What a battle, I was watching this in live. No matter Sampras (my all time favourite) lost this match, that's why we love tennis and we encouraged every day when we go out onto the court. Thanks for these guys showing us how a real sport and effort looks like, I am proud of I lived in those ages when Sampras played his best, it was a message and direction for my entire life. Good to see this playback again, thanks for uploading.
I started wacth tennis in 2002 so i miss all the sampras carrer. Thanks god RU-vid exist. Pete was an incredible player. I never saw better server - voley game.
Man that forehand winner on match point was genius. Safin hit the same running forehand almost while collapsing too at a CRUCIAL moment against Hewitt in the Aussie Open Final of 05.
Sampras el tenista mas elegante de todos los tiempos, tenía el Swing mas limpio y mas bello que he visto nunca y su forma de moverse por la pista, su electricidad en la red y la ejecucion tecnicamente perfecta en los golpes, el mejor de todos los tiempos.
Sampras was a menace for anyone. Always pressuring opponents to hold and hope for the best. Powerful from the backcourt too, and solid volleying. I found his personality to be glum and unlikeable, but his tennis was brutal.
Two champions making Tennis super in 2002.in the year 2000 Marathon Safin became a US Tennis Champion and of course Pete made waves at Wimbledon from 1993 to 2000.Tennis will miss such great tennis tic courage,
In this match, though, he moused out when he had set points....just chipping that backhand cross-court waiting for Marat to make a mistake, but Marat waited for the right ball and hit a winner down the line each time.
Something I noticed in this match is a weakness in Pete's game- his return of serve. My sense is, he was spoiled by the strength of his serve and volley talent- (and never developed his return of serve).
He appears to cover 28-30 ft in four explosive strides after scorching the return, then has the dynamic balance to rip a Sampras-like running forehand down the line. Superhuman.
I love how the ball was so fast that u could chip and charge today is so slow that if u chip you get passed so easy... And people think is faster this days.. There is ignorance everywhere ! And today the ball is slow that we can get rallies. Love it but have some respect for the great of greatness back then it took precision
Sampras was incredibly hard to beat, you had to play near flawless tennis to win a point. Ironic that Safin in the end won the match point with Pete's trademark running forehand!
and his serve wasn't working as well that night. if it had been working like usual pete would have won that match some way some how. pete had that champions spirit that makes you hit that extra shot or run that extra amount to win. pistol will always be the best to me.
@@novola1972 Pete was Novak's idol, and while I love both, Novak would have his hands full with Pete's serve and volley game without poly strings, heavy balls, and slowed courts.
Tennis balls flying & bouncing like bullets. Strokes are more flatter & bad ass. Pete is returning bombs from Safin with an 85 wilson pro stuff. And won all 14 slams with it. Truly the GOAT.
That volley of Sampras' after Safin's sensational return on match point was insane enough, but then Safin followed up with an unbelievable running forehand. One of the best match points ever. Three absolute incredible shots in less than a few seconds.
Pete wasn't quite as good after the back injury in the summer of 1999. The tennis he played in the summer of 1999 prior to the injury was absolutely amazing.
@@MrBjorn6 Compared to the green clay of Wimbledon in the last few years (slowing started in the late 2000's) and even slower hard court in AO this rebound ace is way faster and fun to watch. In the last years only Cincy seems faster than all the other surfaces. And compared to the 90's is medum fast surface.
@@VanderlyleSKP There is nothing proving Wimbledon grass has been slower in the last few years. Players who play on it can't agree. The old England club uses the same formula since 2002, for the grass when they changed it from fast bad bouncing grass, to the consistent grass we play with since 2002. What do you have to support your opinion that the grass is so slow? Because if the players playing on it can't agree? What do you know?
@@MrBjorn6 Mate, just read this article: I hope you'll find enough answers: www.tennis.com/pro-game/2019/07/green-grass-or-green-clay-players-slowest-wimbledon-ever/83103/
Yes, he could, but apparently, Safin wasn't interested in all that. Having achieved his goal + financial security, he wanted to have fun and enjoy life. Other top players did the same and I can't blame them.
That was incredibly clear-headed on that last point. Just great presence of mind to make that shot--wasn't blisteringly fast but pretty much the *only* shot Sampras couldn't get to from his perch at the center. Such a tough match, not really surprising Sampras retired later that year (after winning US Open).
Safins baseline game from that lightning fast courts are remarkable. Especially when sampras does the serve and volley, now they say joker have the strongest era, lol
I'd say he was the best player - who else could beat Agassi, Sampras, Roddick, Federer in his peak and 3rd seed Djokovic at Wimbledon? No one that's who. He was the beast! And a charismatic one that is. Love him.
I really believe Pete still had some good years left in him. Yes, he would have take on a rising Fed, along with group of players in Fed's generation. But I believe if Pete committed himself to improving his game, using a large size racket, and increasing his cardio level, he would have been able to compete for championships. I think he thought 14 slams would last a long time. Little did he know, that not only Fed would surpass him but so would Nadal and Djokovic. For me, Pete will always be my favorite player to watch.
I have always been in the boat of its not all about slams and when you look at total statistics, his prime was def in the '94-'96 range. even starting in 98 other then grass, he was starting too lose and sum injuries happened. Now his last 3 years he was alwsys $ at the US open cuz hes a champ but his last 3 years overall win pct.. 79..69..61. Other then the great final 02US tourney he was declining significantly.. And this is my thought that wont either make sense or sit well with others.. But I think the overall player quality in 03-07 era was better then the 97-02 era... I mean guys like Rusedeski, Clement, Schuttler among others were making finals
Considering that the racquet technology has also aided the players of today's slow courts, take out the helpful strings and fibers and put a nadal or murray in a 90's showdown against sampras in a wimbledon final showdown, or a tennis masters cup final, they would probably have the same disadvantage as sampras would have now, if not bigger wouldnt they? Federer and Djokovic, and Agassi and Sampras are the best bets in doing good among different generations in my opinion,
Today is another era od tenis ...but is not boring...that days serve and voley was top case!...i love to watch this matches...RESPEKT FOR PISTOL PETE😎😎😎BIGEST EVER ...LIKE FEDERER TODAY..
safin had so much potential, he was the only player that could had tried to stop federer from 2003 to 2008.. to think he lost the final against crapola johanson...
Pete deserved to lose that. On the point before match point for Safin, Pete slices with his backhand twice to Safin's backhand? When you know the other guy has a jackhammer backhand you don't slice twice! Safin clubbed it up the line to earn a match point which he converted. Its hard to beat someone who can serve big and hit big off both wings.
@@jajasatorashi136 I think he was a bit of an under achiever though, and he was a bit inconsistent. Medvedev is also really strong, so was Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
... That's probably one of the best volleys somebody has hit to lose on a matchpoint.Sampras couldn't have hit that any better as it had tremendous low clearance and angle but the forehand down the line shot that Safin countered with couldn't have been prevented.
I always liked Safin...he was an interesting character. I’m disappointed he didn’t go on to do MMA, he’s got the aura of a Russian assassin. The AO looks much better with light blue courts. This green was always a bit difficult to see, even back then.
+Ola_RM It's not a beauty contest. Sampras just simply looks like a man, not a boy (what he wasn't anymore). Todd Martin was sort of similar, he was regarded as a veteran even at 25 because of his grey hair.
This was basically when he retired, mostly due to back problems etc. In health terms he was eight years past his prime. Not surprisingly as his first and second serve was hit on average 20mph faster than today's players with an ancient racket
Back then I was thinking that Safin will rule the Tennis world for a decade at least but he failed to do so .. I don't know why ... He has a big serve , huge back hand and forhand ...
