I've heard it said of the 1999 Wimbledon final match between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi - the match which Sampras won in straight sets - as being a display of Peerless Pete's virtuosity. Sadly, I never got to watch the match except some highlights. The same sad story continued today when I could only read reports of, not watch live, Roger Federer's demolition of Andy Roddick in straight sets at the 2007 Australian Open.
In 1999, Agassi claimed, after having lost the match, "He walked on water." I wonder what Roddick will have to say about his 83-minute annihilation. Consider this: just prior to the start of the tournament, Roddick had defeated Federer in an exhibition match; only a few months earlier, he'd held match point against Federer. Reports continued to keep pouring in about how much Andy had closed the gap between himself and Federer in the last one year after having Jimmy Connors as his coach. And then this! Andy said after the match, "It was frustrating. It sucked. It was terrible. Besides that, it was fine." I feel sorry for you Andy, but maybe you should consider going to Nadal and picking up a thing or two before he reaches your present despondent state.
Links:
An interesting, on-going comparison between the lives of two of tennis' greatest players. This is one for the bookmarks.
An emotional article by The Hindu's Nirmal Shekar in which he also lists his top-10 list of Sampras' victories.
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