I Watched Pete Sampras Play Tonight

mileslong

mileslong

Professional
in newport beach, california. my buddy has season box seats for the newport breakers, team tennis. pete plays for the breakers.

here are my observations:

there are more good looking women at these events than any other in
the history of mankind.

the atmosphere is very rowdy with people yelling things in between
points as well as music like jock jams in between points and sets.

the women playing on these teams basically suck especially for the
breakers. anastassia rodionova and tina krizan. rodinovas backhand was so bad that people were yelling "slice it"! she hit every backhand into the net.
both could volley decent but in singles they were really horrible.

the men are pretty good: ramon delgado, rick leach and of course pete sampras. ramon and pete played doubles tonight and won their match against John paul fruttero and brian wilson.

then to decide the match we got to watch pete play singles against fruttero.

here are my observations on petes match:

1) fruterro (who i had never heard of) can absolutely bomb serves.
2) pete needs to go to a lighter racket. he was late all night on his
backhand and the last time i saw that many frames was when i visited
the louvre.
3) pete sent like 8 balls into the stands off of his frame, mostly off the backhand which was definately slow. especially against fruterros serves.
4) pete still hits great serves but spun more in than bombing tonight. he hit three aces in one game however.
5) petes second serves were awesome, with two aces and the others almost unreturnable since they jumped up over the guys heads who were returning.
6) pete double faulted in the final match to lose in a tiebreaker to fruterro :(
7) pete can still hit great overheads and volleys although he sprayed a few
8) pete hit one of the biggest forehands i have ever seen from around his shoulder inside the baseline for a crosscourt winner.
pete made numerous errors on his backhand tonight, was really off with it and late on the big serves.

all in all a very cool evening and got to watch one of the greatest ever play up close and personal. we were right on the court with our box seats. i wish i had gotten to see pete play in person in his prime but this was still cool.

im going to go see mcenroe play when he comes into town as well. kind of a cheesy event but fun and a good time was had by all...

if anyone has any questions about it just post them here.
 
Awesome!

Yeah, I expected Sampras to frame a lot of backhands. Once you lose the footwork, the timing really suffers.
 
I saw fruttero play a couple of years ago when Cal played at UW. I wasn't that impressed with his game, as he got overpowered by Alex Vlaski, a lefty with a big forehand and a suspect backhand.
 
here is a link to the breakers website if anyone is interested.
http://www.newportbeachbreakers.com/players.htm

i should also mention that they have a weird scoring system obviously to speed up play and mix in all kinds of tennis.

the scoring goes like this (from the website):

Game scoring is no-ad (first team to win four points wins the game). Should the game reach deuce (three points each), the receiver chooses the side from which he/she will receive serve. In mixed doubles, the serve is always gender to gender at 3-3. Each game counts as one point in the team's cumulative match score. Players change sides after every four games. Lets are played and either partner may return the let serve.

here is the link which explains all the rules which are different than normal
tennis matches.
http://www.newportbeachbreakers.com/html/glossary.html

the court also has the service boxes painted different colors which looks very odd. one of the weirdest things is that all let serves count and you must play them. this definitely threw pete off several times. he froze to wait on a let call and the ball was by him for a point.

as far as the questions go:

fruterro was a two time all american at university of cal berkeley. i dont think he would have beaten pete in a real match but this match was basically like a set with an 8 point tiebreaker and you can win by one. that double fault killed pete, neither one of them could return each others serves very well. very short points. also by the time the set was almost over pete was already reading fruttys toss and starting to move into position earlier and was getting better looks at the big serve.

i couldnt tell if pete was wearing his oscillates but they were very plain white and nondescript (typical pete) he was wearing white shorts of course and the nike men's summer sphere react crew white with blue stripes which is a close out item on tennis warehouse.

his racket appeared to be the same one he used against ginepri earlier this year. its painted red and white and looks like an ncode tour 90 to me. didnt look like his prostaffs with a paintjob and the head looked too small to be the ncode 95.

pete looked kind of bored during many of the earlier matches but what do you expect? him standing and cheering? thats just not pete. when he serves he still does that one little ball drop then launches it high into the air and boom, effortless power. his ball toss is the exact same every time first or second serve and you never know where its going. he hit aces to both courts painting the T and also out wide. most of the time the guys were frozen.

everything he does is effortless just like federer. he is so at home hitting overheads and volleys its not even funny. like a machine in the warmups. on the game where he doubled faulted he had come out from a timeout and literally walked up to the line from the bench and bounced it once and served, he took like two seconds to serve and the same from the ad court.

while the women for both sides, and especially the st louis team, could volley very well they were bad from the baseline. you can clearly see why these gals cant make in the big show playing singles, too many holes in their game. the guys all looked really good i thought.

its definitely a place to people watch and be seen. drinking coronas watching a parade of beauties walk by you and then looking up and watching pete sampras crush a few serves no more than about 30 feet in front of you, not too bad an evening...
 
Thanks for the detailed report. :D

I've seen Futtero play at Cal Berkeley and in some futures tournaments. I think he's an awesome player. He can really play out of his mind sometimes, with huge serves, huge groundies, huge volleys, yup, pretty much huge everything. I'm very surprised he hasn't gone up higher in the rankings by now. After I saw him absolutely crush a poor guy at a tournament once, I told him that if he kept playing like that, that he would win the US Open one day. ;)
 
Be a doll and go back tonight. Tell me how Jan-Michael's doing coming back from his shoulder injury. Thanks :)

(yeah, I know you won't go)

I'm seeing Pete Wednesday night in Sacramento, but I'll be so excited that I can't promise any important information will come back from me (I've never seen him play before and even if he is slower and chubbier, he still has the sweetest service motion...)
 
pete still looks great, just less hair. very rusty while still showing signs of brilliance.

i will not go see jan michael play, my ex girlfriend used to drool when he took this shirt off in front of her while watching him warm up in palm springs at the pacific life open a couple of years ago :( i didnt understand what the big deal is when i could do that for her every night....
 
here is the tv schedule, oln is showing some of sampras' matches:

http://www.sportsmediainc.com/tennisweek/index.cfm?func=showarticle&newsid=15550&bannerregion=

OLN World TeamTennis Schedule

July 16 – 11:30 a.m. Eastern: New York Sportimes at Newport Beach (Sampras)
July 23 – 12 Noon Eastern: Boston (Martin) at New York Sportimes (Hingis)
July 29 – 4 p.m. Eastern: Philadelphia (Venus Williams) at Houston
July 30 – 4 p.m. Eastern: Newport Beach (Sampras) at Houston
August 6 – 3 p.m. Eastern: WTT Finals (Championship Match
 
I saw the event in Houston on Sunday night. Jan Michael played (or attempted at playing), and he looked pretty bored as well. But if his shoulder was hurting, he probably didn't want to play. Much to the delight of the female fans, he had his shirt off most of the night when he was sitting on the sidelines, with a big ice bag on his shoulder. I think that was his main contribution to the team effort.
These events seem to be catered to children as the tennis is far from what you would pay to see.
The only big names showing up in Houston this season will be Venus Williams and Pete and i'll go to that.
 
helloworld said:
who's a fruttero ? Did he really beat Pete ???
Click to expand...


It's John Paul Fruttero, former #1 player at the best public school in the world, [size=+2]UC BERKELEY[/size]
 
Besides the timing on his backhand, the only other thing missing from Pete's "game" is a nice personality. Although it's a WTT tradition, Pete refused to sign autographs afterward for the kids. Ah well -- can't have everything.
 
mileslong said:
i will not go see jan michael play, my ex girlfriend used to drool when he took this shirt off in front of her while watching him warm up in palm springs at the pacific life open a couple of years ago :( i didnt understand what the big deal is when i could do that for her every night....
Click to expand...

Yes, but do YOU also have abs like JMG?

BTW, EVERY member of the female species drools when Jan-Michael Gambill takes his shirt off.......my lady included! ;)
 
Django said:
Besides the timing on his backhand, the only other thing missing from Pete's "game" is a nice personality. Although it's a WTT tradition, Pete refused to sign autographs afterward for the kids. Ah well -- can't have everything.
Click to expand...

Refusing to sign autographs at an exibition event? Lol, isnt that the point?

He is the equivalent of the 72 dolphins who always comes around when someone trys to steal their thunder.
 
People here made excuses when Pete lost to Ginepri this year. What do they have to say now?

Doesn't sound like a GOAT at all.

The comments on being late with the heavy racquet are very interesting. Shows that recreational players should think deeply about using such racquets.
 
sureshs said:
The comments on being late with the heavy racquet are very interesting. Shows that recreational players should think deeply about using such racquets.
Click to expand...

Don't worry. Not too many recreational players use 14 oz. racquets like Pete anyway.
 
sureshs said:
People here made excuses when Pete lost to Ginepri this year. What do they have to say now?

Doesn't sound like a GOAT at all.

The comments on being late with the heavy racquet are very interesting. Shows that recreational players should think deeply about using such racquets.
Click to expand...

The guy doesnt play tennis anymore, what do you expect him to do, roll out of bed after not playing for three years and beat someone in the top 20 Ginepri, or someone in the top 200, Fruttero?

Even Agassi, who's still training and playing tournaments has some "bad" losses this year.
 
i agree with rob. this guy literally didnt play for years until ginepri and i thought he looked pretty good just out of pro tennis shape.

i will tell you this, if wanted to make a comeback right now and trained for 6 months and hit the circuit he could beat a lot of the top 20 players. he has that much game. he can still leap and serve like a beast and the forehand is only a minor tuneup away from lethal status again. he volleys better now than probably anyone in the world playing singles. the only thing that really looked bad was his backhand. he would need some work grooving that again.

im no pro or teacher but my impression was that if he had a 12 or 13 oz racket instead of a baseball bat i think he would find quicker improvement. everyone loses a step and some split seconds in reaction time as we age. i think with some practice it would work well for him. just my opinion...
 
travlerajm said:
I saw fruttero play a couple of years ago when Cal played at UW. I wasn't that impressed with his game, as he got overpowered by Alex Vlaski, a lefty with a big forehand and a suspect backhand.
Click to expand...

UW, as in university of wisconsin? are you around madison? what a "coinkidink" as the joker would put it. anyway thats cool fellow wisconsinite!
 
sureshs said:
People here made excuses when Pete lost to Ginepri this year. What do they have to say now?
Click to expand...

We say that he's hasn't seriously trained and practiced in a couple of years, and I'm not at all surprised that he's losing to people that do.
 
chiru said:
UW, as in university of wisconsin? are you around madison? what a "coinkidink" as the joker would put it. anyway thats cool fellow wisconsinite!
Click to expand...

Nah. The other UW - the one in the Pac-10.
 
tennis*bill said:
I saw the event in Houston on Sunday night. Jan Michael played (or attempted at playing), and he looked pretty bored as well. But if his shoulder was hurting, he probably didn't want to play. Much to the delight of the female fans, he had his shirt off most of the night when he was sitting on the sidelines, with a big ice bag on his shoulder.
Click to expand...

That wasn't boredom, that was probably pain and a desire to not be playing at that moment.

Sam Warburg will be Pete's singles opponent in Sacramento, should be fun.
 
LOL. What's next? "I saw Rod Laver hitting the other day and it looked like he'd get beaten down by most pros today. No way he's the GOAT." "Agassi dropped a set 6-2 at Wimbledon to some nobody. There's no way he's one of the greats."
 
Lee said:
It's John Paul Fruttero, former #1 player at the best public school in the world, [size=+2]UC BERKELEY[/size]
Click to expand...

It's a great school for graduate students, not so great for undergrad. And JPF is terrible, Pete must be kicking himself for losing that one....
 
sureshs said:
People here made excuses when Pete lost to Ginepri this year. What do they have to say now?

Doesn't sound like a GOAT at all.

The comments on being late with the heavy racquet are very interesting. Shows that recreational players should think deeply about using such racquets.
Click to expand...


OMG!!! Unbelievable, no? You arent very bright, are you?
 
atatu said:
It's a great school for graduate students, not so great for undergrad. And JPF is terrible, Pete must be kicking himself for losing that one....
Click to expand...

Didn't JPF play mostly number 2 behind Conor Nieland? I can see Nieland possibly making more of a mark in singles on the ATP tour, just because he seems so solid all around, and he's big, muscular, and fast. He might need to develop more of a serve though.
 
travlerajm said:
Didn't JPF play mostly number 2 behind Conor Nieland? I can see Nieland possibly making more of a mark in singles on the ATP tour, just because he seems so solid all around, and he's big, muscular, and fast. He might need to develop more of a serve though.
Click to expand...

No, Fruterro played #1 the whole 4 years he was at Cal. He graduated around 2003. Nieland just graduated from Cal this year.
 
Sampras has the worst record among all WTT singles players as of today. Wow, he must be very rusty!

Player Standings
Player GP GW GL %
1 Ramon Delgado - Breakers 48 15 9 0.625
2 Glenn Weiner - FoxForce 49 28 21 0.571
3 Sam Warburg - Capitals 53 30 23 0.566
4 Nick Monroe - Lasers 59 32 27 0.542
5 Alex Bogomolov Jr. - Sportimes 48 24 24 0.500
6 Brian MacPhie - Explorers 45 18 18 0.500
7 Eric Nunez - Smash 44 22 22 0.500
8 Amir Hadad - Lobsters 47 22 23 0.489
9 John Paul Fruttero - Aces 52 25 27 0.481
10 Frederic Niemeyer - Freedoms 46 19 24 0.442
11 Jan-Michael Gambill - Wranglers 44 19 25 0.432
12 Scott Lipsky - Buzz 49 20 29 0.408
13 Pete Sampras - Breakers 48 6 10 0.375
 
BreakPoint said:
No, Fruterro played #1 the whole 4 years he was at Cal. He graduated around 2003. Nieland just graduated from Cal this year.
Click to expand...

Then how come JPF played #2 the only match I watched when both were there? I think it was 2003.
 
The tennis guy said:
Sampras has the worst record among all WTT singles players as of today. Wow, he must be very rusty!

Player Standings
Player GP GW GL %
1 Ramon Delgado - Breakers 48 15 9 0.625
2 Glenn Weiner - FoxForce 49 28 21 0.571
3 Sam Warburg - Capitals 53 30 23 0.566
4 Nick Monroe - Lasers 59 32 27 0.542
5 Alex Bogomolov Jr. - Sportimes 48 24 24 0.500
6 Brian MacPhie - Explorers 45 18 18 0.500
7 Eric Nunez - Smash 44 22 22 0.500
8 Amir Hadad - Lobsters 47 22 23 0.489
9 John Paul Fruttero - Aces 52 25 27 0.481
10 Frederic Niemeyer - Freedoms 46 19 24 0.442
11 Jan-Michael Gambill - Wranglers 44 19 25 0.432
12 Scott Lipsky - Buzz 49 20 29 0.408
13 Pete Sampras - Breakers 48 6 10 0.375
Click to expand...

A lot of Pac-10 players on the list. I've seen a lot of these guys play.
I watched Warburg his sophmore year - scrappy, nice 2hb. But at 6'-3", you'd think he's too big to be a counterpuncher.

I watched McPhie play in '91. He got crushed by Palmer on a good Stanford team that featured Alex O'Brien, Jared Palmer, and Jonathan Stark as a tough 1-2-3 punch.

I saw Lipsky play in 2004 at #2 singles against Alex Vlaski. Lipski has a nice huge kick serve, and great all-around skills. But he carried 30 extra pounds. I can see how he did ok as a doubles specialist.
 
Lipsky has lost weight lately (looked that way to me when I saw him a few weeks ago). He's featured at the beginning of the current K-Swiss commercial that ESPN showed during Wimbledon.
 
travlerajm said:
Then how come JPF played #2 the only match I watched when both were there? I think it was 2003.
Click to expand...

Don't know. Sometimes teams do switch their line-ups around depending on what teams they're playing or how the players are feeling. Sometimes teams even sacrifice their #1 spot if their opponent has an unbeatable #1 player.
 
travlerajm said:
Then how come JPF played #2 the only match I watched when both were there? I think it was 2003.
Click to expand...

He hurt his wrist and needed surgery. When he came back, I think he played a match ot two at #1, then went down to #2. If you check collegetennisonline com, you'll be able to find out for certain.
 
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