Pete's speech at the Tennis Hall Of Fame - Part 1

[andunusblick]

1 sampras

2 federer

50 nadal

[timmcfly15]

I think he cried too much in this speech.

[kaztle13]

ohc ome on people the real GOAT is Pancho Gonzalez who was able to crank a serve at 120 with a woodie, in some tourney he was restrained to just hitting 1 serve, he couldnt go to the net, and some random shit that old organizers used to do just so the competition would be even so Pancho was and is the GOAT and Pete i think is right behind him since he stuck to just playing serve and volley and played in what you can call a faster era now no one play serve and volley cuz courts are slower

[sdnm86]

Pete Sampras is humility and class personified.

[Bobby61189]

you can tell how much this recognition of his career means to hiim. Imagine how much he is suffering without his trophies. I hope he gets them soon, and the jackasses that took them are punished.

[TheLeilisa]

Need exercise tips for tennis ?

[jonathanelbuenaonda]

if for you sampras is the best player of all time its fine, is just an opinion and i respect that, but it doesent mean its true(or false either) is just a matter of whos your favorite...i cant pick federer or sampras i just love them both

[nightwing9]

Sampras was great. But he was never an all rounder like Federer..or even Agassi.

[drugstoremarc]

this guy is awesome. like receipt22 here I agree: 15, 16, 17 grand slams or not, it doesn't matter. pete sampras is the better player. and I sure as hell miss watching him play. true class.

[KHRIZARE]

Pete was my favorite player in his time, always saw their games, I liked the strength of his serve

Khris

From Mexico

[theatlantean2]

Wow, what a speech. You could tell how much this meant to him; his career, his mark on history, his records, and being added into the hall of greats........This was kind of like a Babe Ruth or Lou Gherig moment. As far as who the greatest of all time is, who knows. I grew up in the Sampras era, and I know the depth was insane. However, as a touring coach in today's tennis, i see the depth of the field, all the way down to a guy ranked #1000. Pete is in the top 3 for sure, if not #1. Beauty.

[segadavid1]

Pete's style of aggression was phenominal. Am a Federer fan in this era but I must say as excellent as Fed is,Pete's game was just too awesome. The canon 1st and 2nd serve,that booming forehand and net coverage is just beyond description. Note that his era had more competitive folk,more rivals i.e Agassi,Rafter et al...whom he overcame. Quite frankly Fed's only real nemesis has been and still is Rafa. While Fed's grace is stupendous,I admire more the aura and charisma that Pistol Pete had.

[kirk7524875248]

Class.

[themios72]

sampras a humble man. agassi you are stupid for saying pete has no money. pete donates to charity always, remeber his coach a 100 dllars every ace to fight cancer.

[tatsukiyumo]

pete is the best cause at the time there were alot of top players at their prime like agassi hewit henman chang and alot of others i dont want to type them all out. The only people today are federer nadal and joko everyone else is like past their time. andy roddick squeezes in the list but his ground game is too weak.

[electricvibe5]

i agree completely

[Oxygene13]

This post is atrocious and inaccurate; a huge shame.

[pmo1983]

This is a stupid post.

Safin, Haas, Nalbandian, Ferrero, Roddick, Hewitt, Davydenko, Djoko, Murray, Nadal. all are great players. All should have more GS but Fed was too good and far more dominant Than Pete.

I like Sampras but Pioline? Chang? Come on.

Plus he was horrible on clay. Still the greatest Grass court player though.

[atom57]

@pmo1983 I agree except for Nadal, who has a 14-7 career record over Federer and Fed has only denied him 2 majors.

[medicatedchapstick]

Truly a legend!

[receipt22]

15 titles or not. sampras is the better player. he had much more competition when was still on the tour. there were other world class players that competited him like agassi and becker, just to name two.

so therefore he is the greatest of all times.

federer is certainly not bad either but he does not have the greatness of Pete Sampras.

[TomatoBasil23]

keep in mind the only champ fed has had to face is nadal, and nadal smacks federer in their head to head grand slam history

[Sawsoonah]

not only that, Pete broke the record on a broken leg beating Agassi.

While Federer broke his with Nadal's absence & beating Andy Roddick...I mean c'mon!

I don't deny that Roger is a fantastic player, but I remember Pete's era was the real deal of Tennis

Roger's only real rival is Nadal, & if Nadal didn't get injured I doubt that Federe would've broke the record

[pmo1983]

all you guys are living on Nostalgia.

I grew up watching Sampras. but if you compare their games and technique Fed is the best i have ever seen. his achievemnts prove he is the greatest.

Plus in the 80's because their was no dominant player people said it was weak era compared to the 70s

in the 90's people said Samps dominance of Wimbledon was a sign of a weak era.(plus he played Pioline in two GS Finals)

Now people are saying the 00s were a weak era.

stop reminiscing

[TearTheRoofOff]

@receipt22 While your perception is valid, it's worth noting that if Federer was not around in this generation, many players would have demonstrated similar world class feats to Agassi and Becker. One example would be Roddick probably having about 7 majors. Put simply, Federer MADE his competition look bad. I'm not arguing that Sampras didn't do the same, but that they are/were both two of the greatest players of all time, with their competition beneath them. IMO Sampras = the greatest on grass.

[pps1fan]

@receipt22 Well said totally agree with you...no matter how many titles Federer wins for me Pete Sampras is the better of the two in the sense of what competition he had over the years! Federer has only been really challenged since Nadal, Djokovic and Murray came along!

[timmcfly15]

@receipt22 3 Greatest players of all time- 1.Nadal 2. Federer 3. Sampras

[83BM]

@timmcfly15 While ill agree that Nadal and Federer are great players. if they played Sampras in his prime i just don't think they would of been able to deal with that serve it was a killer serve of the likes ive never seen before. Espeically at Wimbledon.

[hyperwarrior]

@timmcfly15 you're an idiot 16>14>10 pure imbecile you are

[Pundit2k]

@receipt22 Sampras had great competition, but so did Federer. I think Nadal is greater than Agassi and Becker, and Djokovic is probably on par with those two. The sport has changed tremendously in the last ten years, and it's because the athletes have gotten better, not the racquets, strings or anything else. Federer ushered in a new age of tennis, and the only reason he didn't seem to have much competition early on is because everybody else is just now catching up. He's that good.

[vanny3331]

@Pundit2k You obviously don't know so much about tennis when you talk like this, competition was much more harder when Pete played. You also don't know that almost every surface now is much more slower that it was back then,Nadal wouldn't stand a chance on grass in the 90s. New age of tennis started in the 90s when Pete played,and also with Agassi.

[SiaWinsi]

@receipt22 Also he was taken out of the US Open 1999 due to a back injury so he missed that US Open as well as the 2000 Australian Open, so he was potentially robbed of two extra majors

[leafs2574]

there is absolutely no doubt that pete sampras is the greatest tennis player of all time. Federer can keep on beating tomatoe cans on the tour it means nothing. Sampras domianted everyone of his rivals for his entire career and ruled tennis when it was deep with talent.

Federer is just a whiny, weak human being lacking any type of grace, humility or class.

[Evemeister12]

15 titles to 14 now ;-)

[cammpinno]

abso true:-)

[Hunkola]

Sampras is the greatest tennis player of all time........and dont be telling me about Federer because he's a weak faggot !!!

[arweiss21]

bump

[pps1fan]

I was so lucky to have been here for his induction into the hall of fame and to have met him too that day! He is a living legend, and what I love most about him is how humble, down to earth and all round decent guy he is! Miss him playing the game is not the same...no one serves and volleys!

[VAMOURU]

cool movie better if u put part 1 and 2 2gether

[beck5253]

Pete is the greatest player of all times

[liberalpixienymph]

I would have loved to have been there for this. i wanted to be there. i am going to see him when he comes in boston in feb 2009,

[pliolm]

i love pete sampras...he is the best!!!

[navelpicker]

Now that is PASSION!!! You don't need to scream out loud in order to "show" how much you want something. Grew up with Pete. Ever since his win over Lendl in the QF's at the US in '90, he's been my man on the Tour.

[BoxTurtle5]

woot i was there 2 days ago it was awsome! i bought a tennis calender!

[musicF66]

he will always be a champion!

[arweiss21]

pete thanks for everything!

[victordaniel1979]

Even Pete were No.1 there´s something about him I really don´t like. he should´ve been more emotional. Pete, come on boy¡ Show us more about yourself. Don´t try to be the strong guy all the time. Thanks for sare this video.

[vdowatcher2]

aaa??? the guy is crying for God sake..what more emotion is he supposed to display :)

[victordaniel1979]

What I meant it´s that in his all career he always was no emotions¡¡¡ Agassi was the opposite,he made a big difference in tennis, thanks Andre...

[vdowatcher2]

oh I get it...hmmm i think every one made a contribution in their own way. I admire hem both :)

[LogicHead]

I agree with vdowatcher2. Both were great in their own way.

victordaniel1979, Sampras for me is an internally responsible, humble, driven, focused, servant of the game. Countless thousands have said what you have said: he lacked emotion but you know, in subtle ways, I could see it and because it was subtle, it had a certain purity to it. You could see it against tough opponents - Agassi also. His contribution is subtle, difficult to detect but I believe, reads extreme on the longevity scale.

[victordaniel1979]

Well, months ago I did my last comment, I do accept I was wrong, every person is unique, personally I´m a big Agassi´s fan

and of course I wanted Agassi to defeat Sampras all the time, but when you get older or wiser, you realize how important is every person, SAMPRAS is a good guy.

[LogicHead]

No probs. It takes some courage to say what you just said. Agassi himself matured a great deal with age and I don't think he would have accomplished all he did unless that happened. The Sampras contribution was more subtle but it does resonate very deep with me (and I will only speak for myself).

Anyway, the main thing I want to say is that I appreciate your last comment. May the players of today and the future continue to lift the standard of play and do so with good sportsmanship!

[ibwangin]

geez, he sure did cry a lot. i don't see what's he got to be sad about. he's been retired for 5 years...

[N0rdl1cht]

Great Champion!

[maturanita]

So, who's the GOAT? bORG,Pete, of Federer?

[nandhini178]

Pete...of course. Definitely, without, a doubt. Forever. And I am a big big big Fed-Fan.

[pradeepanisonline]

Federer maybe the complete pkg. but I still love Sampras more than anyone else. for me, he was the greatest serve/volley player ever.

at their peaks, Pistol vs Fed would easily end Pistol's way, except on Clay.

[nandhini178]

YEAH GO PETE!!!

[spirits79]

Thank you so much for posting this, I missed it on tv and I was hoping someone would upload it on YouTube. Pete's the best...

[mulder8scully5]

We love you Pete! Thanks for making Tennis a great sport! You are truly the GREATEST ever!

[gabysanchezloor]

pete is one of the best players ever! he is a wonderful example of a true champion!

[luke24582]

pete sampras!!! simple the best!!!

[stell29]

Check out the graphic at around 2:15 that shows Pete's' career highlights. Uhm last time I checked he won 5 U.S. Open's not 2

[naturalmystic4life]

Thanks for posting .... Pete Sampras, a champion for the ages.