What do you induce from Sampras backing of Federer from time to time?

Question

Sampras says, "There is a burning desire in Roger to break my record, and when he does it I would like to be there,” Sampras said Thursday. “I said to Roger, ‘Just make sure it’s in New York or London. Australia is a long way to go. (But) if it worked out like that, I would fly there.’ And he apparently rarely gives support to other players including Nadal and Djokovic. But why?

Answer 1

the same way that roy emerson and borg backed sampras when he surpassed them as the all time grand slam winner.

they were there to witness it and we all know that federer will smash sampras's record. Nadal and Djokovic are great players just like Agassi, Jimmy, and John they will win many more grand slams but to achieve a sampras or a federer that just not going to happen.

Answer 2

Not sure. I just read an article how he said Roger is the best player and no-one can beat him. ! Rafa can win wimbledon this year :) sure roger is the favourite but it doesnt mean to say Nadal or Djokovic dont have a chance.

Answer 3

There is no rule that says he has to give credit to Nadal for anything. Sampras doesn't care about clay and the French Open. He cares about 2 things - his 14 grandslams and his 7 wimbledons. Just like Borg was there to see Roger win 5 Ws and Rafa win 4 Fs, Sampras would like to do the same with Roger. There is only one player on this planet likely to break Sampras' two pet records. So that's why he focuses on Federer.

Answer 4

Well I could be cynical and say that Sampras is just trying to appear like a good sport, but I think he's better than that.  If you watch the interview after Sampras' loss to the then teenage Federer at Wimbledon in 2001 he respected the young kid so much at that point.  I think that Sampras loves the way Federer plays the game, the way he handles the attention, and the way he never stops working.  For example, Federer has been praised by almost every ATP player as being such a modest champion.  Andy Roddick was quoted saying something along the lines of Federer acting like just another guy in the locker room and that if you didn't follow tennis and saw him at McDonald's you wouldn't think that he was famous at all.  People always seem to fall in love with a modest champion.

Federer's all-around game is a big reason why most people, probably Sampras included, think he's so great.  If you remember the 2001 match between them (If you don't check, for it on youtube, highlights from every set are on there) Federer actually beat Sampras at his own game: serve-and-volley.  But these days we know Federer for his crushing ground-strokes.  A lot of people thought Federer needed to serve-and-volley to have a chance against Nadal at Roland Garros and as proven by Federer's one glimpse of light in the second set when he started coming to the net a lot more, they were right.  Federer has the big serve that can reach 130 while hitting the lines, he has the best forehand in the game, a beautiful backhand, an excellent net-game and plays defense better than anyone on tour aside from Rafa.  

Now that I've answered why Federer gets praised, I'll try and answer why Rafa and Djokovic don't.  The easy reasoning of course is just that Roger is still head and shoulders above the rest of the tennis world in PRESTIGE, not necessarily in skill level anymore, but in prestige he is.  Nadal has four grand slam titles to his name now, all at Roland Garros, and Djokovic has one, they simply haven't earned the same respect yet.  In addition to this, despite his dominating victory vs. Federer a few weeks ago, a lot of people are starting to doubt that Nadal will ever be a dominant player.  We all realize and think that he is the best clay-court player ever, matched perhaps only by Bjorn Borg, but can he ever win anything else?  Wimbledon is a possibility, although personally I think that Federer may retire before he loses there, but most people doubt that Nadal will ever win a hard court slam.  Nadal's game relies so much on sliding around and having a slower surface, both of which are not characteristics of the playing field at the U.S. and Aussie Opens.  Djokovic could very well pass Rafa in Grand Slam Titles by the year 2010 as a lot of people believe that he will be the one taking the torch from Federer when the Fed-Express finally shuts down the engine.  ...Did I just ramble enough?  :-P I actually think the true answer is the one I mentioned earlier as the easy one, Pete Sampras just doesn't hold the same respect for those two yet as he does for Roger, but it could also be for the fact that Nadal has sort of established himself as a one-dimensional player and a lot of people don't like Djokovic's attitude, maybe Pete is one of them.  Let's face it, Novak is an amazing talent and will likely win a handful of slams, but he can be a bit... full of himself at times.  

If you ask me, Federer is the perfect champion, talented, hard-working, but humble, not just appearing humble for the sake of not appearing a bad sport, but is actually, genuinely humble.  That is why he gets so much respect from the entire world, which includes Mr. Sampras.  I've spent a lot of time on youtube, and those comment boards get vicious and while you'll see comments like "Rafa will never win anything but the french" or "Djokovic is just an overconfident jerk", you never see anything negative about Federer.  People will say maybe "Federer is overrated, Sampras could've taken him in his prime" but they will never directly criticize Roger because he is, as I said earlier, "The Perfect Champion."

Answer 5

Sampras is realizing that Roger, sooner or later, will break his record. Sampans also realizes that Roger is an all around player, he uses the net and although Rog doesn't have as big as a serve as Sampras did, Sampras sees a lot of himself when he looks at Roger. Roger did also beat Sampans at Wimbledon in 2001 in 5 sets and maybe Sampras gained a respect through that loss. Even will Rafa going to the finals of Wimbledon, I think that Sampras feels that maybe Rafa isn't a complete player and I don't think that Sampras has seen enough of Djokovic to have an opinion on him.

Answer 6

That's a tough question. I think he wants to see someone break his record, because tennis has been getting a little boring, no? I think he appreciates all of the hard work and time Federer puts into his schedule, and he likes Fed's ground strokes. I think he just wants to see someone up there with him.