CAMELOT FANTASIES

Yes, Pete was excellent on carpet, but overall he was probably better on hard and grass.  I think Sampras was a bit more vulnerable to big hitters on faster carpets like a Becker or Rusedski though he could win as often as not.

One correction to the above post.  The last Masters Cup to be played on carpet was in 2005 in Shanghai in an unforgettable match between David Nalbandian and Roger Federer, which Nalbandian, down 2 sets to love, came back to win in the 5th set decider:  6–7(4–7), 6–7(11–13), 6–2, 6–1, 7–6(7–3). 

Federer was nursing a sore ankle coming into the mid-November year ending championships, and hadn't played a tournament since beating Murray in Thailand near the end of September.  He was spotted still wearing crutches 3 weeks before the Masters Cup.  But he felt the pressure to compete due to many of the top players also citing injuries (Nadal, Roddick, Hewitt, Agassi, Safin).  Federer beat Nalbandian in the 1st match of the round robin phase - 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, before losing to him in the final. 

It was Federer's 4th and last match loss of the year, after 81 wins. If not for this loss, Federer would won 5 straight Masters Cups from 2003-2007, and would have tied John McEnroe's 1984  match record for best winning percentage in a single year with the same results (82-3 96.47%).   Federer's only losses were to Marat Safin at the Australian Open (SF), Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros (SF), to Richard Gasquet in Monte-Carlo (QF) and finally to Nalbandian in the Masters Cup final.

Here is a great video of the full match.  Enjoy!




I also found these videos of the 1996 ATP Tour World Championships in Hannover, Germany on carpet with Sampras defeating Becker in the twilight of his career.  Becker had just beaten Sampras in Stuttgart on indoor hard court for what would turn out to be Becker's final win in a Grand Prix Championship Series event (Masters Series) and next to last title win.  Enjoy!

English commentary


German commentary (but somewhat better quality video than the English version)


Respectfully,
masterclass