laurie said:
I wouldn't compare great players with incredible technique to Taylor Dent and Tim Henman. Taylor Dent's backhand and groundstrokes are not very good. Edberg had a great backhand.
In 1990 US Open semifinals these were the four particpants and their ages:
Andre Agassi age 20 V Boris Becker age 22
John McEnroe age 31 v Pete Sampras age 19
Note there is a three year age gap between the three semifinalist.
In 1992 US Open final Sampras age 21 played Stefan Edberg age 26.
All these players played eachother when they were extremely competitive. The head to heads are:
Sampras v Becker - 12:7
Sampras v Goran - 12:7
Sampras v Edberg - 8:6
I've seen Guillermo Coria play at the French Open last year. Guillermo Coria does not have a big serve or a big forehand. He's a consistent and talented player who uses a lot of topspin on his shots to keep the ball deep so he cannot be attacked. He's yet to win a major.
Rafael Nadal does not have a big serve.
Sampras beat Marat Safin at the US Open twice in 1998 & 2001.
Both eras has its merits. Lets not forget the likes of Michael Stich, Micheal Chang, Jim Courier, Pat Rafter, Yefgeny Kafelnikov, Petra Korda; all players who won big tournaments with different palying styles. I think the 1990s player mentioned have more variation than now at the very top level.
Come, lets do a match up competition.
You said Michael Chang.
I counter with a Hewitt...
Definitely Hewitt is better than a Chang... Do you agree?
You said Jim Courier.
I counter with a Nadal...
This match up is closer but Spanish bull just keeps running...
Nadal vs Jim Courier on clay...Nadal is stronger, no...?
Hewitt vs Courier on hard courts...50-50
You said Micheal Stich...
I counter with Roddick or Safin...
Micheal can win???
You said Pat Rafter...
I give you a Joachim or Ljubicic. 50-50
Pat Rafter 4-12 against Sampras, so hardly a contest.
You mentioned Korda...1 hit wonder,
so to be fair I mention Coria or Gaudio or Gasquet.
Gasquet will beat a Korda at AO, US open; Coria & Gaudio will beat Korda on clay.
You mentioned Yefgeny Kafelnikov.
I give you Davydenko. 50-50.
Up till 1994, after 1995 downhill for Becker & Edberg
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Becker (4 years older than Sampras) won 5, lost 6 to Sampras
Edberg (5 years older than Sampras) won 6, lost 5 to Sampras
i) It's either Becker/Edberg were fierce competition to Sampras or a young Sampras skills is so talented to match up with them, OR
ii) Becker/Edberg growing old and losing steam, giving a young Sampras a close competion prior to 1995.
Moya vs Sampras : 1-3
Moya is 5 years younger than Sampras, and Moya is 5 years older than Federer. Federer vs Moya 6-0
You said Goran.
I counter with Roddick. Roddick should be stronger.
If you say Agassi,
I counter with Hewitt. 50-50
Goran is born in the same year as Sampras, Agassi is a year older than Sampras. Roddick is 1 year younger than Federer & Hewitt is the same age as Federer. Judging that Goran & Agassi is similar to Roddick & Hewitt, but during their careers, the competition Sampras had over Goran & Agassi is much closer than Federer vs Roddick (9-1) & Hewitt (10-7, but 8-0 for the past 2 years, did Sampras have such a streak against Agassi & Goran?) Roddick & Hewitt are dominating players against other players; Hewitt has a 3-0 record over Nadal. Roddick 32-0 on grass vs other players besides 0-3 vs Federer.
This clearly shows that Federer's greater skills is the difference to his dominance over his no.2 & 3 players and the rest of the field. A player like Ferrero & Moya former no.1s are fighting so hard and still deadly players are ranked no. 28 & 29. Gasquet (reaching prime) is ranked no. 19, Ljubicic (prime) no. 17, Joachim (reaching prime) no. 16. . I can't remember any players in Sampras' era ranked no. 16, 17, 19, 28, 29 that were as good as these five players. Can we pull out the ranked no. 16, 17, 19, 28, 29 players in 1995 and compare??? Well, I made a search.
August 2005
16 Johansson, Joachim (Federer 0-0)
17 Ljubicic, Ivan (Federer 7-3)
19 Richard Gasquet (Federer 1-1)
28 Ferrero, Juan Carlos (Federer 6-3)
29 Moya, Carlos (Federer 6-0)
March 1995
16 Andrei Medvedev ( Sampras wins 5-1 as of August 1995)
17 Thomas Enqvist ( Sampras wins 6-0 as of August 1995)
19 Thomas Muster ( Sampras wins 6-1 as of August 1995)
28 Richey Reneberg ( Sampras wins 3-2 as of August 1995)
29 Marcos Ondruska ( Sampras wins 1-0 as of August 1995)
January 1996
16 Goran Ivanisevic ( Sampras wins 7-5 as of August 1995)
17 Marcelo Rios ( Sampras wins 2-0 as of August 1995)
19 Stefan Edberg ( Sampras wins 8-6 as of August 1995)
28 Brett Steven ( Sampras wins 1-1 as of August 1995)
29 Todd Woodbridge ( Sampras wins 4-1 as of August 1995)
If we play a round-robin match 2005 vs Mar 1995 / Jan 1996, the ranked 28 & 29 in 1995/1996 group are not so famous, doubles players, etc will lose to 2005's ranked 28 & 29. The ranked 16, 17, 19 in all 3 groups looks pretty even to me with some former no. 1s in the 95/96 groups.
The depth of today is better than Sampras' era in my opinion based on the top 20, 30 players. Sampras did not fair too good against players like Reneberg & Steven who were not well-known to me, heard their names before, no idea how they looked like, doubles players? Would Federer have performed as bad against Reneberg & Steven? Sampras had closer matches against Edberg & Goran (August 1995), compared to Federer against Moya & Ferrero (August 2005) who were all former no. 1, no. 2 players prior to August 1995/2005. IMO, Federer (2005) will beat Sampras (1995) more times on all surfaces.