Pete Sampras - An Indepth look at his game

The grasscourt season has begun and Wimbledon is not too far away.  It is an opportunity to take a look at one of the great grasscourt players and tennis legends.  This article will look at Pete Sampras’ game in detail, and the next article will concentrate on Sampras’ main rivals throughout his career. 

Pete’s Serve

This is one of Sampras’ most recognisable shots; many regard him as having the greatest serve in the game’s history.  A study was conducted at the 1998 US Open which showed that despite speeds upwards of 120mph, Sampras was able to generate up to 4260rpms; and up to 5357rpms on the 2nd serve, far above any other player.  Other players who served at similar speeds had far less RPMs on the serve on average.  See study here

This is one of the reasons why Sampras’ serve was so good, he possessed the ability to generate slice and topspin in equal measure and sometimes combined the two at the same time.  Sampras was also considered to have the best 2nd serve in the business, he was able to produce fast, deep serves into all corners of the box and into the body at speeds of up to 120mph loaded with spin, no matter how used an opponent was to anticipating, it was still difficult to deal with.

What makes Sampras serve stand out was the thought process behind it, along with the ability to hit flat, slice and kick serves with the same ball toss.  On the deuce court, Sampras liked to go to the forehand to open up the court for the next shot.  Going to the forehand is always a risky shot but you have to take risks to win.  Pete discussed in his book that by going to an opponent’s strength, you can break it down – a tactic he often used against Jim Courier who closed the racquet face due to his extreme grip.

Sampras’ serve really came into its own on the ad court.  The ad court is the decision court where games are won and lost and breakpoints saved. Sampras stood very close to the centre line and with the same ball toss, often slightly behind him or above his head, could hit it out wide to the backhand or go down the middle.  When he went down the middle, he often came over it with topspin whilst adding slice, so the ball straightened after pitching, going away from the opponents’ forehand but getting up high – anywhere between 110 to 135mph.  He was capable of hitting 2nd serves there at 120mph on the line.  

Many players’ serve angles in to the returners’ forehand because they stand further away from the cenrtre line so they have to add more sidespin than slice.  The ball may be fast but it’s easier to return if they don’t place it well.  With that serve to the forehand Sampras really upped the ante often, challenging the opponent to come up with something, often they couldn’t. 

 

The other benefit of this tactic was reverse psychology, when the opponent was anticipating and covering the forehand side, Sampras would go to the backhand and the ace count would rise.

Of the current generation, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have studied the Sampras serve and implemented it into their games, particularly the slice serve to the forehand on the ad court.  Juan Martin Del Potro, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have also studied that particular serve, but none of these players hit it with the same effectiveness, power or precision.  However, young up and coming player Milos Raonic has perfected that technique.

Pete’s Return of Serve

Sampras’ return of serve went through a few different phases throughout his long career.  In 1990 when he won the US Open as a 19 year old, he employed two strategies.  One was to drive the backhand return for winners or as a set up to dominate the point, the other was to run around the backhand to hit forehands on the ad court.  Sampras’ grasscourt game improved when he modified his returns and shortened his swing path to take account of the faster surface.  The forehand return certainly became one of the great shots of the 1990s because he could hit clean winners off it with a shortened swing which looked spectacular off fast serves.

In his later years he employed the chip and charge tactic a lot more, especially between 2000 and 2002 (a Paul Annacone influence).  One thing Sampras always said, it is the return of serve which wins Wimbledon.  This is something a lot of people and media never focus on; there have been many players over the years who serve just as fast or faster on grass such as Ivo Karlovic, Kevin Curren, Mark Philippoussis, Greg Rusedski, Goran Ivanisevic, Richard Krajicek, Andy Roddick.  However, many fancied players have never won Wimbledon because they do not return serve as well and are not athletic enough to get around the court and create opportunities.

Pete also knew when to step up return games, if he wanted to crush an opponent, he would go after them every game, if he wanted to conserve energy, he would focus on certain games to raise his returning level, he was a smart player.

Pete’s Forehand

Sampras has what is considered to be one of the best forehands in the history of modern tennis.  On any surface, Sampras was capable of generating considerable power with a strong amount of topspin.  However, Sampras also created incredible angles with his forehand and possessed the greatest running forehand in modern tennis, either down the line or crosscourt.

Along with Jim Courier, Sampras modelled his forehand strategy on Ivan Lendl.  This was to cover the backhand side to enable him to hit the inside out forehand or inside in forehand (down the line) to dictate play.  Sampras often banked on his athleticism to get to any balls down the line on his forehand side which he could counter down the line or crosscourt for winners or to get into an offensive position in the rally.  During the mid 1990s, Sampras would often go to the squash shot on hardcourts to keep the rally going when really stretched. 

Sampras used a conventional eastern forehand grip (some observers say semi western).  Not that it matters because it was a conventional grip which allowed him to deal with both high and low shots.  In fact, on lower bouncing surfaces, the eastern grip came into its own on short mid court balls which require a lot of topspin for clearance and pace to get it away from the opponent; this was a speciality of Sampras.  The 1998 US Open study showed that Sampras generated up to 3409rpms on his forehand.  Sampras generated more topspin on average on his shots than his contemporaries such as Andre Agassi or Tim Henman.  The most amazing thing is the pace Sampras was able to generate while using topspin for control with reasonably good net clearance; it is also worth noting that Sampras exclusively used natural gut on his strings.

Along with Andre Agassi, Sampras had the best forehand return of serve throughout the 1990s, particularly on the ad court.

Pete’s backhand

A shot that was often described as a weakness by the media, especially later in his career. However, it was seen as more reliable than his forehand in his early years on the tour.  It was a very good shot and of course everything is relative.  On clay he didn’t like it up high but not many players do, many players with two hands struggle up there, Kim Clijsters being one example. .  Sampras liked to trade topspin backhands with the likes of Andre Agassi and Jim Courier in the backhand to backhand corner (diagonal), probing for an opening. 

Compared to Roger Federer who employs a similar strategy today, Sampras hit his backhands higher over the net with more loop, to get the ball as deep as possible, trying to illicit a short ball he could attack with either a forehand or slice and approach to the net.  Sampras also liked the slice / topspin strategy which worked very well, keeping it low, then the topspin jumping higher off the court, something Amelie Mauresmo used particularly well against Kim Clijsters in recent years.

There are two things which made Sampras’ game superior.  One was the drive backhand return of serve which could get the point on his terms, the other was the backhand down the line.  In Sampras’ best performances, the backhand down the line was always a crucial shot.

Pete’s passing shots

This is one of the key reasons Sampras won Wimbledon 7 times in an era of attacking players.  He was able to return serve and hit passing shots better than his rivals of that era on grass and it showcased his counterpunching skills. Sampras had the ability to hit any pass backhand and forehand down the line, cross court and lob, or go to the body opening up the next shot.

Sampras’ passing shots came to the fore in the 1990 US Open seminal against John McEnroe.  In that match, Sampras hit 27 passing shots in 4 sets, clearly surprising McEnroe who wasn’t expecting that kind of tennis.  In the 1995 Wimbledon final against Boris Becker, Sampras hit 29 passing shots and in the 2000 final against Rafter, Sampras hit 23 passing shots and around 14 return winners.

Pete’s Movement

Pete was a very smooth mover around the court.  And in his book he discussed why he often felt he had the measure of Andre Agassi, he said that he moved better than Agassi and therefore in the baseline rallies he could hold his own and often come out on top.  Fred Perry’s quote sums it up best “ Sampras moves like oil, you don’t hear him, you just hear the other guy, and the other guys losing”.  The only surface where Sampras probably didn’t move as well was on clay, compared to grass, hardcourts, rebound ace and indoor carpet. 

Pete’s Volleys and Overheads

During the 1990s era, Stefan Edberg and Patrick Rafter had better volleys. However, Sampras was not far off their level and certainly possessed the best forehand volley because of his firm wrist, but Edberg and Rafter had better overall volleys.  Sampras came into his own on half volleys and stop volleys, Due to his athleticism he came up with amazing volley winners out of nothing, often leaving his opponent dumbfounded.  Recently, Petra Kvitova in the womens game has been coming up with amazing volleys on faster surfaces.

As for overheads, Sampras probably has the best one ever seen on a consistent basis.  Not too many players got lobs over him, his athleticism up there was incredible and his slam dunk a signature shot.  The late commentator Bill Threlfall once said of Sampras “he has rubber legs!”

Pete’s game under Tim Gullickson

Sampras started work with Tim Gullickson in the beginning of 1992 after parting company with Joe Brandi.  Gullickson worked on improving Sampras’ grass game and worked on making Sampras an all round player, an all court player, cutting down on unforced errors and playing more patiently from the baseline.  They also worked hard on Sampras’ clay court game, in view of attempting to win the French Open. 

During that period of Sampras’ development, on hardcourts and other surfaces, Sampras served volleyed on 1st serve and stayed back on 2nd serve.  Many matches as a result gave the impression Sampras was playing from the baseline.  His average 1st serve percentage was usually quite low, just over 50 % first serves in, so on half of his serves he would play from the back.  I would assume had Sampras grown up in today’s slower conditions, he would stay back all the time.

Pete’s game under Paul Annacone

Paul Annacone became Sampras’ full time coach in 1996 after the passing of Tim Gullickson.  And as the late 1990s went on, Sampras’ game started to evolve into a more aggressive one.  He started coming to net more on his 2nd serve and started serving bigger more often.  By 2000, Sampras was a full time serve and volleyer on all surfaces.   Sampras’ return game also changed.  The tactic of running around the backhand to hit forehand was jettisoned for the chip and charge, a tactic he hardly employed previously.   An interesting thing to note is that Sampras’ contemporaries had more or less left the scene including Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Thomas Muster, Sergei Brugera, players he had a lot of battles with from the baseline. 

Due to Sampras’ change in tactics and philosophy on the game, his claycourt game suffered as a result as the big game didn’t really work on the slow surface, and surface speeds were much more diverse then compared to today’s conditions where all surfaces play at a similar medium pace.