Pete Sampras volleying(Athens)

Watch his excellent technique.He is great

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• pete
• sampras
• tennis
• volley

[tedly10027]

so - ti me - in both power, endurance, touch, technique and refinement and athleticism...pete sampras is the most HONEST , PURE player ever since the wooden raquets were gone > a senior wimbledon official attested : "the real raquet of pete, not the imitations, really was closer to the wood than any modern raquet...try the shots today on pete's old raquet in your career and you'd break your wrist". but the thing is pete was at least as powerful as ANY current players using his OLD one.

[tedly10027]

and his technique came from a very strict kind of playing where power was generated without too much help from the technology while playing against  power players that wouldn't even TOUCH his racquet and really carve out a career that way . or they'd lose their "edge" in power and precision.

as pete said: "if i were to teach a kid PROPER tennis..id keep him away from the new racquets...i'd give him the wood...because with wood you can't have power or touch where it doesn't exist."

[lureyourkidsinvan]

Really pete, Babolat ?

[cammpinno]

Look at his stability, he never loses his balance. So natural.

[cammpinno]

@tedly10027 very true, very true

[tedly10027]

for me personally...sampras is about as perfect a combination of the truly NATURAL athlete and the very STRICT kind of technique in playing. his athleticism was not just explosive and fluent , powerful and subtle at the same time, it was something that you can't buy with training and training only..as most players today are , even federer, imo.

[tedly10027]

that was one of his very first "serious" tournaments after coming back to play in his retirement years. if i remember correctly, he won it. it was his first visit to his parent's homeland, Greece. so it was nice for the native Greeks interested in tennis or athletes, the home of the original Olympics, to see someone of their own heritage who "used to play some good tennis" (as sampras said after he retired).

[nekbeth]

Exactly, I believe the serve and volley (talent) is lost in these generations. They all think is borring but it is the most efficient way to beat guys who live on the backcourt (like Nadal or Agassi). Federer use to play volley more often when he was N.1, then change his game to match Nadal on the backcourt.. in my opinion is Federers biggest mistake. Nadal can keep a ball playing on the backcourt for 40 stokes & still running.. he rarely misses. You need to make him risk shots

[tedly10027]

WHY did pete sampras have to grow OLD? hehe. it's CRIMINAL that that kind of playing is gone now and no one comes close to replicating it. (which i'm happy about) heheh grrr!

[pistolpete58]

playing a tournament.