Rewind ’95: Defining Moment for Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 8, 2010

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Every great rivalry has a defining moment, a moment at which both men are elevated from being mere tennis players to being special. After that moment, the rivalry would never be the same, neither would the players themselves.

Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe achieved that moment in the fourth set tiebreaker at the Wimbledon ‘80 finals. McEnroe and Ivan Lendl never competed more fiercely than they did at the French Open ‘84 finals. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal set new standards for tennis pretty much every time they face each other in a major final.

Yet, it will be hard to find a single defining moment for the greatest tennis rivalry of the '90s—the one that had Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in it. Sure, their showdown at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2001 would go down as one of the best matches of the decade, but their rivalry was already in its final stages by then.

In fact, it did not take a single match, but a whole tournament to establish that peak. In many ways, Australian Open ‘95 was the key moment for Sampras and Agassi—individually and as rivals.

At the start of the 1995, tennis was not exactly in a golden phase. Even though Sampras and Agassi were the top two ranked players, both had problems of their own. Sampras’ lack of emotions on court did not win him as many fans as world No. 1 would normally have.

Moreover, the excellent command on his serve was not taken well by most tennis fans who loved to see longer rallies and more action. Sampras’ lack of popularity was further justified after he failed to make the cover of Sports Illustrated even after winning his third consecutive Wimbledon later that year.

Agassi was not an ideal world No. 2, either. The rebel was loved more for his image than substance. After all, not many top players can afford to boast a cheeseburger diet, and proudly sport long hair and denim shorts. His lack of consistency at the top m...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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