SamprasisGOAT
Hall of Fame
This thread is not about the greatest baseline game or greatest movement or the greatest ground strokes overall.
It’s about one shot.
The forehand.
Pete Sampras has the greatest forehand of all time.
Now that’s Not a sentence you here on these forums and I’m sure this will be a controversial thread but anyway back to petes forehand.
He’s got the greatest forehand of all times. It’s a fact. The human eye can judge it alone. Nothing else is needed really to make the judgment. He could do anything he wanted to do with it. Blast winners or dictate play. Go for it or be patient. The flatness, heaviness and adaptability is what makes it stand out.
Sampras copied lendls forehand stroke mechanics because Lendl was the player Sampras rooted for over McEnroe and Connors in the 80s as a kid. He also trained with Lendl in 1988 for a month.
Lendl and Sampras both had the pointed elbow preparation and that’s what gave them power and control on the forehand.
Basically Pete took lendls forehand and bettered it. Used it in a different way. With petes blood condition and his lack of stamina training/bad diet he used his forehand to hit clean winners instead of dictate points and moving his opponent around like Lendl did on clay. But Sampras and Lendl have forehands that were very similar in mechanics and technique. Sampras if he had the stamina and movement could easily have won the French open with his forehand alone. But he couldn’t move to well on clay and wasn’t fit enough.
Look at the agassi matches with Sampras. Agassi always went to petes backhand side because agassi knew the point was over if petes forehand was involved. A big compliment to Pete.
A shot to pieces Agassi in 2005 was out hitting a prime Federer forehand to forehand. Only 3 years earlier Sampras had blasted Andre off the court with his forehand.
Agassi had an overall better ground game then Sampras. But forehand to forehand Sampras clearly wins.
Many players have better overall ground games and baseline games then Sampras and would probably win most matches overall if Sampras always stayed back and rallied with them. That’s why Sampras wasn’t a pure baseliner and stuck to his serve and volley in most big matches.
Better baseliners and overall ground games were
Lendl
Djokovic
Federer
Nadal
Borg
Agassi
Connors
Wilander
hell even safin and Hewitt and Murray and wawrinka but none had a better forehand.
It’s about one shot.
The forehand.
Pete Sampras has the greatest forehand of all time.
Now that’s Not a sentence you here on these forums and I’m sure this will be a controversial thread but anyway back to petes forehand.
He’s got the greatest forehand of all times. It’s a fact. The human eye can judge it alone. Nothing else is needed really to make the judgment. He could do anything he wanted to do with it. Blast winners or dictate play. Go for it or be patient. The flatness, heaviness and adaptability is what makes it stand out.
Sampras copied lendls forehand stroke mechanics because Lendl was the player Sampras rooted for over McEnroe and Connors in the 80s as a kid. He also trained with Lendl in 1988 for a month.
Lendl and Sampras both had the pointed elbow preparation and that’s what gave them power and control on the forehand.
Basically Pete took lendls forehand and bettered it. Used it in a different way. With petes blood condition and his lack of stamina training/bad diet he used his forehand to hit clean winners instead of dictate points and moving his opponent around like Lendl did on clay. But Sampras and Lendl have forehands that were very similar in mechanics and technique. Sampras if he had the stamina and movement could easily have won the French open with his forehand alone. But he couldn’t move to well on clay and wasn’t fit enough.
Look at the agassi matches with Sampras. Agassi always went to petes backhand side because agassi knew the point was over if petes forehand was involved. A big compliment to Pete.
A shot to pieces Agassi in 2005 was out hitting a prime Federer forehand to forehand. Only 3 years earlier Sampras had blasted Andre off the court with his forehand.
Agassi had an overall better ground game then Sampras. But forehand to forehand Sampras clearly wins.
Many players have better overall ground games and baseline games then Sampras and would probably win most matches overall if Sampras always stayed back and rallied with them. That’s why Sampras wasn’t a pure baseliner and stuck to his serve and volley in most big matches.
Better baseliners and overall ground games were
Lendl
Djokovic
Federer
Nadal
Borg
Agassi
Connors
Wilander
hell even safin and Hewitt and Murray and wawrinka but none had a better forehand.
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