Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[ti-amie]

Interesting. I just found out that my daughter is a huge Sampras fan.

Wait, is ashkor your daughter??


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[ti-amie]

Sampras in his later years was the reason I stopped watching tennis. I got sick of his over reliance on his serve. I never talked about Sampras with my daughter until recently and she went all sasaeng (Korean super fan) over how he could see the court, how he placed his shots and I was like "who are you?"

[meganfernandez]

Sampras in his later years was the reason I stopped watching tennis. I got sick of his over reliance on his serve. I never talked about Sampras with my daughter until recently and she went all sasaeng (Korean super fan) over how he could see the court, how he placed his shots and I was like "who are you?"

Was she living in your house during his heydey? You didn't know she watched him and liked him? Who did you think she liked?

[ashkor87]

Btw Sampras' sister is head coach of the women's team at my alma mater UCLA..another reason for me
But I do admit I usually rooted for Agassi to beat him (which was not often) but my own game is very much serve-based so....

[ti-amie]

Sampras in his later years was the reason I stopped watching tennis. I got sick of his over reliance on his serve. I never talked about Sampras with my daughter until recently and she went all sasaeng (Korean super fan) over how he could see the court, how he placed his shots and I was like "who are you?"

Was she living in your house during his heydey? You didn't know she watched him and liked him? Who did you think she liked?

Yes she was. I started taking her to the US Open when she was 8 or 9. It was after he was sick on court vs Corretja. Come to think of it her father and I always watched tennis so she had plenty of chances to see him.
I guess we never talked about him in depth before.

[ponchi101]

Kyrgios is full of sh*t. 2001 version of Sampras was quite removed from his athletic best. Due to his health problems Pete could not sustain his physical prime all that long. Now about "What Djokovic would do to Sampras". He is correct if Sampras plays with 90s strings and sticks and Djokovic with modern ones. But is it a fair comparison? Aging Federer, who is stylistically quite close to Sampras, gave Djokovic all he could handle in 2019 Wimbledon final. When he was closer to his prime, in some matches he was able to just take the raquet out of Novak's hands completely - much like Pete done to his opponents.
Djokovic's prolonged success is due to the fact, that he continues to improve and incorporate more attacking tennis to his game. Today's Djokovic has more in common with Sampras than with Hewitt IMO.

The one player I feel could give Novak some problems would have been Agassi. Novak has feasted on all these players that stand 6-8 feet behind the baselines. That means 12-16 feet of travel for the ball, and the subsequent extra time. With Agassi, who was always trying to come closer to the net and stood just at the baseline, Novak would have had a lot less time. Both Rafa and Daniil give him that extra split second for Novak to get ready.
Keeping in mind the racquet tech difference, Connors could also give him some issues; he was also playing on top of the baseline, so that would have taken the time out of Novak's game.
I don't see Sampras affecting Novak unless they would play on very fast courts. As definitive as Pete was, Novak's ability to bunt balls back and use his opponent's power to redirect shots would beat Pete's attacking game.

[ptmcmahon]

As an Agassi fan I naturally could never fully warm up to Sampras

[meganfernandez]

Has Novak ever played a truly great serve-and-volleyer? Federer was probably the best he faced, and he didn’t charge constantly.


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[ashkor87]

Has Novak ever played a truly great serve-and-volleyer? Federer was probably the best he faced, and he didn’t charge constantly.


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There haven't been any, in this generation...for various reasons..the last of that ilk was McEnroe
But I don't think Djokovic would be bothered by a serve-and-volley player, his return and reflexes are too good..more likely to be bothered by an Agassi-type, who is simply better at everything than himself (I am not claiming Agassi was)..Alcaraz will give him serious trouble over the next year or two, so will Sinner.. Zverev has always shown the ability to beat hm, so if he gets back to where he was beore the injury..

[ti-amie]

[meganfernandez]

What is her career-high ranking again?

Screenshot 2023-12-23 at 10.38.00 PM.png

[meganfernandez]

Raonic still thinks he can win a Slam. Podcast interview here:

https://shaptennispod.com/

[meganfernandez]

Tara Moore evidently exonerated from a doping charge. She has spent some of that time coaching at a club outside Indianapolis. Her girlfriend, Emina Betkas, is from here and they both have trained here at times. While Tara was sidelined and they didn't play doubles together, Emina cracked the top 100 in singles.

Source of steroids she tested positive from was some meat. Another player had the same situation from the same event.

https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/te ... tive-tests

Judy Murray came to her defense.

[ashkor87]

Watching the WTL - Rybakina and Cirstea vs Badosa and Sabalenka...astonished at how good Ryba is at doubles!

[Fastbackss]

Wonder if Tara will be granted a Protected Ranking