Comparing Federer's 2011 to Sampras' 2001

[McEnroeisanartist]

Federer and Sampras have a lot of similarities in their careers. Federer is almost excatly 10 years younger than Sampras, so I thought it would be interesting to compare Federer's 2011 to Sampras 2001.

Australian Open
Federer - Semifinal to Eventual Champion
Sampras - 4th Round

Indian Wells
Federer - Semifinal to Eventual Champion
Sampras - Final

Miami
Federer - Semifinal
Sampras - 2nd Round

French Open
Federer - Final
Sampras - 2nd Round to the great, Galo Blanco

Wimbledon
Federer - quarterfinals
Sampras - 4th Round Loss to Federer

U.S. Open
Federer - semifinals
Sampras - final blowout to Hewitt

Losses to players ranked outside top 50
Federer - 0 - highest ranked player he lost to was 19
Sampras - 6

ATP Championships
Federer qualified
Sampras didn't

 

[Rhino]

Interesting comparison.
Luckily for Sampras in 2002 men's tennis was in limbo between great players. The Sampras/Agassi era was all but over and the Federer/Nadal era hadn't kicked off yet. However Federer has to contend with Nadal/Djokovic so it will be very tough for him to get that last slam.

 

[ubermeyer]

Federer - 0 - highest ranked player he lost to was 19

You mean lowest.

 

[PaulFCB]

I think if Federer wins another major, it will be the Australian Open.....maybe.

 

[TJfederer16]

Obviously from those stats Feds 2011 is far superior to that of sampras' 2001 season, overall i think Roger has had a very consistent year making lots of semi-finals, for a 30 year old its been very good but obviously a player of Roger's stature isn't too satisfied with semis and finals he wants to win them, i feel a break through is near, he has been very close obviously at RG he was very close, if he can just produce that kind of performance again he will certainly have more chances, i just hope this big loss won't affect him too much

 

[DjokovicForTheWin]

I think the problem with Federer is that he is happy just getting by. i.e. he is equally satisfied winning in 5 sets versus 3 sets. And I think it's that mentality that has killed him all year long. He needs to have blowout in his mind no matter who is on the other side. Without that mental position, he will still get by the weaker player, but really good players like Djoker and Nadal will beat him in the end even if he gets good leads as we saw this year against Tsonga, Djoker and even Nadal at FO.

 

[celoft]

Interesting comparison.
Luckily for Sampras in 2002 men's tennis was in limbo between great players. The Sampras/Agassi era was all but over and the Federer/Nadal era hadn't kicked off yet. However Federer has to contend with Nadal/Djokovic so it will be very tough for him to get that last slam.

Exactly, 2002 was very weak. Johansson and Costa winning slams! No players like Novak or Nadal to stop Pete.. No wonder Sampras won a slam that year... he played Agassi in the final who is a year older than him. Fed's situation is much more complicated.