before voting,it's only 2 minutes long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4rncyHZ4k4
 
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krprunitennis2

krprunitennis2

Professional
Isn't Sampras' racket headsize 5 sq in smaller, not 10 sq inches?

I'm still not sure, I think they're both great! ^_^ I haven't seen many vids of Federer and Sampras, but from what I saw so far, I think Sampras has more angles than Federer.
 
psamp14

psamp14

Hall of Fame
good thread in my opinion...10 inches smaller on the racquet...not quite...sampras used a 85 sq in headsize, same as federer did early in his career, now federer uses a 90 sq in headsize

i for one, have countless tapes of sampras matches, and i enjoy watching them again and again just to study his game

i couldnt decide on forehands so i voted both of them, but i voted for federer's backhand, sampras' speed, sampras' serve (obviously) and sampras' volleys

many people think of sampras as the physically bigger sampras of like 2000, 2001, 2002, and now, but sampras' speed even then was extremely deceptive

just as today people say nadal, hewitt, and blake are the fastest, well you dont have to win the 100m dash but federer is deceptively quick as well, and mcenroe points that out quite often....federer's speed reminds us a lot of sampras

sampras in his prime, which i'd say was 1993-1997, was supreme, as federer is to today's competition..the video link you provided is an excellent example of how sampras' backhand was excellent as well, passing a very adept volleyer in pat rafter

federer's forehand is the most dangerous and biggest shot in today's game, but no comparison when it comes to the running forehand of pistol pete sampras, and sampras' forehand was no slouch either, just as good as federer's forehand is

on the backhand side i am going on federer, because his backhand is more consistent than sampras' was, but only by the slightest of margins...sampras' backhand got weaker as his career was ending, and thats what most people remember of sampras

i however remember sampras of his entire career, and you cannot go wrong with the sampras serve and volley....., unquestionably, without a bit of doubt, the greatest serve of all time, ever

sure federer's dangerous at wimbledon, but sampras's presence was just dominating from the start....love-30 love-40 games meant nothing....so many times it would be erased with 4-5 aces....

to me its just an honor and a pleasure to be able to have grown up watching sampras play, with his patented huge serve and follow up with the volley, or leaving his forehand side wide open, luring his opponent to try to go for the winner, only for sampras to whip a forehand like a strike of thunder on the run....and of course, the trademark scissor-kick overhead....no one in tennis can jump as high as sampras in smacking an overhead to end the point

and its absolutely incredible to watch federer play now, whose game to me is so similar to sampras' game, maybe not as great with the serve and not as good of a volleyer, but he gets it done on his serve regardless, and plays a classy game...lots of style and class...
 
The Gorilla

The Gorilla

Banned
krprunitennis2 said:
Isn't Sampras' racket headsize 5 sq in smaller, not 10 sq inches?

I'm still not sure, I think they're both great! ^_^ I haven't seen many vids of Federer and Sampras, but from what I saw so far, I think Sampras has more angles than Federer.
Click to expand...

yeah,sorry,don't know what I was thinking.
 
obsessedtennisfandisorder

obsessedtennisfandisorder

Professional
sam and fed

yeah, I'm kind of people comparing them too.

One thing 1 love about that pat vs Pete vid from Feb 97(thanks youtube)

is the style of play Pat going with , great volleys from pat throughout...yet pete backhand was seriously on that day.....thus when he's in that mood...on a fast surface it's great to watch.Pete was s&v well too

People should just be thankful we got to watch too geniouses in fed and sampo...rather than get caught up in GOAT debates.

Pat actually played that really well...and still lost.

the problem is the game has changed so much...just listen to Marat safins complaints...and thats just the heavy balls...let alone the surfaces.
Everything is in the baseliners favour these days....when Navratalova , who always has something worth listening too, says people have 5mins to have a coffee and then hit the pass.

pete(or pat) would play a game totally different to anything Roger has played in the last 5 years(please don't bring up henman, bjorkman etc). So comparisons are silly.

I've watched a lot of pete's matches ...
 
psamp14

psamp14

Hall of Fame
referring to the post above mine...you make some great points....one i completely agree with you on, is that we should be thankful we get to watch two geniuses dominate in two decades...

btw, your obsessedtennisfandisorder "disorder" is nothing to worry about...maybe a i prescribe 7 doses of roger federer at the AO...if it doesnt work then i'll send you to another doctor and you'll go further from there :)
 
M

Max G.

Legend
Backhand - I'd definitely have to say Federer, or at least based on the Sampras I saw.

Serve and volleys - definitely Sampras.

Speed - waaay too hard to judge.

Forehand - they had pretty different forehands, Federer's has more margin for error and is less of a go-for-broke shot, he still dictates play completely with it. Again, not voting on that one.
 
superman1

superman1

Legend
Easy ones are serve and volleys - Sampras by far. Federer has a great serve and nice volleys, but his serve is not at Sampras' level, and I doubt he's as good as Sampras with the really tough stretch volleys, since he only comes in when it's an easy putaway.

Federer has the superior backhand, though Sampras' was not as bad as people remember. Federer's backhand only looks horrid against Nadal on clay, otherwise it's one of the best out there.

Forehand is tough. I'll give it to Federer because he can move people around with it better, but Sampras might have had more brute force on his forehand (it just looked heavier coming off his racquet), and his running forehand was a thing of beauty.

As for speed, I'll go with Sampras. I think in general he was the better athlete. I remember seeing Federer go for a jumping overhead once - I think he missed it completely. He doesn't appear to have Sampras' hops.
 
L

laurie

Guest
Max G. said:
Backhand - I'd definitely have to say Federer, or at least based on the Sampras I saw.

Serve and volleys - definitely Sampras.

Speed - waaay too hard to judge.

Forehand - they had pretty different forehands, Federer's has more margin for error and is less of a go-for-broke shot, he still dictates play completely with it. Again, not voting on that one.
Click to expand...

You make an interesting point. Federer's use of his forehand to dictate play is very reminiscent of Stefi Graf and Ivan Lendl. Sampras seemed more happy to take it on the backhand then run around to hit the forehand when he wanted to up the ante in the rally. He didn't use his forehand to dictate the play as often, but his forehand was always a major threat to his opponent which forced his opponent to concentrate on his backhand, Sampras seemed happy to play along with that game, his backhand was reliable for him until he was ready to go forehand, although he did have a superb backhand down the line throughout his career.

This Youtube clip is a good example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjjH9CcvHTo&mode=related&search=

Even though it was Sampras towards the end of his career, he was still camped on the backhand side. On the second point, he hits a forehand down the line even though he's leaning back, that's a bit bizarrre. He did a smiliar thing against Courier in the 1991 ATP final on his serve, got a deep return, leaning back, still hits a forehand down the line winner.

Elise Bergen says Tennis is a game of forward momentum, I agree with her, so to see someone hit winners when they are leaning back is something special - just look at how much problems Mauresmo has when she is forced to play on the backfoot leaning back, and Nadal, their balls drop extremely short and are vulnerable to attack.

Talking about hitting winners running backwards, look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEg-WZXB6D0

This Sampras Courier match from 1995 is another example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkjZBr3-nBk

You have to really trust your athleticism if you are going to completely camp on the backhand side like that.

One other lesson for Andy Roddick, Sampras or any decent attacker rarely attacks the net off crosscourt shots, he always attackes the net off down the line shots. I have no idea where Roddick gets that crazy idea from, is it in the Tennis manual? Or does Roddick think his down the line shots aren't good enough? If you got to the net off down the line shots, you are covering the angles more, not saying he won't get passed but it gives him more margin for error and percentage wise (which is what it's all about about) it would work better for him.
 
Sagittar

Sagittar

Hall of Fame
fed's forehand is way more consistent than sampras' on the other hand sampras' serve is waaaay better in terms of efficiency and power , but overall sampras' records speeks for itself untill federer overcomes it whish i guess will be in the near future (hope) ..
 
O

OrangeOne

Legend
psamp14 said:
watching sampras play, with his patented huge serve and follow up with the volley,
Click to expand...

Patented? Hmmm.... If there's a patent on such play, it belongs to Boom-Boom Boris Becker. Sampras definitely may have improved on the patent, making a great version 2 :), but in my eyes BB started that trend in the modern, power-game. (Maybe someone else did it pre-80s, which would pre-date my tennis watching time).

or leaving his forehand side wide open, luring his opponent to try to go for the winner, only for sampras to whip a forehand like a strike of thunder on the run....
Click to expand...

Again, something Sampras excelled at, again, not his first though. This one belonged to Lendl, and I'm sure i've heard others say that he was pretty much the first who really consciously employed and thrived on this strategy. Again, Sampras may well have improved the breed with version 2, but it's important to note history when it should be I guess...

and of course, the trademark scissor-kick overhead....no one in tennis can jump as high as sampras in smacking an overhead to end the point
Click to expand...

He does indeed own this shot, when I was doing a coaching course they referred to it as a 'new shot' introduced to the game by Sampras, and I'd have to agree.
 
B

Bjorn99

Hall of Fame
I think Pete of 1996 versus Federer of 2005 would be tennis of the ages. Both of these guys make every other mucker who has played look silly.
 
armand

armand

Banned
I could watch Youtube clips of Sampras all day! That 2002 US Open final was magical, marvelous! That place was electric, buzzing with the notion of an era about to come to the grand conclusion. He hadn't won a tourney for 2 years and just comes in and takes the grand prize!
Gotta feel for Agassi. It often seemed he would tighten up against Pete when he otherwise wouldn't against other players. Such is the way when you're playing your nemesis.

And watching Roddick-Sampras was strange. There's Pete with his totally classic game and look(all white) vs Roddick who looked like a circus clown in that match and his unorthodox style. Very interesting how their 2 games clashed. Sampras with his efficient and haymaking forehand while Roddick looking like he was swinging for the fences, still had much less power on that side.

Thanks for the link to Sampras-Rusedski 5th set; I hadn't ever seen any of that match. Rusedski kept going to Sampras' forehand! Is he brain dead? Well, he paid the price.
And McEnroe mentioned that Sampras had 80 winners in the match, does anyone have an idea of what the record for most winners in a match is?

_______________

As for the poll, Pete's serve, volley and Federer's backhand were the choices. Their forehands were different, but in the end balance out, imo. Pete was a bit faster than Federer, but not enough for me to select it in the poll.
But there's so much more to tennis than strokes. Sampras was the sports ultimate clutch champion while Federer is a god amongst peasants in his era.
Good thread!
 
C

civic

New User
Forehand : Sampras - Federer's probably more consistent though; could go either way. Sampras maybe had a little more power.
Backhand : Federer
Speed : Tie
Volleys : Tie - Sampras probably has the edge since he SV'd
Serve : Sampras
 
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DarkSephiroth

DarkSephiroth

Rookie
Sampras's Serve & Volleys, and that's about it. Unfortunately, simple categorical comparisons don't really do it justice. Although Federer is better in almost every category, The Serve & Volley Component plays very strong and probably outweighs any other two categories.
 
D

Deleted member 6835

Guest
i was watching a sampras and agassi AO final from either 85 or 89 (forget which) and federer would be able to crush sampras easily in TODAY's game. in the OLD STYLE (net rushing, s&v, etc.) i would still give a slight edge to federer (only slight though, like 51-49 slight ;)).
 
The Gorilla

The Gorilla

Banned
tennis_nerd22 said:
i was watching a sampras and agassi AO final from either 85 or 89 (forget which) and federer would be able to crush sampras easily in TODAY's game. in the OLD STYLE (net rushing, s&v, etc.) i would still give a slight edge to federer (only slight though, like 51-49 slight ;)).
Click to expand...

you obviously no sweet fa about prefed tennis m8.
 
D

Deleted member 6835

Guest
The Gorilla said:
you obviously no sweet fa about prefed tennis m8.
Click to expand...

umm, if you mean: "You are obviously no fan of tennis before federer's time" then i'd have to say you're absolutely right.

dont get me wrong though, i love watching old tennis... when i want to go to sleep.
 
The Gorilla

The Gorilla

Banned
tennis_nerd22 said:
umm, if you mean: "You are obviously no fan of tennis before federer's time" then i'd have to say you're absolutely right.

dont get me wrong though, i love watching old tennis... when i want to go to sleep.
Click to expand...

no I mean you know sweet fa about tennis,if you thought sampras and agassi were playing gs finals in 80's you don't know what you're talking about.
 
F

fastdunn

Legend
I have exactly same opinion as superman1's.

It's tough to call who has better speed. Sampras looked lethargic on
court at times but I think he is actually faster.

Federer is born with ability to read his opponent well and anticipate.
He is also born with good court vision. He sees in 4th dimension.
He also has gifted quick hand. He is very quick but I think I've seen
many of more athletic and explosive movers in current and past times, IMHO.


superman1 said:
Easy ones are serve and volleys - Sampras by far. Federer has a great serve and nice volleys, but his serve is not at Sampras' level, and I doubt he's as good as Sampras with the really tough stretch volleys, since he only comes in when it's an easy putaway.

Federer has the superior backhand, though Sampras' was not as bad as people remember. Federer's backhand only looks horrid against Nadal on clay, otherwise it's one of the best out there.

Forehand is tough. I'll give it to Federer because he can move people around with it better, but Sampras might have had more brute force on his forehand (it just looked heavier coming off his racquet), and his running forehand was a thing of beauty.

As for speed, I'll go with Sampras. I think in general he was the better athlete. I remember seeing Federer go for a jumping overhead once - I think he missed it completely. He doesn't appear to have Sampras' hops.
Click to expand...
 
D

Deleted member 6835

Guest
The Gorilla said:
no I mean you know sweet fa about tennis,if you thought sampras and agassi were playing gs finals in 80's you don't know what you're talking about.
Click to expand...

thats what it said on the satellite TV guide... i didnt believe it myself, but thats what it said.

edit i looked it up on Wiki and it must have been a typo. it was on ESPN classic, FYI. the correct year was 1995* not 1985. i had a feeling that didnt sound right, but yes i dont know much about tennis before the year 2000, HOWEVER, i know what i saw, and i saw that federer would crush sampras in today's game, but in the type of game before 2000, with more net rushing and less power from the baseline, it would be a 50/50 toss up IMO.

there you go, have a nice day.

1995 Andre Agassi Pete Sampras 4-6 6-1 7-6 6-4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Open_champions_(Men's_Singles)
 
dowjones

dowjones

Rookie
The video highlights of Sampras (he was on his game!) was unfair to show unless there is a video highlight of Fed also - highlights of a match don't tell all. Yes, I saw the match scores. If you saw some random highlights of me playing, you would assume that I won the match but that's not necessarily what the outcome was!

I think Sampras is the better player except for speed. I watched alot of him growing up.

Would Roger Clemens strike out Babe Ruth (yea, I'm reaching) - but yes. It's hard to compare eras since so many things are different like equipment and conditioning.

We'll never know until the time machine is invented. And then, what days would we pick for them to go head to head?

DJ
 
The Gorilla

The Gorilla

Banned
dowjones said:
The video highlights of Sampras (he was on his game!) was unfair to show unless there is a video highlight of Fed also - highlights of a match don't tell all. Yes, I saw the match scores. If you saw some random highlights of me playing, you would assume that I won the match but that's not necessarily what the outcome was!

I think Sampras is the better player except for speed. I watched alot of him growing up.

Would Roger Clemens strike out Babe Ruth (yea, I'm reaching) - but yes. It's hard to compare eras since so many things are different like equipment and conditioning.

We'll never know until the time machine is invented. And then, what days would we pick for them to go head to head?

DJ
Click to expand...

In fairness,we've all seen lots of videos of federer,not to mention he's on the tv every other week so we all know what he's capable of.There are some people here however who don't,and some who've forgotten.
 
The Gorilla

The Gorilla

Banned
tennis_nerd22 said:
thats what it said on the satellite TV guide... i didnt believe it myself, but thats what it said.

edit i looked it up on Wiki and it must have been a typo. it was on ESPN classic, FYI. the correct year was 1995* not 1985. i had a feeling that didnt sound right, but yes i dont know much about tennis before the year 2000, HOWEVER, i know what i saw, and i saw that federer would crush sampras in today's game, but in the type of game before 2000, with more net rushing and less power from the baseline, it would be a 50/50 toss up IMO.

there you go, have a nice day.


1995 Andre Agassi Pete Sampras 4-6 6-1 7-6 6-4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Open_champions_(Men's_Singles)
Click to expand...

I'll have a lovely day;)

career wins
agassi: 14:20 sampras

roland garros 2006: nadal federer 1-6 6-1 6-4 7-6
 
edmondsm

edmondsm

Legend
Everbody needs to realize that this his a highlight reel and not the actual match. As awesome as Samp looks you'll notice he lost that first set. I think Pete got a lot of his winners because he went for broke on the count of his serve being so unstoppable ( I know thats been stated over and over again). I didn't see a single rally in there that began with a Sampras first serve, for obvious reasons. I think they are very similar players, Sampras with serve advantage and Fed with the backhand. They both are reminiscent of Lendl, agree?
 
J

justineheninhoogenbandfan

Banned
These are super easy:

Forehand-Federer, no brainer
Backhand-Federer, even easier
Serve-Sampras, no contest
Volley-Sampras easy
Speed-Federer is among the very fastest movers. Sampras was very fast mover but not among the very fastest.
 
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The Gorilla

The Gorilla

Banned
edmondsm said:
Everbody needs to realize that this his a highlight reel and not the actual match. As awesome as Samp looks you'll notice he lost that first set. I think Pete got a lot of his winners because he went for broke on the count of his serve being so unstoppable ( I know thats been stated over and over again). I didn't see a single rally in there that began with a Sampras first serve, for obvious reasons. I think they are very similar players, Sampras with serve advantage and Fed with the backhand. They both are reminiscent of Lendl, agree?
Click to expand...

yes,very much so.
 
A

alwaysatnet

Semi-Pro
How do you choose between two such tennis legends? There isn't much to pick between them.Federer moves better,is better defensively,has a more deadly forhand.Pete is better on offense.His serve and volley superb.His backhand better,more penetrating.Federer would win on slower surfaces,Pete on faster surfaces.If there is a tiny sliver of difference between the two I would say Pete proved his mental toughness over the years where as Roger seems a little more fragile mentally.But then again,maybe not.We'll see how he reacts as Nadal continues to push him around on clay.
 
oberyn

oberyn

Professional
alwaysatnet said:
How do you choose between two such tennis legends? There isn't much to pick between them.Federer moves better,is better defensively,has a more deadly forhand.Pete is better on offense.His serve and volley superb.His backhand better,more penetrating.Federer would win on slower surfaces,Pete on faster surfaces.If there is a tiny sliver of difference between the two I would say Pete proved his mental toughness over the years where as Roger seems a little more fragile mentally.But then again,maybe not.We'll see how he reacts as Nadal continues to push him around on clay.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's a given that Federer has better movement than Pete did in his prime. I think Fed has better footwork from a defensive standpoint, but I think that people are vastly underrating Sampras' quickness and court coverage.
 
W

wksoh

Semi-Pro
OrangeOne said:
Patented? Hmmm.... If there's a patent on such play, it belongs to Boom-Boom Boris Becker. Sampras definitely may have improved on the patent, making a great version 2 :), but in my eyes BB started that trend in the modern, power-game. .
Click to expand...

Fully agree!.. Thanks for remembering Boom Boom Boris Becker. And the way he exploded into the tennis scene and changed how the game was to be played - Power.
 
B

Bjorn99

Hall of Fame
Watching the match between Becker and Sampras in I think 97, indoors in Germany is something I do, at least once a month. Just phenomenal stuff. Becker, Lendl, Sampras, Federer, wow, geniuses and innovators to the game.

Becker came on to the scene and won Wimby when I was a gaffer and I had nightmares at night that I was a ballboy and getting hit by his serve, which was the most terrifying sight I had EVER seen in tennis history. That leg bend and Roger Clemens upper body catapult just created a visual image that was scary.
 
C

civic

New User
Bjorn99 said:
Becker came on to the scene and won Wimby when I was a gaffer and I had nightmares at night that I was a ballboy and getting hit by his serve, which was the most terrifying sight I had EVER seen in tennis history. That leg bend and Roger Clemens upper body catapult just created a visual image that was scary.
Click to expand...

I wonder if that serve will ever show up again on the circuit. I don't think there's a lot of guys with Becker's physique playing on the tour. I guess Roddick's serve is comparable, but Becker's serve motion was superior and he probably had a lot better control than Roddick.
 
A

alwaysatnet

Semi-Pro
oberyn said:
I don't think it's a given that Federer has better movement than Pete did in his prime. I think Fed has better footwork from a defensive standpoint, but I think that people are vastly underrating Sampras' quickness and court coverage.
Click to expand...
You may be right but I've never seen anyone eat up court like Roger.I never thought of Pete as particularly fleet.Or let me say this:his movement was great forwards and backwards whereas Roger's coverage of court from alley to alley is the best I've ever seen.But then again you are comparing 1 and 1A.There isn't much for me to choose between them,except that I am more of a fan of the net game than all others so I still prefer Pete(slightly).
 
The Gorilla

The Gorilla

Banned
civic said:
I wonder if that serve will ever show up again on the circuit. I don't think there's a lot of guys with Becker's physique playing on the tour. I guess Roddick's serve is comparable, but Becker's serve motion was superior and he probably had a lot better control than Roddick.
Click to expand...


I've always thought of philipousses as an unmotivated,fat becker.
 
omniexist

omniexist

Semi-Pro
I agree with the results..but I'm surprised so many people favors Fed's speed by such a margin. I actually thought Sampras was very quick (reminds me of a gazelle) and definitely more athletic..what with the jumping overhead smashes..
 
F

fastdunn

Legend
Somebody should have Federer run 100 meter and measure the time.

I can not really tell who is faster. I only have a hunch that Federer
is slower than everybody thinks and Sampras probably was surprisingly
faster than he looks on the court....
 
lambielspins

lambielspins

Banned
Fed's forehand and backhand are by far better then Sampras's and I am surprise anybody voted for Sampras to be honest on either. Speed is close, Federer does not volley enough to tell how good he is so Sampras, and serve is Sampras.
 
B

BaseLineBash

Hall of Fame
I'm very surprised at the speed margin. Sampras' movement was very smooth, cat-like and very quick! Just like or better than Federer.
 
superman1

superman1

Legend
I agree about Sampras' speed. He was like a cougar on the run. At the very least, his speed was equal to Federer's. I think he was slightly faster just because he seemed to have a stronger, more solid build.
 
capriatifanatic

capriatifanatic

Banned
I agree with the voting so far. Federer should be ahead in all of forehand, backhand, and speed, and has over double the votes in each of the three so agree with that. Sampras should be ahead in serve and volleying and he is well ahead in both.
 
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