In many ways Federer is much like the man he succeeded at the All England Club in 2001. Federer showed his former idol the door with a sensational performance. The fourth-round thriller ended Sampras' remarkable reign - a... more »t least for the moment. Sampras held a set point in the opening tiebreaker, but Federer erased it with a service winner. Sampras then lost the set four points later when he dumped an easy backhand into the net, and the battle was on.Wearing a bandana and ponytail, Federer looks nothing like Sampras but plays with the same stylish ease and seems comfortable at the net. Much of the time the modest and unassuming Swiss star had the better serve, and he confidently closed out the third set with three consecutive service winners and an ace that kicked up chalk.Sampras played his best tennis in the final two sets, smashing serves at up to 136 mph and looking like the champion of old at the net. Serving in the final game, he misplayed two volleys and fell behind 15-40. Federer then played a superb return winner - something he had done repeatedly over the previous 3 1/2 hours - and fell to his knees with glee before keeling over onto the turf.The usually composed player could no longer hide his emotions and broke down with tears of joy.« less
Genres:Sports Sub-Genres:Sports Studio:Standing Room Only Format:DVD - Color DVD Release Date: 10/31/2006 Release Year: 2006 Run Time: 3hr 53min Screens: Color Number of Discs: 1 SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 4 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated) Languages:English
"It is the classic tale of the changing of the guard as the seasoned veteran is taken down by the upstart heir apparent to the throne. Sampras owned Wimbledon since '93 and his only loss was to Krajicek in '96, but Federer at the 2001 Wimbledon showed the great potential that he has, but still wouldn't be fully realized until a year later when he won the 2002 Tennis Masters Championship and the rest is history. He has dominated tennis since like no player before him, including Sampras. Nadal has been the only player able to show that Federer is beatable, even if it's only on clay. Sampras was on his way out and would retire the next year at the U.S. Open and Federer was just getting going. Both were at the top of their games on that day during the 4th round of Wimbledon. It was a great match with the classic Sampras serve and volley with Federer showing great poise under pressure which has become his trademark. When you watch Federer or Sampras, you can't tell if they are down or up in the match, they just play with the killer blank face. Sampras has a record 14 Grand Slams with seven of those at Wimbledon and was ranked #1 6 straight years. Federer has 9 slams at 25, 4 straight Wimbledon titles and is the first man in the Open era to win at least 10 titles three straight years in a row. Get the DVD to see history as they will both go down at #1 and #2 in the history of men's tennis. Which order they go is up to you, but there is no debating they are the two greatest ever. Sorry Laver. Sorry Borg. If Agassi didn't lose so many finals to Sampras, he would have went down as #2 behind Federer."
Other Reasons to Like this DVD
Amidonian | Laurel Hollow, NY United States | 04/23/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"** This match has NO Commercials and the coverage continues during the changeovers. Kinda cool to watch what they are doing when the camera on TV normally cut away.
** I watched this DVD on my iMAC - the quality of the video was excellent
** The DVD is divided up (logically) by set. Each set was around 40-50 minutes - the whole match was too long for me to watch at once but I just watched a set each night. Since I was playing tennis some days in between, it was cool to be inspired by the match
who are the announcers anyway?? One is American by the way - Pat McEnroe?? I saw John McEnroe and Ted Robinson in the background doing the commentary and kinda wished they were announcing here....but the two we heard we very good.
Definitely worth it."
GrassCourtDrama
Michael N. Plei | 07/05/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Tennis drama doesn't get better than this, especially in light of what Federer has accomplished since that match in 2001."
The best DVD for tennis lovers!!!
A. Useche | 01/19/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The highest video and audio quality for one of the most exciting tennis matches of history, I'm so glad of having it home!!!
"
A "must have" for tennis lovers
Murty Challa | Columbia, MD, USA | 01/30/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is truly a must have for tennis lovers since it is the only Federer-Sampras match. The tennis is not as good as I hoped. I say this not because of the few rallies (Sampras and Federer were both serving extremely well), but because Sampras was tired and late by half a step everywhere and Federer had not yet decided to stick to the baseline. (He played serve and volley and was not too good at it.) Sampras's serves and Federer's passing shots were breathtaking. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this excellent DVD with outstanding tennis, good photography and the subdued and knowledgeable British comentators who are a welcome relief from their cacophonous American counterparts.