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Samprasfanz » Archives 2003 to 2011 » Drawing a different comparison: Tiger and Pete

Drawing a different comparison: Tiger and Pete

by: Kamakshi Tandon, TENNIS.com
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

It’s almost too easy. Tiger Woods shows up in Roger Federer’s box at the U.S. Open. Roger shows up to watch Tiger in Shanghai. Roger and Tiger become friends. Tiger wins his seventh tournament in a row just as Roger wins the Australian Open. Tiger = Roger.

Trouble is, it is too easy. If you want to draw parallels between contemporaries who dominated golf and tennis, the best comparison isn’t Woods and Federer — it’s Woods and Pete Sampras.

Think about it. Woods and Sampras are closer in age (31 and 35, respectively) than Woods and Federer (31 and 25).

They project similar personalities — detached, literal and focused. In fact, the first time I saw Tiger speak, he immediately reminded me of Sampras. Even for someone who didn’t know golf, it was an inkling that he was going to be good.

They both took their sports’ power to a new level, enough to prompt calls for serving restrictions in tennis and longer fairways in golf.

They won their first major almost right out of the gates, but took a couple of years to find their dominating mode. Then, with destiny-like conviction, they geared their careers toward a long-standing record that many had thought would never again be broken: total majors won. Blips in form after getting married led to speculation about loss of motivation, but both eventually contended for majors
again.

Heck, even their wives look a little alike.

Federer, meanwhile, is a neoclassical player, blending old artistry with modern power. His personality is textured

Filed under: Archives 2003 to 2011

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