Sampras vs Blake exo

[T. H. Park]

All their matches have been on hard courts, Blake's best surface by far and Nadal's worst by far. If they played 5 times on hard courts, 5 times on clay, and 2 times on grass, the head to head would be 9-3 in Nadal's favor. Of course Blake was never good enough on grass or clay to get far enough to play Nadal.

Even with the matches on hard courts the edge is a thing of the past. Nadal won their last 2 meetings, both on hard courts, and is likely to continue to win any future meetings between the two even on that surface. He has improved greatly since those first 3 meetings and Blake has already peaked, and if anything is going to regress with age now.

Please spare me the "if" this "if" that argument, especially for a player like Nadal. "If" there would have been no Roland Garros, Nadal would have been a one slam wonder unless he wins something outside the red stuff in the future (a good possibility). Please try to not use that argument as it will really make a great player like Nadal look pretty bad. Beating Nadal on clay is nearly impossible - he is without much exaggeration the best clay courter ever.

I do, however, agree somewhat with your 2nd paragraph as that makes more sense. Nevertheless, nothing is for certain. Nadal's knees do not look too good and his style of playing is (according to the likes of Sampras and Becker) going to have its toll on his body as it already has. So, in short I would not put too much trust in the "edge" is in the past concept for Blake. I believe that Nadal's peak was in 2008 and he will have a very tough time to top his performance of this year for the future and his body will regress faster and far more rapidly than players like Blake or Federer who have to work less to win matches (in terms of style of play).

 

[The-Champ]

If Blake wants to embarrass old Pete, the score would be 61 61. I doubt Blake would be disrespectful.

 

[edmondsm]

Blake hasn't even won a slam. The match will all depend on what Mood Sampras is in. Sampras would be favorite against anyone outside the current top 4. Mcenroe agrees:

"

McEnroe said last year that he would seed Sampras in the top five if he played Wimbledon again. He said nothing had changed his views since then. “That serve is just scary,” he said. “I don’t think any of the guys outside the current top four would want to play him.”

"

Hah, but McEnroe beat Sampras recently as well, so I guess Johnny Mac thinks he should be a 5 seed at Wimbledon as well, please.......

 

[musicalmedic81]

If Blake plays it like an exo then Sampras in 3. If he was to play it like a serious tour match then Blake in 2 fairly comfortable sets. Lets face it, Blake is top 10 in the world and tennis is his life. He is constantly training and playing to get better. Sampras is retired and probably only gets his rackets out whenever he is scheduled to play a tournament. He would have no chance of beating a current top 10 player as he is.
just my 2 pence.

I agree 100%. I used to think before the Sampras/fed exos in asia last year that it was kind of a "once great, always great" chance for pete to beat Roger. And dont get me wrong, Sampras is still an incredible player considering his age and 6 years of retirement under his waist band. But once I saw how Roger was just spinning his serve in and feeding pete volleys at the net, I knew that you just cant compare a current top 10 caliber player with a former great who hasnt played a tour match in 6 years. Its fun to toy with the idea that Sampras could still be competitive with todays top pros, but it just isnt realistic.

 

[Dedans Penthouse]

Sampras was a great champion (and can still crank a hell of a serve). But come on, he's physically over-the-hill, retired, does not train like a full-time player, is retired, is no longer tournament tough and is retired. Blake, on the other hand, is a top-flight ACTIVE player who is still in his 20's and besides, since it would mean nothing, that is, since NOTHING would really be at stake here, I can't see Blake losing ..... again, not with nothing on the line. ;-)

 

[stormholloway]

Voting on who will win an exo is like voting on Wrestlemania.

 

[Rickenbacker4003]

Then you have no idea what Pete Sampras is capable of.

You mean WAS capable of.

 

[halalula1234]

could pete win? hes been retired and hasnt practice as much im sure.

 

[leonidas1982]

It's a shame this wasn't shown on tele: Pete won.

 

[Fedace]

O cmon,,really., ?? Sampras lost to Washed up pioline in London. so what Possible chance does pete have against Top 10 Pro James Blake.. if they play for real,, Blake would blow away Pete.
6-3, 6-2.

 

[Fedace]

It's a shame this wasn't shown on tele: Pete won.

Ok, so it was fixed...

 

[shintan17]

I don't think the result is actually "FIXED", but who cares who win?? I am pretty sure both Blake and Pete just wanted to entertain the crowds little bit, taking money and go home. It's an exhibition...

 

[helloworld]

Ok, so it was fixed...

Actually, the fact that it is not televised should mean that it wasn't fixed. If it was fixed, they'd have televised it for entertainment purposes just like Wrestlemania.

 

[leonidas1982]

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/36149479.html

http://www.2theadvocate.com/sports/36151294.html

Page 1:

At least for one afternoon, tennis legend Pete Sampras proved he could still play with and beat just about anybody.

Sampras, who retired from competitive tennis in 2002, beat 10th-ranked James Blake, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4 in an exhibition to benefit victims of hurricanes Gustav and Ike at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday afternoon.

Sampras, who won seven Wimbledon and 14 Grand Slam titles overall during his 15-year career, showed his trademark big serve and powerful forehand and mixed in some fun to boot before about 7,000 fans at the PMAC in the Duel Under the Oaks II.

“I think one match at a time he can hang with anyone, especially on a quicker court,” Blake said. “He still serves huge, hits a forehand huge and takes you out of your rhythm on your service game.

“I think you put him in a one-match situation like here today, and he can hang with the big boys. It doesn’t look like too much has gone from his game.”

Some questioned whether Blake, 28, was taking it easy on the 37-year-old Sampras.

“You know, obviously this is the offseason, but I was playing for real,” he said.

Sampras wasn’t totally buying it.

“I think James was being pretty courteous to the retired guy,” said Sampras with a laugh. “I was serving pretty well and returning OK, but I’m not really sure how James was taking this match.”

“I just wanted to be competitive, and if I could pull a set in the match, it was a bonus.”

The match was competitive throughout with Blake winning a first-set tie-breaker 6-7 (3) before Sampras charged back to win the final two sets. In the first three games of the second set, Sampras won every service point.

“He served too good at times,” Blake said.

With the second set tied at 3-3, Blake had a chance to break Sampras but couldn’t do it as Sampras went on to a 6-3 win. Blake also had a chance in the third and deciding set and couldn’t come through.