Posted on: July 02nd, 2007
Federer all class, but Sampras the king on grass
- petepageBy: Nirmal Shekar, The Hindu
July 2, 2007, London - Watching a mostly baseline-hugging Roger Federer imperiously dismiss the unimpressive Marat Safin from his regal presence in a third round match on the centre court in the 121st Wimbledon championships, on Friday evening, this writer, overcome by that unavoidable disease – nostalgia – generally affecting those who have spent too many summers watching sport on manicured English lawns, reached for the rewind button.
It was July 1980 and Bjorn Borg took on John McEnore in the first of their two finals here. Everybody who watched that five-set epic will easily recall the fourth set tiebreak which McEnroe won 18-16.
But, vivid in my memory, and much easier to recall, are McEnroe’s magical volley winners played with a dazzling sleight of hand.
The great left-handed conjurer is still around, in these parts, keeping us entertained from the commentary box. But the stroke that he played with such breathtaking virtuosity — the volley — is on its way to extinction. When the odd player now chooses to serve and volley on every point, it almost seems like a vestigial trait.
Lost art
Even Roger Federer, who can masterfully play every stroke in the book — and some that are not there because the ones who wrote the game’s manual could not have even dreamed of his brand of shotmaking genius — has won at least three of his four titles (barring the first, in 2003, when he served and volleyed for the most part against Mark Philippoussis in the final) spending much of his time on the baseline.
Then again, Philippoussis is the only natural serve-and-volleyer that Federer has played in the finals, the other two being Andy Roddick (2004 and 2005) and Rafael Nadal (2006). This got me thinking about the two men whose records the Swiss maestro is going after — Borg and Pete Sampras.
These two had to take on some of the finest volleyers of their times while winning five and seven titles respectively.
While it is hardly Federer’s fault that few of his chief rivals venture up to the net — and that his own volleying skills have never been fully tested because of this — there is no doubt at all that Borg and Sampras had to deal with several gifted net-rushing opponents.
While we are at it, another intriguing aspect of this comparison has to do with the stature of the players that these three great champions have beaten in winning a cumulative total of 16 titles.
Let us look at Borg’s dream run first. In his first final, in 1976, the Swede took on Ilie Nastase, one of the most gifted shotmakers the game has known.
In the following two years, he played Jimmy Connors, a man who’d rather leave the court in a body bag than without the title.
Then came Roscoe Tanner in 1979. If you think Andy Roddick serves big, then you should have seen Tanner serve with a wooden racquet. His was a thundering serve that came down like a guillotine.
Finally, there was McEnroe, whose wicked leftie serves the great Swede dealt with in 1980, successfully, and then again in 1981, without success.
Of course, these were just the final opponents. There were serving-and-volleying dangermen elsewhere in the draw, men such as Mark Edmondson, Victor Amaya and our own Vijay Amritraj. And remember, three of those five years (1978-80), the Swedish iceman also won the French Open.
Borg’s final opponents, together, won 17 Grand Slam singles titles — Nastase (2), Connors (8), McEnroe (7).
Now, on to Sampras. In his first final in 1993, the great man played Jim Courier, a four-time Grand Slam champion. His other final opponents were Boris Becker (six Grand Slam titles), Goran Ivanisevic (one), Andre Agassi (eight) and Pat Rafter (two). Sampras’ final opponents together won 20 Grand Slam titles. In comparison, Federer’s final opponents have won four (Nadal three and Roddick one).
While on the one hand it is easy to say that you can only play the field that is available during your time, on the other, it would be unfair to Borg and Sampras if we did not weigh the opposition that they faced with a degree of fairness.
Yes, Federer is so dominant now that he could very well go on to beat every single major record of significance — Borg’s five-in-a-row at Wimbledon, Sampras’s seven Wimbledon titles and 14 overall, as well as his six years as year-end No.1.
But this should take nothing away from the greatness Borg and Sampras achieved at Wimbledon.
All this leaves us with a simple question: who is the greatest Wimbledon (grass court) champion of all time?
Here is my choice: Pete Sampras. I believe if Sampras and Federer had met at their respective peaks at Wimbledon, the former would have won seven out of 10 times.
At the U.S. Open, too, it would have been in Sampras’s favour (6-4). But on the Rebound Ace in Australia, Federer would have beaten Sampras seven out of 10 times and on clay at Roland Garros, the Swiss would have triumphed eight out of 10 times.
Job on hand
With a backlog of 90 matches and a rather bleak weather forecast for the first half of the second week, Wimbledon officials have a job on their hands when play resumes at 11 a.m. (3.30 p.m. IST) on all courts on Monday. The organisers had hoped to complete at least the women’s third round matches on Saturday. But, with the weather unrelenting, they had no option but to call off play at 7 p.m.
The second week is full of promise, weather permitting. But the more it rains, the lesser the chances of Federer being stopped short of Bjorn Borg’s record of five straight titles.
Players such as Andy Roddick and Nadal would struggle to mount a challenge to the great Swiss on a softer surface where the bounce may be unpredictable.
Source: The Hindu
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