One of my friends saw sampras at an irvine club a couple of weeks ago. My friend was hitting on the court next to Sampras', and didnt even really know it was sampras until he looked really close. Apparently, he's sporting a goatee, is a little chubbier, and a little balder. Sampras was hitting with an ex UCLA player, and according to my friend, was not playing well at all. My prediction: look for sampras to get beat by everyone at WTT.
Well, maybe he was playing bad because he wasn't Sampras I have a friend who has been mistaken for Fed (once when he was queueing in London in June to get into a club, somebody from the staff came out and treated him like a VIP, he got into the club without having to stand in line but was pretty amazed at what happened, as he is clearly not Roger Federer and it's not like fans stop him in the streets thinking he is)
Sounds like Sampras. He would weigh 250 and be completely bald before 40. But he would still have 14 majors. :mrgreen:
nahh.... Sampras will not ever get trashed by anyone, he might lose in the Senior's tour or exhibitions , but with dignity, he's got things nobody has, he's a natural.
There must be some good players at your club if Sampras was smacking forehands next to you and at first you didn't realize it was a superstar. I've heard that Sampras is notoriously average in practice. He just hits to make sure everything works okay and doesn't really try that hard. In Davis Cup, he would supposedly lose to everybody in practice matches.
He was as out of shape as it gets in the exhibition against Ginepri, and he still played pretty well, so it probably wasn't Sampras.
I'm surprised no one asked what racquet he was using. I'll go ahead and ask, what racquet was he using?
He didn't look too out of shape to me in the exhibition...sure he was a step slow or so and put on a few lb's, but he was hardly 240 or dumpy or bald. Could've been his brother, or might not have been a Sampras at all. In the Exhibition he was using a nCode Tour 90 looking racquet, yes w/ red & white paint.
Having watched the Ginepri exhibition, I can't believe Pete added that much weight in that time. I also think that considering how little he played leading up to it in addition to the fact that he was playing on a super slow red clay surface, Sampras did very well. You could see the rust and lack of conditioning. I'll bet it's fixed by Team Tennis time.
I don't remember people ever commenting on Sampras' off court conditioning routine. He was a solid dude, but I get the feeling that with his blood disorder and all, he stayed fit by playing tennis. It was kind of sad to see his once diamond shaped big calves looking all soft and drumstick looking. He was super rusty in that match. You could see that Ginepri could control what the score would be at will. He was adjusting his level to make the score entertaining.
Sampras has said that Pat Echeberry's training was a major factor in him being #1 for so many years. here's an interview with Pat: http://www.wtaworld.com/printthread.php?t=197476
I'm just glad he's coming back to play for fun. His condition now is still probably not bad compared to some of the other seniors. Remember that he basically didn't have a life for ten or more years. If he wants to play for fun now against Martin, Courier, Chang, and the others I say full speed ahead. Hell, it'd be fun to watch him compete at any level. Sampras' serve alone would win him 3 points a game.
very doubtful that it was Pete your friend saw. he lives in beverly hills and practices at ucla which is 5 min from his house. no way he would be at a court in irvine.
He has somewhat low number of either red or white cells(I don't remember) which makes him get tired easily. It is certainly a medical condition. It is not a major issue for an average person and average daily life. But I think it would be an issue for an world class athelete ingaging in heavy endurance activity. Some say that's why he couldn't win French and he always has that hang-dog look but I'm not so sure...
Sampras is still my favorite player but really??? I think Roger has a better service return than Sampras; however, Pete has a better serve. not to take anything away from Roger, i love his style and all, but i think Pete dominated more on serves. Since Roger's idol while growing up is Pete, so it's not surprising that i love both of their playing style. young players tend emulate their sports idols on almost everything on the court/field/course, sorta like my baseball hero Dave Winfield... i made catches, batted and threw like him in the little leagues. This Federer the G.O.A.T. (i overanalyzed the 'G.O.A.T.' label thinking someone was clever enough to allude to the 'GOAT', arguably and could have been the greatest basketball player only if he had left drugs alone.) sh*t has got to stop.. in due time, maybe, but right now, it's premature to label him as such. let's wait till Roger wins his 13th Major, and beat his "rival" Nadal on a consistent basis first, then we can make that kind of assessment. Pete is the pioneer of the "boring, predictable winner at every major." recognize. I still think Pete is the most boring champ of any sport. J. McEnroe should calm down with that GOAT claim already. freaking guy used to sweat Pete so much one would think he'd drink his bath water.
no it was definetely pete. my friend talked to him, and trust me, he knows his stuff enough to recognize sampras. pete apparently has a very weird sense of humor, and for giggles, the racquet was an ncode, probably a pj. my friend wasnt sure which frame, and it was at one of the nice clubs in irvine, and thus far, he has no idea y pete was there, other than to get a workout in. Fee, if you're still trolling the boards nemore, back me up and tell everyone that mark is usually right...
If it was Sampras, it's not really an indication of his level right now. He's not a guy you'll see on the practice courts hitting the crap out of the ball. Same with Federer. If it's just a regular day of practice, they'll just laze around and hit a few shots and watch other people play. The guys that impress you on the practice courts aren't always that good, especially if you pull them in from the baseline.
Yeah same here... I re-watched the Center Court special w/ Pete and realized how much I miss watching him. How great was that dude man...
Sampras was spraying balls all over the place and couldnt get a backhand in before his exhibition. I think he will do fine in matches, not enough to beat Federer of course .
ahha ya i recorded that... ya i miss waking up sunday morning of a major(other than french of course...) to huge serves with volleys that finished the point, and those flying overheads lol
