Rafter overcomes Sampras' volley touch

[theloya1965]

thar is why Sampras is the greastest

[kegsterino12]

Loved Rafter to bits, but his serve volley style absolutely hammered him physically.

[TorgeistLLN]

Rafa is number one and won the French and Wimbledon again dickheads! So go suck on that fucktards!

[BrotherTree1]

rafter V sampras = dream match up

[10JNO10]

Whatever bonfirejovi !

You're certainly a Nadal fan who's fustrated that Tsonga made Rafa lookslike an ordinary player in this AO match.

[bonfirejovi]

tsonga is the cockiest fag in tennis, that asshole wears a cap like he is some gangsta and does a constipation walk every time he wins a point, just like he did against nadal. he is the least humble player on the atp.

[ArchaelN123]

This is true.

[guiguitebeka]

@bonfirejovi rofl u r still angry that tsonga annihiled (and the word is weak) rafa in AO 2008

poor little boy

[bonfirejovi]

@guiguitebeka lol im angry that tsonga has beat nadal one time. so who has accomplished more? tell me that. also 'annihiled' is not a word you idiot.

[guiguitebeka]

dick head. nadal s carrer is ended. hes always wounded. hes like your brain : finished

[timcarney2929]

@guiguitebeka hahaha, it's hilarious that since you posted this Nadal has won 3 Grand Slams and is the number 1 player in the world.

[LaPerssonandro]

@timcarney2929 Ok, NOW his career has ended.

Hopefully he'll come back soon on the strength of that insult. *watches back*

[drugstoremarc]

Ahhh... The good ol' days when tennis was worth watching...

[Scoclamor]

@drugstoremarc You're right about that...now it's just Federer and Nadal! Still fun, though...just waiting for Joker to win agains and Murray to start winning Slams...then it will be THE era in tennis!

[ulizinho]

Yeah, Tsonga is one of the view who still play serve volley. Federer could do it more often, as he has the technique, but he lacks a bit of instinct.

[nekbeth]

Federer use to play more serve & volley when he dominated for 3 years, then he change his game to a backcourt style to match Nadal. I think that is Roger's biggest mistake. You can't play Nadal or an Agassi from the backcourt, cause the will kill you. Federer use to beat Nadal playing much more often on the net.

[nekonaru16]

like he did in madrid, he beat nadal straight sets on clay by serve and volleying

[nekbeth]

exactly, I also notice that in Madrid.

[davenavarroforpm]

jo wilfried is the saviour of serve and volley

[walliegirl2]

I wasn't aware Tsongas played serve and volley. I am a big fan of French players - Noah, Leconte, Gasquet, Pioline, Grosjean, Clement, Tsongas. Monfils, the Magician, etc. They love playing tennis with a flair - much more interesting than American and East Euros. By the way, Pat Rafter was awesome, and I am a Pete Sampras fan.

[davenavarroforpm]

He uses more than almost anyone on the tour these days although it's hard to say it is all he does. I always watch Australian and French players when I am at the AUstralian Open for those reasons.

[tennisrules621]

naw. tommy haas

[spjfrat]

For the current fans, this is called serve and volley. I know the sport is 100% baseline, there used to be different types of players. I miss pre-2001.

[uw10isplaya]

the variety was nice. unfortunately it's not realistic anymore. athleticism and technique has reached the point that if someone can simply get to the ball, they're going to hit a passing shot more times than not, regardless of your approach. pete could still pull it off today because of his sheer talent and great serve though =)

[appppppppple]

karlovic can do it

[lollerz16]

@spjfrat I don't. Much prefer baseline tennis.

[riessypiecy]

Even though Rafter was a great player he had trouble agaisnt Pete, Pete would just drive him insane because Rafter always drove Pete to perfect tennis.

[hpaiste]

Sampras was just playing with his little toy. Ha!

[itzjoeymac]

Man I miss RAFTER! What a great athlete and an incredible volleyer.

[Oreoclan]

Rafter is an incredible athlete. Too bad he went down the wrong road with rackets. If he went with something like Sampras or Edberg had, he would have had more of a chance on grass and indoors, less on clay, and more or less the same on hard. But he would have had to give up those awesome kick serves, and I like him the way he chose to play. High bouncing kick serves and stabs at the net to deny passers.

[FTWC117]

sampras19, I'm pretty sure Roger Federer isn't that good then

[cooledy66]

i never realised how quick rafter is around the court.. wow

[sampras19]

the player than play in the baseline are bad.

the best players are serve and volley

[chefng122]

Don't worry. We're having the young Ali:). Tsonga.

[micka141]

great tennis, long are the days gone in which we could watch pure class points like this...its a shame how tennis these days is all about holding serve and forcing the error.

[greenberetta2001]

you can always watch the old videos!

[aug298]

S&V players are fast becoming instinct nowadays, no thanks to ATP's effort to slow everything down to their liking of watching baseliners grind their way until somebody made an error...

its so boring watching games of errors you know...we need winners

[jjmlucky13]

Rafter was one of my favs. I miss him.

[gduymaweir]

i totally agree with you, it's more entertaining watching rafter. You see more winners, volleys and passing shots. None of this typical baseline crap. it's boring to see two guys slug it out until one makes an error.

[Ignozi]

So true. Guys like Rafter and Edberg made tennis fun and exciting to watch. Their shots were finessed and precise. Most of today's players wouldn't come to the net to save their lives. Thank goodness for the few precious remaining S&V players.

[musicgamer10]

a lot of it has to do with the court speed and racket technology. that said, i prefer players with all-around games like federer to baseliners who come to the net only to pick up a drop shot. id like to see the grass sped up at wimbledon again, that would make me happy.