Sampras steals the show

Mark LyonsPete Sampras: The man still flies.

Sampras brought in more than 8,000 fans on a President's Day evening when many folks were kicking back at home after a long four-day weekend. He dusted a still recovering Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-2. The 36-year-old is a very popular guy and would be even more beloved if he'd make a comeback.

But he won't, as he doesn't want to put his body and mind through the meat grinder again. But at least he showed that the serve and volley still lives on, even for fleeting moments in dreamy exos.

"Everyone pretty much stays back and hits the crap out of the ball and they are great at it," Sampras said. "It's nice to show the fans that serve and volley tennis is still fun to watch. I enjoy playing it and it's not easy to do, but once I get into to my rhythm, it's like riding a bike to me."

Sampras tributes much of the decline of serve and volley to racket and string technology, where it is to easy to learn to crush the ball from the baseline with heavy spin and keep it within the margins of the court. Volleying requires touch and a tremendous amount of guts and work around the cords.

"Kids don't learn to hit the ball properly," he said. "I grew up with a wood racket and had to volley and hit my forehand correctly. Serve and volley is risky game and a 13-year-old is just learning to hit the crap out of the ball. It's a dying game. It's gone. I look at Wimbledon today and as great as the players are, I miss the serve and volley. When you have a guy staying back and a guy coming in, it's the some of the best tennis. They talk about the grass being slower and I don't buy it. No one wants to come in and serve and volleying takes years to perfect."

The 14-time Grand Slam champ made Haas look completely out of sorts by constantly suffocating him. Sampras still feels competitive and gets pumped up playing in front of large crowds.

"When I get in the arena, I still feel like I want to play great. But Tommy has more important things to worry about than playing me. I obviously have Roger [Federer] in the back of my mind in three weeks, which will obviously be difficult."

FEDERER AND VOLLEYING
Sampras will face Federer in an exo at New York's Madison Square Garden on March 10. Federer and Sampras played three exhibitions last fall, with the Swiss winning two out of three.

During one of their recent conversations, Sampras asked Federer why, after he served and volleyed his way past him at '01 Wimbledon, that he reverted back to the baseline.

"After the next year when he lost [to Mario Ancic], he said he figured out how he needed to play on grass and when he was serve and volleying, he was doing it because he felt like he needed to. He shouldn't be trying to force himself."

The 36-year-old Sampras has few regrets, but one of them is that he didn't' switch form his old Wilson Pro Staff to a larger frame with souped-up strings earlier. Now he's using a large frame Wilson strung with gut and Luxilon.

© TennisReporters.net 2008