FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Denis24 said 07/06, 09:02 PM
This might be hard to argue, but I have to go with the 2002 Men's US Open Final featuring Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

The match ended with Pete Sampras defeating Andre Agassi: 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to win his 14th and last grand slam title in stunning fashion.

Pete Sampras play faded in the third and fourth sets and critics thought he was done, but it was hard to tell whether Agassi would take over the match. But Sampras managed to hold on in the end and prove hist doubters wrong.

Sampras slapped 33 aces into the walls behind the baseline for a major advantage. Before the victory, he had a 33 tournament winning drought, his last victory being the 2000 Wimbledon. He was seeded 17th at the US Open, and this championship immideately became one of the best known grand slam finals ever.

The fans were so involved in that game, it was so amazing. And the special thing was the rivalry between the two of them. They played as opponents against each other since the young age of 10. And overall, they have met 34 times at the professional level. (Sampras holds a 20-14 edge, including 4-1 in grand slam finals).

This was truely a special moment in tennis history.

Denis24 said 07/06, 10:35 PM
The victory over Andre Agassi was considered his marking point as the best men's singles player in the history of tennis. Pete Sampras grew extremely tired of fans asking if he would retire, so he just left everything on the court.

And the fact that both Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras were underdogs was the amazing thing. What people believed to be two "washed up" players turned out to be most notibely the best tennis match in tennis history.

And in my opinion, you can't really judge a game the evening right after it was played.

Also, the big red flag for me during the contest were the couple of rain and lightning delays, which delayed the final, scheduled for 2:00, but was played until 2:45.

And the Hewitt-Blake matchup took place in the 3rd round, which made it that less interesting. Plus, James Blake never made it past the quarterfinals in any grand slam, so that made that less compelling.

Pete Sampras' previous round matchups were way better than that! Are you kidding?

3rd round (#33 Rusedski) :
Rusedski: 6 6 6 6 4
Sampras: 7 4 7 3 6

4th round (#3 Haas) :
Sampras: 7 6 6 7
Haas: 5 4 7 5

The Agassi-Sampras matchup was the best moment in tennis.

Denis24 said 07/07, 04:42 PM
Pete Sampras IS the greatest tennis player of all time, and you can't argue that. Sampras was known to have one of the best powerful first serves to ever play the game.

Record against Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jimmy Conners, and John McEnroe:

Agassi: 20-14
McEnroe: 3-0
Becker: 12-7
Conners: 2-0

That's an impressive list right there, plus he holds the record for the most grand slams titles in tennis history. There is no question he is #1.

Also, the great moments of matches happen in the game, so a great moment in a match equals a great match.

The rain delays also slowed down the match, which was a bad thing for a casual fan that wanted to watch the match.

"Both Rafa and Roger dominated the last two weeks-there was never any doubt they would meet in the finals-before today they had combined to win 42 of 43 sets"
That what is the bad part of it all. We all knew that they would meet, and that two former greats would meet in the finals was great for tennis fans.

And just because the match happened the other day it means the casual fan would only remember that game, but the 2002 Men's US Open was GREAT!