Projecting Pete Sampras 2003-2005…

[dryeagle]

Backstory: Pete Sampras enters the 2002 US Open at his lowest career point since his earliest years as a pro. Not to far past his 31st birthday, he comes in as the #17 seed which means he would have been unseeded just 2 years earlier. Players are no longer in awe of the 13 time GS champion and GOAT up to that point, plus the media is clamoring for him to retire. He has not won a title in over 2 years. Then he goes to NY and finds something, a spark or resurgence. He takes out top 10 players Haas, Roddick and finally career rival Agassi to win GS number 14. Media showers him with glory. And Pistol puts it out there that he may go out on top and this was his final rodeo. But nothing is certain. He is certainly not wrapping up the 2002 season by going to play PatMac led Davis Cup in Paris, fall European indoors or ATP Finals in China. He is not making a 24 hour trip to Melbourne to open the 2003 season. But there is news he will start season in Indian Wells before pulling out of event. He has given up on Roland Garros, so he trains for Wimbledon. But then he lacks motivation to train, decides to retire and is honored at 2003 US Open.

But……let’s play along…..and Pete gets his mojo back in the spring of 2003. He sees Agassi coast to Aussie title and for crying out loud Martin Verkerk can get to the French Open final. At this point, Federer is a talented inconsistent hot head, Rafa is just a promising junior and JC Ferrero May be the best thing going. He wants to outlast Agassi, still thinks he’s the best on grass and knows he can win the US Open. He trains hard with Paul Annacone and enters 2003 Wimbledon. Let’s start here and how does the rest of his career go through 2005….

 

[socallefty]

I don’t think it changes the trajectory of Federer’s career if Sampras came back in 2003 and kept playing with his old 85 racquet and gut strings. If he were playing with a 93/95 head size and gut/poly hybrid, maybe he might have been a continued threat at fast Slams.

 

[Pheasant]

19 year old Fed with an 85 inch Wilson racket(same size's as Pete's) already proved that he was capable of beating the 4-time defending champ in 2001 at Wimbledon.

I don't like 31+ year old Pete's chances of beating a substantially better version of Federer under slower conditions. Maybe Pete sneaks a lucky draw and grabs one slam title as an even older man at the USO. That would be his best chance.

As far as the Australian Open goes, that was Pete's second worst slam event. He only managed to play 6 matches against players ranked in the top 10 and his record was a mediocre 3-3 vs the top 10 at the AO. I don't like old Pete's chances at the AO. I also don't like old Pete's chances against peak Federer on the much slower grass at Wimbledon. Sure, fast grass is a much different story. But he's in trouble on the slow grass as an old man. 2001-2002 gives us a big whiff of that. That leaves the USO. 2003 USO would be his one shot, IMHO.

Let's remember that this is post-peak Sampras. This version of Sampras got absolutely destroyed by Safin and Hewitt at the 2000-2001 USO's. Federer at the same exact age was pushing the hard court GOAT to 5 extremely tight sets, despite having the smaller racket.

 

[Dan Lobb]

19 year old Fed with an 85 inch Wilson racket(same size's as Pete's) already proved that he was capable of beating the 4-time defending champ in 2001 at Wimbledon.

I don't like 31+ year old Pete's chances of beating a substantially better version of Federer under slower conditions. Maybe Pete sneaks a lucky draw and grabs one slam title as an even older man at the USO. That would be his best chance.

As far as the Australian Open goes, that was Pete's second worst slam event. He only managed to play 6 matches against players ranked in the top 10 and his record was a mediocre 3-3 vs the top 10 at the AO. I don't like old Pete's chances at the AO. I also don't like old Pete's chances against peak Federer on the much slower grass at Wimbledon. Sure, fast grass is a much different story. But he's in trouble on the slow grass as an old man. 2001-2002 gives us a big whiff of that. That leaves the USO. 2003 USO would be his one shot, IMHO.

Let's remember that this is post-peak Sampras. This version of Sampras got absolutely destroyed by Safin and Hewitt at the 2000-2001 USO's. Federer at the same exact age was pushing the hard court GOAT to 5 extremely tight sets, despite having the smaller racket.

This early version of Federer also played more at the net at Wimbledon, the game changed when the much larger racquet frame came into predominance.

 

[TheFifthSet]

He would have had a small competitive window, Fed’s emergence was inevitable. Could see him possibly sneaking a slam and winning a few masters, likely no more than that.

 

[NatF]

Probably wins nothing.

 

[travlerajm]

This is a tough exercise, because it means we have to re-imagine old Pete as something different than the fatter complacent old Pete who petered out the last several years of his prime.

If he had somehow undergone a transformation and gotten into the same leaner fitter physical condition of his early 20s, visited some energy pyramids or something, then yeah no doubt he becomes the only guy that challenges peakerer for fast court slams and snags a few more.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Pete was done. Even had he got his mojo back in 2003, he would not have defeated Fed anywhere on any surface. Pete played solely to win slams, so he would have packed up and left the game a second time very quickly. Winning titles like Queen's or Memphis wouldn't have been enough for him.

 

[dryeagle]

I think Pete’s problem was lack of private jet. Maybe Agassi was right about his being cheap. But bottom line was Pete hated the travel associated with the tour.
For the better part of his career, he flew commercial. Towards the end he had a private or shared jet he used in US only.
As Federer traveled the bulk of his career with his own jet and brought the whole family - kids, nannys, tutors, etc.