I think at this point the only thing that stands in Fedrer's way of becoming undisputedly the greatest tennis player is his health. He posses strength speed and agility that sampras never had, he wins games against people like andy roddick 6-2 6-1 6-0 which sampras rarely ever did. His ground strokes are powerful and solid, his net game is flawless, his serve is dynamite. And he has no coach.
Roger Federer > Pete Sampras
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MasterAndCommander
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Too early to say. At this rate he will surpass Sampras' slam record, but who knows what new young gun is on the horizon. We shall see in about 8 more years.
MasterAndCommander
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These past few years he has been unstoppable. I agree that his recent career is better than anything in Pete's career. However, let's see how long he can hold his crown. We also don't really know how he reacts to adversity. Pete handled big / tough moments like a champ. Anyone remember that US open match against corretja where it went into 5 sets and pete literally vomitted on the court multiple times, slouched over and used his racket to hold him up between points, and still won?
Federer hasn't had to be tested in this regard, so far as I can remember. Much like Wladimir Klitschko was considered great until he was actually challenged.
Federer hasn't had to be tested in this regard, so far as I can remember. Much like Wladimir Klitschko was considered great until he was actually challenged.
I understand that, but you're saying that Federer isn't being challenged by the likes of Andy Roddick, Leyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, and maybe Agassi all of whom he's trounced. He's beaten Roddick in 9/10 encounters, in fact he's won all 9 straight. I agree totally that he has a lot to maintain, mentally and physically to dominate for 8 yrs like sampras did. But thus far he's been damn phenomenal.
i agree with this. to say that federer hasn't been challenged is foolish.
the fact that he trounces the competition (while knowing that the competition is incredibly talented) is a testament to his greatness.
I was going to write the same thing. (except for that US Open moment. I hated Sampras at the time and was rooting against him).
At this point Sampras is still ahead of Federer.
i dont get why performances like that makes a person better. sure, it's inspiring. and it's a memorable moment. just like jordan's performance in the nba finals when he was sick. but it has no implication on how good a player is. say a player never has one of those hollywood moments, because he always wins handily, never gets sick during matches, etc. is that a bad thing?
when telling me how great a player is, tell me how many games he won, his winning percentage, his dominating statistics. leave out the inspirational stories.
I'm not saying he's a bad player if he never has one of those moments. What I'm saying is that we don't know how he will respond to adversity. We don't know if he's just looks great because no one else is all that good, or what. And we know that pete sampras was great in that regard, in addition to being great in other regards. With Federer, there's still the possibility that he doesn't have the capacity to rise to the occasion. I personally think that he does, but until I see for sure, I will hold off saying he's at the same level that sampras was.
You have arbitrarily dubbed it a hollywood moment, but that's pretty absurd. It's a hollywood moment because of how great his achievement was, not the other way around.
Yeah, Federer better play through a match with a knife stabbed in his leg and win it before I have any respect for him. That's how they did it in the old days with Arthur Ashe and them you know.
He is pretty solid. He could easily become the greatest player ever if there is no one out there to challenge him. Dunno if this is good for the game though. During Pete's era there was competition and the game was exciting to watch but now its more of one sided.
dr150
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- Sep 18, 2003
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Sampras had amazing consistency through the years.
In tennis, hotshots last 1-2 years at most in dominance. It's not fair to compare Sampras' performance in his sunset years....that's the reason he retired--rightfully so.
Hewitt, who beat him, didn't have the legs to have the dominance many expected him to.
Tennis is a young man's sport with extreme competition. Only time will tell how great a tennis player is.
In tennis, hotshots last 1-2 years at most in dominance. It's not fair to compare Sampras' performance in his sunset years....that's the reason he retired--rightfully so.
Hewitt, who beat him, didn't have the legs to have the dominance many expected him to.
Tennis is a young man's sport with extreme competition. Only time will tell how great a tennis player is.
No competition for Federer? These new kids are some of the strongest, fastest, and best competition overall that the tennis world has seen. They may not rival the all-time greats, but the new cream of tennis players are very, very good.
But the only one who is consistently good is Roddick, who does not have the ability to survive if his serve and forehand can be handled. Pete had strong volleys at least. True, maybe federer would whip that nasty cross court lob evil magic shot, but at least the serve and volley tactic is better than: 1) Serve 2) If opponent returns it, hit a forehand from the baseline 3) If ball is still in play, concede the point.
Hewitt has still not regained top form, although he's getting there. Safin is wildly inconsistent. Joachim Johannsen still needs a bit.
Yea? Nadal lost, Johan lost. This generation of "young" players just don't have the experience yet. Federer is relatively young and yet he dominates and dominates and dominates. This "new cream" you speak of will be playing under the shadow of 1 man. Federer first; everyone else collecting the scraps.
And you know what? By the time Federer expires, that "new cream" will be in Agassi's shoes right now.
The one thing I'm waiting for right now is for Agassi and Graff to raise their kids to become a new breed of super-mutant-ninja-tennis players :evil:
MasterAndCommander
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I'll admit that Roger Federer is the most complete player I have ever seen since Sampras. Interestingly Roger and Pete played each other only once in 2001 - at Wimbledon. Roger won, and it was a 5-set thriller
7-6 5-7 6-4 6-7 7-5 . To be fair Pete was already past his prime (winning 0 tournaments that year), and Roger was a few years from his prime. Who would win if they were both at their prime? I'd say 50-50 either way.
And yes, his current perfomance is most outstanding :thumbsup:
Federer has gotten over the shakes, he had this thing about Nalbandian which is why he lost to him in a few trounaments back to back. Nalbandian consistently
beat him in the juniors and for some reason Federer just laid down in front of him, it was comical. Now that he's confidently winning trounaments I doubt he'll have
a bout of nerves again.
As far as the Corretja match is concerned I remember my dad just irate that Sampras was in a 5 setter with a clay courter, granted that was a the best run Corretja had
at the US it was still just silly. That was Sampras's game, hold serve till 4-4, break and serve to win the set. He rarely pushed it more than that.
The only match I can recall being in awe of was Kraijeck and Sampras in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, he crushed Sampras in the most brilliant game i've ever seen until
Federer came along.
beat him in the juniors and for some reason Federer just laid down in front of him, it was comical. Now that he's confidently winning trounaments I doubt he'll have
a bout of nerves again.
As far as the Corretja match is concerned I remember my dad just irate that Sampras was in a 5 setter with a clay courter, granted that was a the best run Corretja had
at the US it was still just silly. That was Sampras's game, hold serve till 4-4, break and serve to win the set. He rarely pushed it more than that.
The only match I can recall being in awe of was Kraijeck and Sampras in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, he crushed Sampras in the most brilliant game i've ever seen until
Federer came along.
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