July Issue - Match Rewind: Roger Federer vs Pete Sampras 2001.

[jeffreycounts]

Wimbledon's on - so let's rewind to the match that changed everything. Roger Federer vs. Pete Sampras, 2001. His favorite win, per a recent Eurosport Spain interview. A true passing of the torch.

We've cut the full 3:42:30 marathon down to 42:22 of pure points - six minutes shorter than your average Netflix episode. The end one era. The rise of another. Technique, precision, tradition, moderntiy, and greatness.

Click Here to watch it!

[stotty]

What a contrast to today’s tennis. That was probably (if memory serves) the last fast grass court before things were slowed down — and you can see why Wimbledon opted to slow things down shortly after. It’s was too quick. The match was a serve fest with occasional volleys thrown in. Not a rally in sight. Roger vs Novak was a far more watchable in my view.

That said, Roger was a better volleyer back then you feel. Obviously, he had become practiced at it and would have gone on to be a terrific volleyer had the game continued to go in that direction.

The Sampras vs Goran matches were the catalyst for slowing the grass courts down — despite what was lost in forecourt play, it was, on balance, a good move.

[don_budge]

This is real tennis. Sampras and Federer were already playing "fake tennis" in 2001. The illusion created by the bigger racquets is obvious to a discerning person. Fake tennis officially was born at the US Open in 1984 (coincidentally the Orwellian year) when all four men's semifinalists were using oversized graphite racquets at a Grand Slam event for the first time. Both Federer and Sampras expressed remorse to not being able to have competed in the end with standard sized racquets. Both were tennis purists and had deep respect for the game. It certainly was not their fault nor could they bear responsibility for what the game devolved to. Watching Wimbledon today is rather sad. Even looking at the audience is sad. Devolution begins where evolution ends. Evolution ends when technology takes over.

Technology has taken over the game of tennis. Down to the calling of the lines. From wood to graphite. From cat or sheep's gut to synthetic strings. From real grass to the hybrid velcro. Tennis metaphoring life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnwYdF8a5ws

I love the sound of the ball off the racquets from these two great tennis players, playing one of the truly great and historic matches of their time.

[don_budge]

The Engineering of the Game...Sad Testimony

This is real tennis. Sampras and Federer were already playing "fake tennis" in 2001. The illusion created by the bigger racquets is obvious to a discerning person. Fake tennis officially was born at the US Open in 1984 (coincidentally the Orwellian year) when all four men's semifinalists were using oversized graphite racquets at a Grand Slam event for the first time. Both Federer and Sampras expressed remorse to not being able to have competed in the end with standard sized racquets. Both were tennis purists and had deep respect for the game. It certainly was not their fault nor could they bear responsibility for what the game devolved to. Watching Wimbledon today is rather sad. Even looking at the audience is sad. Devolution begins where evolution ends. Evolution ends when technology takes over.

Technology has taken over the game of tennis. Down to the calling of the lines. From wood to graphite. From cat or sheep's gut to synthetic strings. From real grass to the hybrid velcro. Tennis metaphoring life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnwYdF8a5ws

I love the sound of the ball off the racquets from these two great tennis players, playing one of the truly great and historic matches of their time.

The modern game of tennis is a totally manufactured entity. Between the two videos in this thread, the one of Sampras and Federer and the one of McEnroe and Borg, they represent tectonic shifts in the game that had absolutely zero to do with evolution. Real crap that mankind has the right to interfere with God's gift to mankind in terms of recreation. If it isn't broke, don't fix it. That sums up the McEnroe vs. Borg video. Artistic. Poetry in motion. Brute strength and force. Thrust and parry. Offense and defense. What more could you ask for? The toll of the equipment change is fully evident in the Sampras vs. Federer model. Two beautiful players demonstrating what is possible when you monkey around with the equipment. Going forwards from there, tennis brain trust continued to monkey around and the courts have all become homogeneous. The velcro like surface of Wimbledon plays nearly the same as the dirt at Roland Garros. It sucks and what is most interesting...the general population is completely clueless. Mesmerized by the speed porn of the game of today. Shock and awe...I have heard it referred as. Dumb and dumber is what I say.