Assuming Nadal gets to play in a slam final which, if won, would break Federer's slam record, will Federer be in the stands (if invited) to see it happen, the same way Sampras was asked to sit there and have his nose rubbed in during the Winbledon final when Federer broke Sampras' record? Or do you think Federer would say thanks but no thanks? Will be interesting to see what happens if it gets to that. Who knows, Federer might be forced to witness it in the best seat in the house...on the other side of the net.
If/when Nadal is on the verge of breaking Federer's slam record
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Nathaniel_Near
Guest
Doubt it as there is a good chance Roger will still be an active player on the tour who is a rival and not some long retired ex pro.
That is all.
That is all.
Roddick85
Hall of Fame
I think you got it wrong about Sampras being asked to sit there. Sampras had been retired for over 6 years when Federer broke his slam record, I don't think anyone asked/ordered him to be there so Federer could rub it in Sampras's face. Sampras was there out of respect for Federer as the 2 are friends off court as well and it did make sense as well.
Would Federer be there for Nadal if the samething happened? I think so, but as I said in an other similar thread, people think Nadal winning another 5 slams is a walk in the park, in my opinion it's far from done, so I think for now, this rather prematured.
Steve0904
Talk Tennis Guru
Yes. There is a video out there somewhere (or maybe an interview) where Pete says jokingly "Just make sure you don't break my record in Australia." Try to have it closer to home, like Wimbledon or the USO."
Anti-Fedal
Professional
Sampras said in 2008 that he wanted to be there when Federer broke his record. I doubt Federer will want to be there for Nadal, he might be forced to go.
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Sampras was fortunate in a way that Federer broke his record on the first try after reaching 14. If Federer had gone on a losing streak in major finals at that point, Sampras would have had to travel to more tournaments and drag it out more.
Roddick85
Hall of Fame
I feel sorry for Sampras...it's a shame such a great champion has such crappy fans
So true. I've been saying this a lot lately, but it always amaze me how little respect Sampras gets on these boards. He was such a great player and probably the greatest of his era.
I haven't seen enough of Sampras playing to really have an opinion as someone watching the game, but his records speak for themselves. 6 straight years ending #1, 286 weeks as world #1, streaks of 3 and 4 finals wins at Wimbledon for 7 total, 5 US Open victories, 2 AO victories. A tier-1 all-time great without question.
He'd get more respect if older matches were re-aired more often. And classic matches that you can get ahold of are priced ridiculously. $112 for Wimbledon 2000 Men's Final of Sampras vs. Rafter, $108 for USO 2002 Sampras vs. Agassi. I'd love to see more of Sampras play, but those prices are a little high.
NatF
Bionic Poster
Have you tried youtube? There are plenty of people who sells matches for less than $10 as well.
Roddick85
Hall of Fame
+1 there's a lot on youtube.
The only thing that isn't very fun with older matches, is that the video quality is rather poor for most of them, it's hard to follow the ball if you watch them on a reasonably sized screen. Tennis is one of the sport that really benefited from going to HD.
NatF
Bionic Poster
You can still find some good quality ones though. I think grass is the surface which I struggle with the most on old matches. Hardcourt is normally fine. Clay is usually OK.
I'll have to see if there are good quality full matches on Youtube. $10 a match is good for DVD quality.
Watching anything less than DVD quality -- and many Youtube videos are awful quality -- is really not worth it for watching tennis. Pete Sampras can't be appreciated by watching laggy jumpy horrible-resolution youtube videos.
Right, if you can't easily follow the ball, it isn't worth watching. DVD-quality is a minimum, HD is preferrable.
NatF
Bionic Poster
Like I said the quality is ok for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lrZDRvrZpg
Quality for that match is fine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrTyMz6gNnk
And that one etc...
There's plenty of good copies out there.
beast of mallorca
G.O.A.T.
The BIGGER question is, will the Federer fanatics watch the Championship trophy presentation, or will they be looking for a tree ? :twisted:
haha, sorry, can't resist
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Bud
Bionic Poster
I watched the first link, kinda skipped through it but I still saw about half of all the points. Wow, what a match. Seriously, that is beautiful tennis that you don't see anymore nowadays. I expected the level of play to be much lower but those 2 are legends. And damn, that Pete could serve. He hits 2nd serves that just shoot through the court. For some reason, I found myself rooting for Agassi there but I was disappointed because I felt like he would surely lose after losing the 3rd set (didn't think the video was long enough for 5 sets), but then he manages to pull it off in that fashion. Wow, I'm seriously blown away. Thanks for posting.
NADALRECORD
Banned
^ at 2000 AO semi, that set point Agassi won was very memorable. I remember just as Sampras was serving you could see Agassi looking over at Brad Gilbert and yelling something to him just before Sampras served. And then when Agassi hit the ball down low and made Sampras volley-up you could hear the crowd celebrating even before Agassi won the point. I'm saying all this based on memory, as I haven't seen the match since 2000. Its my favorite Agassi match ever. My 2nd favorite Agassi match ever is Kucera-Agassi 1998 US Open, even though Agassi lost.
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Fed_Djoker_Fan
Banned
beast of mallorca
G.O.A.T.
As what Bud said, he could be the opponent you know.......:twisted:
NADALRECORD
Banned
That^ would be interesting, when Federer is in the semi-final and he sees Nadal is in the final. Big decision then, whether Federer will want to be the man to ward off Nadal or whether he'll let Murray or Djokovic get through. It will be great for tennis if Federer is still contending when Nadal breaks it. The hype of that situation will lift tennis to a new level of popularity.
beast of mallorca
G.O.A.T.
I know that all these are just hypothetical scenarios, but if it ever happens, the Federer extremists will be on a rampaging massacre .......:twisted:
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