In his prime sampras used to consistently beat big servers and bigger hitters than himself, players like ivanisevic , philapussis , korda etc, even players with very very good all court games like aggasi ,becker , edberg , kracjeck were beaten regualrly . I think sampras's abilty was to rasie his game when the opponent was playing well and to play well on big points in tiebreakers and breakpoints. by looking at his game federer has more shots then sampras ,he also has the same abilty to play well on big points. when it comes to a few points here and there it would be diffucult to say who is better . i dont think both would have been able to domiante the game if they were playing together at the same time.
Its like a "Champ that was" commenting of "Champ that is".Both graceful,sober and patient towards their apporoach to their game.Both are entertainers who excelled in their field andif not above atleast at par with each other.
I love to watch FedEx, because he has some humanity in his game. He is much more humble and modest, even on the court. I think Pistol Pete was ruthless, he had more belief on his service. FedEx forehand is the best of all. Before Australian Open Final, Vijay Amritraj said it in one sentence - 'If the opponent rises his game to the occassion, FedEx does it better than that opponent'. But I have never seen a 'cold blooded-cool headed' match winner than Pistol Pete. I cannot compare them.. It is like comparing Viv Richards with Tendlya..
RE:FedEX vs Pistol
by Prashanth Reddy on Feb 01, 2007 02:14 PM
I think manners and behavioural wise, both are gentle. That's why they are adored more. They maintain their cool. Their style of game is similar.
No matter what Pistol Pete says!! We should understand that all the past greats are not even comaring FED with Pete. They have one common opinion. FED is a champ by miles, pete was nowhere near. Whether its Rod Laver, Becker, Borg, Edberg, Ken rosewall (whose record Fed equalled by not dropping a set), agassi to name a few. No body mentions of comparing Fed with Sampras. Sampras was a good player no doubt, my favourite but (in Tony Roche's words)until we saw Roger. Well, these are all excuses that there is no enough opposition for Fed etc etc. Well the fact is that he has not kept any opposition. Initially he was beating people with some diffculty including roddick etc. But now he just walks over them. He has put a big gap between himself and the rest of the world.
RE:Federrer is the King !!
by puneet alag on Feb 02, 2007 02:57 PM
Well there have been players who had great potential before they faced sampras , players like ivanesivec , korda etc, players who had more exposive games then sampras ,but he was able to tame them down . who knows that after being beaten a few times by samras , federer would not lost his mental toughness over sampras
RE:Federrer is the King !!
by on May 21, 2007 03:33 PM
well that question can be turned right around..who knows if sampras lost 2 federer, wether he would be able to keep his level up. nadal has a better record against federer, but it was federer that broke his 81 match winning streak on nadals favourite surface, which by the way, sampras could not come close to being competitive on clay ! federer's dominance is unquestionable !
There can't be any comparision between the two gr8est ever.Both have their own advantages and disadvantages,if Sampras have a better service,Federer have good backhand and cross-angle shots to top that,but as a complete genious,I would say that Federer is ahead of Sampras because he has all types of varieties in his bag which Sapras missed.
RE:No comparision between Federer and Sampras
by SAM on Feb 01, 2007 10:49 AM
Hey Sonali ! funny english..yours!! advantages and disadvantages??? well we are not analysing options here. I think you meant strengths and weaknesses. But I believe you Fed is GOD!
RE:No comparision between Federer and Sampras
by sunil patil on Feb 01, 2007 11:08 AM
Sampras the greatest because he had gtreatest opponents and beaten then consistently
RE:RE:No comparision between Federer and Sampras
by Vivek Puranik on Feb 01, 2007 11:54 AM
If you think that Pete is greatest cauz he had beaten greatest opponent, then FedEx has created such a situation that no other player can even match his standards..! He is a 'Standard Setter', and one of its own kind.
RE:RE:RE:No comparision between Federer and Sampras
by Sonali Dutta on Feb 01, 2007 12:04 PM
Very well said... Federer hasn't even allowed anyone to grow up on him
RE:RE:RE:RE:No comparision between Federer and Sampras
by Prashanth Reddy on Feb 01, 2007 01:41 PM
Come on, we not talking abt opponets in relation to FED. We are talking abt opponets standards as they are....comparing the quality of FED's opponets vs quality of Pete's opponents. I think we all have seen enough tennis to understand that. It so very easy to forget yester yrs performers and their performance.
RE:No comparision between Federer and Sampras
by on May 21, 2007 03:39 PM
how can anyone compare the level of top ten players from then & now. the only ppl who can really have a say on it, are the players from yester years. do you know who aggasi & becker{ 2 of sampras's top most rivals} think is the greatest..federer, without a doubt. aggasi said that when he played sampras, he always thought that he was in with a chance, but against an in form federer..none at all !
Sampras has better opponents than roger federer. Agassi, becker, rafter etc all these guys were solid players in their prime and sampras was still able to beat them. I think federer would have tough time beating all the guys. I think the quality of tennis in 90's is gone. I think its likely that federer opponents are not good, rather than federer is great. So i think Sampras is better than federer
RE:sampras
by SAM on Feb 01, 2007 10:55 AM
mantripragada raghu kashyap !!! haaah..need a breath after that ! have you stopped watching tennis past sampras. Didn't you see the way Fed finishes the game. Gonzlez packed up all the champs in his way in the AU open, hewitt, blake, nadal, haas in 3 setters. Fed beat him in one ! I am sure sampras is lucky not to face Fed. Agassi quotes about fed after the US open couple of years back 'Federrer is the most complete tennis player I have ever seen'. He did not say this about Sampras or anyone till date..Well agassi has played sampras you know that !!
RE:RE:sampras
by mantripragada kashyap on Feb 01, 2007 01:26 PM
dude i watch tennis, but he isn't ivisible. When martin safin played quality tennis, federer lost. Nadal gave run for his money as well, that what i meant quality opposition. All these guys who are playing against federer got tired in the middle of sets and gave up. Agassi etc played till the end .
RE:RE:sampras
by Prashanth Reddy on Feb 01, 2007 01:49 PM
Hey don't get personal. May be Raghu might ask u if u started watching tennis after FED's entry :) Well jokes apart, Piston Pete had such great serve, he didn't even need to have an alround game. BTW, Agassi wasn't comparing FED with Pete. He was making just a general statement. What could FED do if someone serves as good as Piston Pete...nothing, except to get ready to receive next ace!
RE:sampras
by on May 21, 2007 03:48 PM
there were guys with better serves than pete in his time like ivanisevic,guys like roddick hit serve's way faster than pete did, so forget sampras beating federer with his service. and aggasi wasnt making a general statement, he did say that federer is probably the greatest of all time !
It would certainly have been interesting if Federer were pitted against Sampras in prime. Both have similar game n style, good court coverage, short range n angles n all, but I guess Sampras would have edged Federer on his service. Sampras definitely had better service than Federer. Sampras won crucial points (just like Federer) but he won mostly by is service. So if someone wins a game by his service (n not carry the game beyond that) there isn't much anyone (or Federer for that matter) could do about it. Sampras looked imposible to beat when he was at the top of his game. Though his forehand was touted as his strenght, his backhand was good too, n infact better than Federer. Federer doesn't have good challengers...n so that makes him all the more difficult to beat him.
RE:RE:Sampras better
by santh thomas on Feb 01, 2007 08:15 AM
Federer returns the service way much better than Sampras ever did that would put pressure on Sampras to unload his first service again and again.See how federer breaks down Roddicks serve which is lot quicker than Sampras's and only Federer makes Roddick's serve look silly.His backhand is hell lot better than Sampras backhand.Sampras backhand could be broken down but not federers(Only Nadal on clay can do it to some extent).On the top of that Federer has better court understanding and lot more variety and weapons in his arsenal. As far as challengers for Sampars go, only Agassi was some challenge but he was far too inconsistent and never really threatened Sampras in his prime and Becker and Edberg were past their prime.
RE:RE:RE:Sampras better
by Prashanth Reddy on Feb 01, 2007 02:12 PM
Hey, what could one do if someone starts serving ace after ace....nothing bro!!! Otherwise we wouldn't be calling it an ace. If FED could return Piston Pete's serve, Agassi (world's best serve-returner) could have done it, right? We can't even debate rest of the game as Pete'll be winning, as he always did, major part of his game with his serves...serving ace after ace. Its so easy to forget yester year star's performance...its human tendency. If u remember even Piston Pete dismissed a bubbling Roddick in US Open 2002 in straight sets...mind you the age difference then...Pete ws the 2nd oldest ever to win US Open then. Just as FED, even Pete had this unbeatble aura abt him...its just that Pete wud have edged him with his unreturnable serves.
Federer is a better player than Sampras. Sampras never dominated the sports like Federer, that why you talk abut Agassi, Ivanisevic and so on..But Federer dominates so much he does not allow any current players to be compared. With Federer's court sense and the angle he gets, o boy he is the best of all time.
RE:Roger That
by Prashanth Reddy on Feb 01, 2007 06:30 AM
One can have control on himself n is game. If there r no Agassis n Ivanisevics today to challenge Federer than its good for him n bad for us public watching. Pete had a lot better serve. He'd definitely have had edge over Federer with his serve.
Sampras was very much like federer in temperament and conduct, very graceful and modest.I think he would never have thought that his record of 14 majors would be breaking so quicky as federer seems set to break the record in 2 years time.Sampras acknowledged the genius of federer gracefully and was balanced in his opinion about how they would have gone about their rivalry if they had been at their prime at the same time.I think Sampras had the unique ability to raise his game at cruch time and against special players.Therefore I agree that he would be equal if not above in their rivalry especially on grass and hard courts.
