[chopin on nadal versus sampras]
Yeah it would be interesting. It would probably come down to how well Nadal returned. I've seen Rafa get a bit bothered when he can't get a rhythm when he's playing a really aggressive player. Tsonga and Blake come to mind. And Pete's game is way more a-rhythmic than they could ever be. Pete could potentially drive Nadal crazy with the way he would go from playing like a guy ranked 100 in the world to GOAT and back again in a set. Rafa would definitely take advantage of Pete's backhand, but with all that spin, a person could say Nadal's balls would be easy pickings for Pete's volleys, but Nadal is one of the finest 2 shot passers I've ever seen. He knows if he hits a ball with all the spin he can generate, even if they get their racket on it, it's going to be a tough shot. So right behind Nadal's returns, the next most important determining factor might be how Pete can handle Nadal's spin on volleys.
If Sampras' stop and go, stuttering, a-rhythmic style of play doesn't mentally bother Nadal, physically, I don't think there's much Pete can do against Nadal from the baseline. He's got explosive shots, but Wayne Ferreira showed how a good athlete can neutralize that explosiveness, and Nadal is a way better retriever than Wayne. Plus, Nadal has an amazing ability to take short slice balls and rip them with his forehand, something I've seen him do so many times against Federer. Physically, Nadal is capable of handling anything Pete can throw at him from the baseline.
In the end, Pete wasn't doing awesome against some of the new generations best. Past his prime? Maybe or definitely, but even from the beginning, Hewitt, even at age 17, played Sampras tough, and at the end of their head to head, Hewitt had won 5 of their last 6 matches, including the last four. Hewitt hits a very different type of ball, one that is probably easier for Sampras to deal with. Maybe Leyton was better at returning with his flatter, more compact return swings, but just saying, with each generation, people have been taking bigger and bigger cuts on the return, and can pull passing shots off from more difficult positions.
But I like Pete's game a lot more than I used to. I never really liked watching him play. Pete's matches were like a dialogue intensive independent film in a lot of ways, you really have to watch the whole thing to follow the plot and appreciate it. Pete's point management throughout a match was insane. We may never see anything like it again. Downside of that was if you just randomly pick a few minutes of Sampras to watch, it could be really boring.
