Federer Recovers to Spank Sampras in One-Hour Clinic in Seoul Exo

Legs just don’t get any younger….

November 20th, 2007 at 10:16 am

lol he ran out to a 4-2 lead ttalk bout a set up crowd pleaser. i see atp making samps win the next one then fed winning again then in madison square gardens i see fed win in 3 tight sets. just business guys

November 20th, 2007 at 11:10 am

This is an exhibition match, it has nothing to do with the ATP. I think it’d be interesting if Sampras won the next match just to add a little excitement. Going into the last day being 1-1, why not? Obviously it means nothing. Federer is without a doubt above Sampras so losing an exo to make things fun and interesting isn’t gonna make anyone speculate Federer’s decline… again. It’d be boring if Federer won 3-0 and if he wins the next one but loses the last it’d be lame. So if they make it 1-1 with Federer probably winning the last one, it’d be cool. After all it’s just pracitce.

November 20th, 2007 at 12:27 pm

This is just an exhibition. You cannot compare them at their present ages and condition.

Obviously Pete legs are older than Rogers.

I make no excuse for either, they are TWO of
the greatest players of all time.

I still vote for Pete because of the caliber of players that Pete had to live with.

Pete I think you are GREAT!

Roger I think you are GREAT!

Tennis is a GREAT sport–Nadal is not even in the running for these caliber players.

November 20th, 2007 at 12:52 pm

sampras is so boring. federer is in a class all by himself, because he has all the shots and then some. pete is just boring old serve and volley
i think that fed will win all three/four for his pride’s sake.

November 20th, 2007 at 1:37 pm

Quite frankly, is this some kind of test or pre-curser to Sampras playing at Wimbledon in the men’s main draw next year. It would add tremendous interest to the tennis world if Pete does compete there and get a wild card entry. I think he is playing well enough to win a few rounds provided he doesn’t get an unlucky seeding and get Fed in this first round. Speculation is fun. I hope it happens.

November 20th, 2007 at 1:45 pm

for what it’s worth i saw mcenroe play courier last year and it sure looked to me like courier threw it for mcenroe ; he could basically blast mcenroe off the court at will with his forehand but after the first few games he stopped because the crown was rooting for Mac and getting bummed out

November 20th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

btw,nadal would have been no.1 in any other era with the amount of ranking points he has today.pete barely reached 5000 points and that too only once in his long career.so much for rafa’s calibre and fed’s competition.even djokovic has more points now than pete had in some years when he finished the year as no.1

November 20th, 2007 at 4:00 pm

Is it possible to like both guys? Seems like they like and respect one another. Playing these matches is doing right by the sport by promoting it in an area where it is booming and by getting media attention when the NFL, BCS and College Hoops are dominating the November sports media. Also, Wertheim seemed to indicate a bug chunk of the $$$ each is receiving is going into their charities.

November 20th, 2007 at 5:44 pm

I agree with Sampras when he says Nadal is a legend in the making. I think Nadal has a very legitamite chance to win one other slam outside the clay. But if not, then he’s probably gonna end up with like 7 French Opens, which is insane. But Federer is definetly in a league of his own, and Sampras is up there, too. But their amazing stats don’t mean you have to knock Nadal. I hate Nadal but I still give him the respect he thoroughly deserves.

November 20th, 2007 at 5:49 pm

If Sampras was in his prime he would have closed out the set after he got the break. He is a step and a half slower and can still make the match close.

November 20th, 2007 at 9:47 pm

well..thats only when Fed lets him. Fed’s first serves were not what it was during Master’s cup. He slowed it down to get Pete into rallies. Otherwise this match wasnt that exciting at all… just like those matchups during Sampras’ time. Only serve-volley-misses .. either the volleys ended up as winners or unforced errors. Sampras did go all out whereas Fed seemed to be holding back just out of respect.

November 20th, 2007 at 9:59 pm

Well said Tejuz!

It is so obvious that I did not even bother watching it. Oh may be later when I am bored and have nothing better to do on youtube especially it is by my favorite video maker staffanofanderoger !!

November 20th, 2007 at 11:12 pm

Federer clearly does not take these exhibition matches seriously–there’s no reason to. So people would be misguided if they thought the scoreline was any indication of the actual difference between these two players at the present time. I believe Federer is capable of straight-setting anyone–except Nadal on clay–if he puts his mind to it. He would have run Sampras off the court in 45 minutes if he had to.

November 21st, 2007 at 1:33 am

It may be that Fed is holding back. But I bet he won’t hold back to the extent that Sampras wins next match. And if Sampras doesn’t win next match – and that’s what would happen if this series was fixed – then you have to assume that both players want to win.

November 21st, 2007 at 3:14 am

I dont think its that easy to loose a match on purpose as some of you suggest.I think it would take some good acting skills which Fed doesnt have.He would look too obvious.Pete was obviously thinking he could actually compete with Roger;he evidently needs a serious reality check.!!
It was interesting to see Petes skills.It was also interesting to see him realize hes not even close.

November 21st, 2007 at 5:16 am

I still go back to the one legit time when Sampras and Federer played. Sampras lost to Federer in 5 sets at Wimbledon. Sampras was still top 5 in the world and 1 or 2 on grass. Federer was still in diapers. Federer won that match. Breaking it down, Federer has the more complete game overall. Federer has more weapons. I believe all things being equal – Federer would find a way to break Sampras’s serve even in Sampas’s prime. I’ve been watching tennis since the early 70’s and no player is as talented and mentally tough as Federer. When he bares down and focuses, he makes great players look ordinary.

BTW – Not taking anyting away from Nalbadian, but he is in for a butt whoopen the next time Fed faces him. LOL.

November 21st, 2007 at 5:21 am

well.. grendel.. Am sure Fed wouldnt want to lose a match against Sampras. He would probabaly lose one set in a tie-breaker. he wasnt trying to hard.. only time he forced was when he went down a break in the 1st set and dint want to get embarassed.

Sure, Sampras serve is still quite great.. smooth service motion. but then fed was just trying only that much so as to be just a break up which would keep him in safe position and also not embarass Sampras by bagelling him.

November 21st, 2007 at 6:33 am

This is more entertaining than the World Wrestling Federation – just barely.

This is an “exhibition”; play the match and go to bed until the next one. I don’t think we would see Pete doing this well if he were playing Wimbledon for example or perhaps even any ATP tournament. The wear and tear on the body would just be too much. By the time he came up against a Federer, Nadal, etc., it would be a wheel chair match.

November 21st, 2007 at 2:15 pm

The sad part is that for Sampras this is an exhibition whereas Agassi is 11 years older and had beaten Federer in 2002, as well as making it close in some of their other matches. Anyway they’re fun exhibitions, no matter how they end, and maybe next year we’ll see Federer/Sampras go up against the Bryans or another top team for a good charity.

Is Agassi going to have a big tennis event as part of his charity this year? With the money that most top players are earning now just for being finalists, it’s a shame that other Top 10ers aren’t also doing high-profile charity events. I know that Roger already does some amazing charitable foundation work and appearances, but I think that him playing tennis in such a charitable event would yield even more money for his charities.

Then again we haven’t heard about the Pete Sampras Charity Fund, but hopefully someone will correct me on this :)

cheers
Michael

November 21st, 2007 at 3:28 pm

The title to this article is hilarious. I assume it was wtitten to excite people becuase it is quite inaccurate. If anything it was obvious to me that if Mr. Sampras was on top of his volley game that he could easily give Federer all he could handle. The fact of the matter is that no one in today’s game can bring the pressure like Mr. Sampras did.

November 21st, 2007 at 6:13 pm

I don’t think Sampras has his own charity fund but that might be because he’s still heavily involved in fund raising for the Gullikson foundation.

Not sure about Agassi although he quite often plays at the annual Andy Roddick Foundation tennis event in Florida at the beginning of December.

November 21st, 2007 at 7:46 pm

Was there any intensity in this match, or was it all just for fun? I honestly don’t think Fed would have let Pete even score a game if he was taking it seriously. Pete is 36 years old and hasn’t played pro tennis in 5 years, up against a guy who dominated the game the last 4 years in a row.

November 21st, 2007 at 8:45 pm

I doubt Sampras would have the energy to last 3 sets of tennis. Props to Fed though for giving Pete due respect by holding back.

November 21st, 2007 at 8:50 pm

I see match, no expectation live. In Argentina, ESPN show me play but I don’t want myself to see play there. Roger and Peter! I like tennis play on the television.

November 22nd, 2007 at 4:35 am

” If anything it was obvious to me that if Mr. Sampras was on top of his volley game that he could easily give Federer all he could handle”

Net Rules..dude u need a reality check ! it was great to see Pete serving & volleying like only he could do, but come on..lets not kid ourselves here. go on youtube and watch the match again..Fed was so chilled out, only stepping it up when he needed to. it was quite clear, that he could destroy Sampras if he wanted to, but since it was him who invited Sampras for the exhibition matches, he definitely wanted to put up a nice show for the world.

November 23rd, 2007 at 3:31 am

As if we needed any more proof that tennis-x is just another Federer fansite.

November 26th, 2007 at 10:10 pm