Sampras vs Federer

[williams planet]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Roger Federer

Backhand: Roger Federer

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Pete Sampras

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Roger Federer

Footwork: Pete Sampras

Mental Toughness: Pete Sampras

 

[Shauster]

Hmm a lot of things you listed are tossups.. I like Fed's mental toughness though.. thats why hes won like 25 consecutive finals

 

[Shiro]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Roger Federer

Backhand: Pete Sampras

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Pete Sampras / Roger Federer | imho.: both of them kill the high ball evenly well

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Pete Sampras, his serve was all body, and uncoilling, which needs a very high degree of athleticism

Footwork: Roger Federer

Mental Toughness: Roger Federer

 

[Grimjack]

You're going to have to give us time to think about this. I don't believe it's ever come up before.

 

[Matthew]

You're going to have to give us time to think about this. I don't believe it's ever come up before.

Beat me to it.

Your opinion is appreciated williams planet, but you may want to consider expressing it in a reply to one of the million other threads started about this topic.

Footwork, BTW, goes to Federer. His footwork and balance is key to his success.

 

[DariusRaiden]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Pete Sampras

Backhand: Roger Federer

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Pete Sampras

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Pete Sampras

Footwork: Roger Federer

Mental Toughness: Pete Sampras

 

[Tenez]

Winning slams: Pete Sampras
Winning fans: Roger Federer
OK, that's a bit extreme, but it sounded good for a second.
--Tenez

 

[ctbmar]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Roger Federer

Backhand: Roger Federer

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Equal, Sampras' Leaping Smash is mainly for showmanship, a
normal smash would be just as effective. Federer's back-pedalling
for smashes is faster, more graceful, less effort. So I rank overhead equal for both.

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Roger Federer

Footwork: Roger Federer

Mental Toughness: Equal

 

[AllCourt]

Serve: Sampras

Forehand-Federer

Backhand- Federer

Volley- Sampras

Overhead- Sampras

Speed-Federer

Athletiscism- Federer, but Sampras is close, only a true athlete can pull thorugh some of the draining matches he has had

Footwork- Federer

Mental Toughness- Sampras

 

[DashaandSafin]

Notice that only newbies have actually responded...

 

[uNIVERSE mAN]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Roger Federer

Backhand: Roger Federer

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Roger Federer

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Roger Federer

Footwork: Roger Federer

Mental Toughness: Roger Federer

 

[Docalex007]

Never really thought about this matchup before. Cool.

 

[Baseline Basher]

My take:
Serve: Pete Sampras
Forehand: Roger Federer
Backhand: Roger Federer
Volley: Pete Sampras
Overhead: Pete Sampras
Speed: Roger Federer
Fitness: Roger Federer
Athleticism: Roger Federer
Footwork: Roger Federer
Mental Toughness: Roger Federer
So that's 7-3, ad Federer. And let's not forget who won on Wimbledon (each player's best arena.) I believe Roger Federer is the better all-around player.

 

[rod99]

serve: sampras by a lot (only b/c he had the greatest serve ever)

forehand: federer by a little

backhand: federer by a little

volley: sampras by a little

overhead: even

speed: federer by a little

fitness: federer by a lot

athleticism: even

footwork: federer by a little

mental toughness: even

 

[DanEd]

I agree with Baseline Basher . i do not know how many can doubt about the overhead. sampras has the better by far.

federers is not so good, if anybody has any doubt about it watch the miami final match between nadal vs federer

 

[doriancito]

i jsut saw the match federer vs sampras, it was a hell of winenrs thedre, no consistencym they just went over fore the winner, sampras was playing very very good but he was in one of his bad days and federer was lucky

 

[federerhoogenbandfan]

Serve: Sampras
Forehand: Federer
Backhand: Federer
Volley: Sampras(could become Federer if he gets more belief in his net game, and comes in more and got more comfortable with it)
Overhead: Sampras
Return of Serve: Federer
Speed: Federer
Athleticsm: Sampras
Fitness: Federer by a mile
Mental Toughness: toss up
Footwork: Federer

 

[Kevin Patrick]

Just curious about the fitness part. Do any of us really know how fit Federer is? The majority of his matches are straight sets. He's played very few 5 setters in his career. Very few matches over 3hrs.
Sampras had a phenomenal 5 set record & played a ton of them, some very long matches. His body language may have been poor, but he still won.

 

[timmyboy]

Notice that only newbies have actually responded...

heh. that's cuz people who's been in this board know well enough that there is a vanilla amount of these threads on these boards.

 

[federerhoogenbandfan]

Just curious about the fitness part. Do any of us really know how fit Federer is? The majority of his matches are straight sets. He's played very few 5 setters in his career. Very few matches over 3hrs.
Sampras had a phenomenal 5 set record & played a ton of them, some very long matches. His body language may have been poor, but he still won.

More due to his mental toughness than his fitness IMHO.

 

[Pancho]

I think Federer will beat Sampras anytime! And He did - Federer beat Sampras at Wimbledon!

 

[SamprasisGOAT]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Pete Sampras

Backhand: Roger Federer

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Pete Sampras

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Pete Sampras

Footwork: Roger Federer

Mental Toughness: Pete Sampras

That’s exactly the same as what I’ve got. Interesting thread from 2005

 

[Third Serve]

Hmm a lot of things you listed are tossups.. I like Fed's mental toughness though.. thats why hes won like 25 consecutive finals

Nice

 

[skaj]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Roger Federer

Backhand: Roger Federer

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Pete Sampras

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Roger Federer

Footwork: Pete Sampras

Mental Toughness: Pete Sampras

Athleticism? Maybe you mean fitness.
Also speed is Sampras, although Federer is certainly not slow. For footwork it's the other way around.

 

[skaj]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Roger Federer

Backhand: Pete Sampras

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Pete Sampras / Roger Federer | imho.: both of them kill the high ball evenly well

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Pete Sampras, his serve was all body, and uncoilling, which needs a very high degree of athleticism

Footwork: Roger Federer

Mental Toughness: Roger Federer

I agree on everything except for the speed part. Sampras was lightning fast, only he was rarely in defensive position so we did not see him sprint often.

 

[Cup8489]

I agree on everything except for the speed part. Sampras was lightning fast, only he was rarely in defensive position so we did not see him sprint often.

Prime for prime Federer is LOADS faster than Sampras.

 

[skaj]

Prime for prime Federer is LOADS faster than Sampras.

Nobody is "loads" faster than anybody here. Prime for prime Sampras is faster than Federer.

 

[Cup8489]

Nobody is "loads" faster than anybody here. Prime for prime Sampras is faster than Federer.

I hope you can back that statement up. What evidence do you have? My original comment was anecdotal having seen both of them play but if you have hard evidence I'd like to see it.

 

[NoleFam]

Speed: equal
Athleticism: Sampras

 

[Cup8489]

For comparison sake:

Sampras hits good shots on the move but I don't know how you can say he's faster than Federer prime for prime.

 

[NatF]

Speed: equal
Athleticism: Sampras

How do you distinguish between the two?

Fed is the better defender and has the better footwork. Sampras has the better movement to his right, higher vertical leap etc...

 

[BorgTheGOAT]

That’s exactly the same as what I’ve got. Interesting thread from 2005

Indeed an interesting thread. Also interesting that most people had Sampras ahead in mental toughness. If it was after Federer’s countless chokes against Nadal and Djokovic I would agree but back in 2005 I would have thought that Federer’s mental toughness was considered very high.

 

[SamprasisGOAT]

Indeed an interesting thread. Also interesting that most people had Sampras ahead in mental toughness. If it was after Federer’s countless chokes against Nadal and Djokovic I would agree but back in 2005 I would have thought that Federer’s mental toughness was considered very high.

Mental toughness in the open era

1. Sampras
2. Borg
3. Djokovic
4. Becker
5. Connors

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Indeed an interesting thread. Also interesting that most people had Sampras ahead in mental toughness. If it was after Federer’s countless chokes against Nadal and Djokovic I would agree but back in 2005 I would have thought that Federer’s mental toughness was considered very high.

Besides Fedr being a known headcase pre-prime, he kinda revived the chokey vibe by losing AO 05 from MP up, I'd guess that gave people a reason since PETE would never in the midst of his peak.

 

[NoleFam]

How do you distinguish between the two?

Fed is the better defender and has the better footwork. Sampras has the better movement to his right, higher vertical leap etc...

I wouldn't put footwork into the athleticism category. I think they are both fast so I will call it a tie but Sampras' athleticism was a higher level. Not only his vertical leap but his explosiveness, and ability run to his right and hit insane running forehands was something only he and maybe Nadal could do.

 

[AnOctorokForDinner]

Mental toughness in the open era

1. Sampras
2. Borg
3. Djokovic
4. Becker
5. Connors

PETE


Nadal
Djokovic
Borg

Shout-out to peak Muster (won 6 matches from MPs down in 1995) and Lapentti (a journeyman who willed himself into the 1998 top 10 winning 4 matches from MP down, overall won 16 such matches in his career losing only 2, also had like 12-2 record in five-setters in his prime years).

 

[NatF]

I wouldn't put footwork into the athleticism category. I think they are both fast so I will call it a tie but Sampras' athleticism was a higher level. Not only his vertical leap but his explosiveness, and ability run to his right and hit insane running forehands was something only he and maybe Nadal could do.

Yeah both he and Nadal get more power at the end of their range, Fed's forehand is more timing and racket head speed so not as good on the run compared to those two.

Anyway its a tricky thing to define, they used to say Sampras moved like a cat - he was very quick. I do think Fed is overall more than his equal in terms of total movement package but I don't care enough to argue lol.

 

[BorgTheGOAT]

Mental toughness in the open era

1. Sampras
2. Borg
3. Djokovic
4. Becker
5. Connors

Borg’s five set record is way better than Pete’s .

 

[NoleFam]

Yeah both he and Nadal get more power at the end of their range, Fed's forehand is more timing and racket head speed so not as good on the run compared to those two.

Anyway its a tricky thing to define, they used to say Sampras moved like a cat - he was very quick. I do think Fed is overall more than his equal in terms of total movement package but I don't care enough to argue lol.

I say movement they are about equal and of course Federer has the better footwork. I think that's the main advantage he has over Sampras.

 

[BorgTheGOAT]

Besides Fedr being a known headcase pre-prime, he kinda revived the chokey vibe by losing AO 05 from MP up, I'd guess that gave people a reason since PETE would never in the midst of his peak.

Sure but apart from that loss to Safin and maybe the five setter he lost against Hewitt in DC after leading 2-0, I cannot really remember matches he squandered where he should have won. He closed it out in Wimbledon 01 against Pete himself or against Agassi in US Open 2004. As he was winning everything left and right back then I would have thought his mental toughness was rated quite high. Of course after the Nadal and Djokovic matches thus notion would change.

 

[NatF]

I say movement they are about equal and of course Federer has the better footwork. I think that's the main advantage he has over Sampras.

Djokovic the GOAT mover in your opinion?

 

[NoleFam]

Djokovic the GOAT mover in your opinion?

Hard to say. There have been some fast movers in tennis: Borg, Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, Sampras, Federer, Monfils, etc. He seems to be declining in movement at a slow rate but I don't think he was the fastest overall, although he was fast. I think he is the GOAT mover who could slide on hardcourt though.

 

[NatF]

Hard to say. There have been some fast movers in tennis: Borg, Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, Sampras, Federer, Monfils, etc. He seems to be declining in movement at a slow rate but I don't think he was the fastest overall, although he was fast. I think he is the GOAT mover who could slide on hardcourt though.

Fair enough. Borg and Nadal for me. Djokovic on a HC though.

 

[BeatlesFan]

Serve: Pete Sampras

Forehand: Roger Federer

Backhand: Roger Federer

Volley: Pete Sampras

Overhead: Pete Sampras

Speed: Roger Federer

Fitness: Roger Federer

Athleticism: Roger Federer

Footwork: Pete Sampras

Mental Toughness: Pete Sampras

Everything else is correct, but Fed has the GOAT footwork. Sampras isn't anywhere close to Fed's footwork.

 

[skaj]

I hope you can back that statement up. What evidence do you have? My original comment was anecdotal having seen both of them play but if you have hard evidence I'd like to see it.

Same here, I thought that was clear from my previous reply to your comment.

 

[skaj]

Mental toughness in the open era

1. Sampras
2. Borg
3. Djokovic
4. Becker
5. Connors

By Becker you mean Nadal?

 

[xFedal]

Mental toughness in the open era

1. Sampras
2. Borg
3. Djokovic
4. Becker
5. Connors

Borg and Becker shouldn't be in the discussion.... Novak/Pete/Nadal its between these 3.

 

[skaj]

Hard to say. There have been some fast movers in tennis: Borg, Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, Sampras, Federer, Monfils, etc. He seems to be declining in movement at a slow rate but I don't think he was the fastest overall, although he was fast. I think he is the GOAT mover who could slide on hardcourt though.

Clijsters was the best at that. For the men Djokovic yes, and Monfils.

The fastest overall probably Monfils again. Hard to say who is the best mover ever, agree. I would probably choose Borg( perfectly disciplined footwork combined with Olympian-like speed, balanced, agile, good anticipation, great stamina, moved well on every surface...). I would also mention Laver, Mecir, Chang, Rios.

 

[skaj]

Everything else is correct, but Fed has the GOAT footwork. Sampras isn't anywhere close to Fed's footwork.

I wouldn't say that Sampras isn't anywhere close to Federer's footwork, but definitely not as good. For the GOAT footwork I still pick Connors, although Roger is definitely not a bad choice there.

 

[BorgTheGOAT]

Borg and Becker shouldn't be in the discussion.... Novak/Pete/Nadal its between these 3.

Borg has the best 5 set record of all the ones mentioned, Nadal choked more in recent times and even with Djokovic who is a beast we have matches like RG 2013 or 2019.