CAMELOT FANTASIES

I was not able to see the match general freaky.

was ferru just too good today?

Quote from: Clay Death on November 02, 2013, 09:59:55 am

speaking of Sampras, becker is on record for saying that Sampras was the toughest player he ever faced.

anyway I have to run now.

see you all a little bit later.

take care emma.

That's very true what Becker says about Sampras. Only those know what it's like to play again ta player like Sampras. There are a couple of things that stand out as far as Sampras is concerned. His lethal serve (both 1st and 2nd) and his mental strength. I saw so many matches of his live on TV, because back then I was a student so I had time to follow him around closely, and so I witnessed time and again how he remained extremely calm at crucial moments and under great pressure and came up with great shots. By that I don't only mean aces but also, his volleys or his abilities at the net. His serves are designed in a way, if they were to come back he would know exactly where to put it next; as in, he'd follow up with it. Raonic, for example, can't do it 50% of the time because he first, doesn't expect it to come back and so second, when they do, he can't come up with as good a volley as Sampras. Sampras is a natural volleyer while both Federer and Raonic aren't.

If Sampras were to meet with Federer, then he would break Federer mentally down as did Nadal but even more so, because of his serves and his ability at the net. Federer would find it very difficult to break Sampras' serve let alone do anything else. Federer is also not good at returning serve so that makes it even worse. A great returner like Agassi had no answer to Sampras' serves for example. Why would anyone think Federer would have better success at returning?

Sampras' mental strength truly stands out amongst all and he also had the luxury to either stay back of the court (while he's not serving and the game is playing on his opponent's serve, say, Agassi, Courier, Chang etc.) or be at the net because of his all court game. There's no one on this planet who'd be able to beat him 3 times in a row in GS finals on different surfaces. You know very well that it takes one hell of a game and mental attitude to stay at the top of ranking 6 years in a row and win 14 Majors. The fact that he had never won RG doesn't cut the argument much and does not at all negate his greatness. In fact, he felt too early in his career that he couldn't possibly continue to win both RG and Wimbledon back to back, given that they are both so close to each other, so he went with Wimbledon. He simply modeled his game that way, since back then, most of the courts were playing faster, so he needed to compromise and calculate his schedules that way.  Not to mention, he had to play on variety of surfaces and had to play against players who'd both be S&V and baseliners. Today's fans don't have the first hand idea about Sampras and whatever is in front them, they tend to think that's the best thing since the sliced bread. If they are witnessing it then it has to be that greatest thing on the planet. After all, it is all about them first.

Anyway, have fun!

I'll stick around until the end of this match. Federer has now become very error prone and playing with  less confidence. Nole, on the other hand, has cut down the errors and playing with more confidence as expected.

4-2 Nole, 3rd set. He should get the insurance break here.

that is an awesome post.

becker said that on a good day "you could not touch pete on any surface except for clay".

I think you are right. pete had massive mental strength and he was a superb athlete. he was also strong as hell.

a greek who fought like a Spartan.