Agassi Interview - too gracious or just being honest?

[YodaKnowsBest]

so this means Djokovic was a goat contender all along...

 

[nethawkwenatchee]

Dude these guys are not kids on an internet forum, they are grown ups. They could care less about some petty war of words.

You may be surprised Rhino. These guys have been bathed in public opinion from childhood and have alot of pride riding on how the public interprets their lives. Agassi is a smart guy and absolutely understands that guys place themselves in awkward situations when they compare themselves with current top players. Agassi came out with a book just last year detailing many of his past and present wars of words with Samprass (should we examine the situation at Indian Wells last year?). Bottom line: there is a life long jockying between these guys and Agassi was correct by putting himself out of the conversation in comparison to Federer/Rafa

PS Rhino... Have you re-read my post in the "I guess he escaped" ..says Roger Thread?

I guess it doesn't matter a whole lot what Fed says. Djokovic is younger and has been, for the past several months, "the man to beat".

Yes Djokovic is a nuch better player now that he's younger.

Younger than fed and also owning him on big occasions. I'm still a Fed fan but wanted to point out the reality in all of this. Take Care and please re-read my post Rhino

 

[VictorS.]

To be honest, I don't know how much better athletes are really getting. I think in tennis, the training and sophistication has improved tremendously. In addition, we all keep hearing about what great athletes Nadal and Federer are and deservedly so. But I'm not sure these guys are better athletes than Sampras was. I think Sampras could move just as good as those guys, if not better. His serve, which just so happens to be the most important shot, was a lot better than anyone's today. In addition, it's not a stretch to think his ground game and backhand wouldn't be highly improved with poly strings and better racquet technology.

I personally think in a broader sense that athletes aren't any better than they were 20 years ago. Michael Jordan to me was more athletic than the basketball players today. Mike Tyson to me is a more explosive boxer than any we've seen today. Mike Powell long jumped farther than anyone can today. Sampras, in my opinion, was a better "athlete" than any player today....Djokovic, Nadal, whoever. I honestly believe Sampras would be better than all these guys.

 

[VictorS.]

Kobe Bryant > Michael Jordan.


It's like electronics.

:lol:

I disagree. I'm a huge Kobe Bryant fan. But Jordan was better than Kobe in a number of ways.

#1: His hands were larger. This allowed him to palm the ball with ease and do all those creative moves in the air, often changing pattens mid-flight. Kobe does not have that luxury.

#2: Higher shooting percentage. Essentially, Jordan was more efficient at putting the ball in the basket.

#3: Higher scoring avg. Unfortunately Kobe played many of his prime years alongside Shaq which I'm sure skewed his scoring avg. But Jordan even in his advanced years was avging more than even an early 30s Kobe avgs now.

#4: strength. Jordan was a tougher player in the post. In addition, he had a better fadeaway jumper.

Areas where I think they share similarities: defensive intensity, clutch play, competitive zeal, one on one moves, knowledge of the game, and ability to adapt their games due to physical wear and tear.