Imagine how much more knowledgeable the US tennis community would be today if we had been able to have Vitas Gerulaitis commentating matches for the last 25 years... what a treasure trove of wisdom this guy is.
@@KeyofDavid5778 Yes, I think the heating system for the pool was faulty and gas was leaking into the guest house. Unfortunately carbon monoxide is odourless so it was undetectable.
@@antonboludo8886 Nastase said that he was with Gerulaitis in New York the day before and he bought a mobile phone and Gerulaitis was so kind that he paid for it. Nastase flew to Paris and he was sleeping when he heard the phone, the first call on the new cell phone and it was a reporter telling him what had happened to Vitas
This match was the passing of the torch. The most dominant player of the 80s topped by the most dominant player of the 90s after a champion-like fight to the end.
Wow - Vitas. What insights you bring..... I'd never heard Vitas commentary before and I have to say he's excellent: insight, engaging, articulate. Clearly nice guy, too.
Start of one legendary career and the end of a legendary run at US Open; Lendl had reached 8 consecutive US Open finals and was going for his 9th straight
I noted that Sampras didnt bend his knees nor arch his back that much in his early years before he filled up, later he served bigger, reachibg 134mph in 2002 with that tiny raquet
He served harder later, yes. But his serve is probably more difficult to read in this match, because his windup and motion are more compact. He's getting more power from his strings at this stage of his career, I think. Also makes zinging a good, deep volley easier.
From Agassi's autobiography I think Sampras was still rebuilding/refining that part of that game. In his junior era I think Agassi mentioned he didn't really seem that special, but then faced off him at the pro level and he was taken by surprise by that so so kid from before.
@@MrVoodemar Well, in Lendl's case, I considered McEnroe, primarily because he won so many doubles titles. Although Borg dominated the late 70s, he still played some great tennis in 1980. I still choose Lendl, though, because of his overall skills.
@@MrVoodemarMcEnroe was a genius between'79 and '84.Lendl was never that, and the limitations of Lendl's game were always exposed at Wimbledon. Lendl didn't start beating McEnroe until McEnroe had shoved a ton of cocaine up his nose and lost his interest in, and motivation for, tennis. Everybody beat him after that as he became a shadow of the player he once was. As Jimmy Connors put it: "Lendl had to wait to become number one until Borg retired, I got old and McEnroe went nuts." Don't get me wrong, Lendl was a formidable player - brilliant classical one-handed backhand, a good serve (great at times) and one of the great forehands - but he was poor at the net.
@@martydav9475 Well, that's partly true. But I think Lendl's peak coincided with the decline of the other legends. Their issue was not only their decline, but that their respective games also were becoming a thing of the past, peak or not. Lendl's peak represented an evolution in tennis. They just couldn't handle his power and precision. McEnroe's major limitation is that he relied too much on his serve (to set up his volleys). His ground strokes were just a way of biding his time until he could scurry up to the net. Contrary to what many people believe, Lendl's net play became solid with Tony's coaching. At that point he didn't really have any major weaknesses.
The day after Pete won the 1990 USO, I told a co-worker that he would without question end his career at the greatest ever. He did, for a few years anyway.
ich erinnere mich an dieses sehr spannende match. hatte damals das gefühl als ob sampras die personifizierte weiterentwicklung von lendl war. also insgesamt noch kompletter und variabler. später beim wimbledonturnier 2001 kam dann die weiterentwicklung von sampras, das war dann bis heute federer. auch dieses match war seinerzeit unfassbar spannend und als ehemaliger tennisspieler und aktueller fan dieses sports konnte man erahnen dass man von federer ganz sicher noch mehr hören würde. wann kommen die weiterentwicklungen von mcenroe, becker und edberg?? borg's nachfolger : wilander, safin, djokovic???? connors nachfolger: roddik, nadal, murray???? bin mal gespannt wann die next gen sich durchsetzen werden..
If Lendl attacked the net more behind his solid groundstrokes, he would have won more slams. That tiny racquet was brutal with a tiny sweet spot. He should have changed it after the two 89 losses to Becker at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Pete Sampras played superbly in the 1st, 2nd and 5th sets of his 1990 U.S.Open quarterfinals match against Ivan Lendl and deserved to win the match, but one has to wonder if Lendl had not made the foolish mistake of waiting too late (he waited until the Hamlet Cup tournament the week before the 1990 U.S. Open) to switch back from his Mizuno Lendl Midsize (85-90 square inch head-size) racket to his Adidas Lendl GTX Pro-T racket (which was 73 square inches in head size), would he have played better in that match and possibly defeated Samoras? Lendl switched back to his Adidas GTX Pro-T 73 square inch head-size racket just one week before the start of the 1990 U.S. Open tournament and in the Hamlet Cup tournament the week before the start of the 1990 U.S. Open he was mishitting the ball badly throughout that one week tournament and was fortunate to win that tournament! Lendl was not satisfied with the stiffness of the Mizuno Lendl Midsize racket and Mizuno's engineers had to redesign it to Lendl's precise specifications before Lendl made the permanent switch to that racket some time after that 1990 U.S. Open.
@@jamesnguyen6766 .Yes it is amazing that Lendl was able to play as well as he did against the huge servers like Sampras and Becker with that small-head, 73 square inch Adidas racket! You really have to wonder how Lendl's pro career - as successful as it was - would have been if he had switched to a midsize racket way back in 1982 or 1983 when the men's and women's pro tours were switching to midsize and oversize rackets?! Lendl's Adidas contract did not expire until sometime in 1989, so he stayed with that GTX racket too long. Adidas had manufactured a midsize version of the GTX racket, but, to the best of my knowledge, Lendl never played any tournaments with the GTX midsize racket. There was one Wimbledon tournament ( I think it may have been the 1985 Wimbledon tournament) in which he played with a midsize racket painted over with black paint.
08:25 "Both arms come up together" What...? Sampras' right arm during the service motion had a massive lag compared to almost anyone on tour at the time.
Agree entirely, very good observation. Too often overlooked, and arguably this technical difference alone changed the outcome of the match, but is not really discussed at all. Lendl’s racquet easily 15-25% more difficult to use, which makes the match far from equal footing so to speak. Too often overlooked when considering GOAT status with regard to this era versus current. These rackets in comparison require far more talent for a similar result. Federer for example used a tiny racquet compared to nearly all his competition and still ran them over and using a one handed backhand. Remarkable.
Obviously your not a Lendl fan. Sampras was Lendl´s trainingspartner as a youngster for a while, so of course he could recognize his potential. But this match could have gone both ways and Lendl was already a veteran by then. And Lendl reached the final of every slam, something what Sampras wasn´t able to do. I wonder if Sampras even won one clay court titlle in his career.
Pete Sampras Serve & Volley style and Net approaching Shots look very dominating here. But, In late 1990s, Sampras (he was still in his prime), could not approach the Net for volleying aganist player like Safin, Hewitt etc due to Deep ground strokes & Passing shots from the opponents. If Pete Sampras played in this era, Nadal & Djokovic would have kept Sampras at the baseline if he did not serve very high percentage ( 75%) of 1st Serve. Samprss would have ended with 5 or 6 Grand slams wins
I think Sampras would do very well in this era with the new racquet technology and his natural talent. What amazed me in this match was how quick he was around the net and how good his groundstrokes were when he was younger- as he got older his backhand looked worse and he depended solely on his serve and forehand. Take this version of 19 yo Sampras and train him with today’s methods and improved racquet technology and I think he would compete very well against the Big 3. The only thing holding him back might be his stamina due to thalassemia. Sampras only changed his racquet when he retired and played a few “seniors” matches and he routinely served in the 130’s with a new racquet and commented that he should have switched racquets years before while he was still on the tour.
If Lendl had won this match, I think he may have gone on to win the tournament. Agassi had never beaten him at this point and Lendl had McEnroe's number by then.
Ivan made unforced errors at key-points. Quiet easy passing shots on the op of the net. At the end of 2. set, there is a double fault of Pete at 30-40 which would have given 6-5 for Ivan. Even if Pete the 19 years old young tennisman can be congratulated, many regrets after this match for a Lendl's die hard fan
Si Lendl remporte le deuxième set, il gagne le match, c'est quasiment certain...et je ne vois ni McEnroe en demi, ni Agassi en finale,inquieter le Tchécoslovaque...comme quoi,à tient le destin d'un tournoi, voire même d'une carrière
Lendl was such a poor volleyer.. it cost him here and in every match.. he would have been better off playing entirely from the baseline like people do today
agreed, Lendl came to the net too much for a player who lacked natural volleying ability, but in his defense, the hardcourts of 30 years ago were much, much faster than hardcourts are today, and it was dangerous to stay back on serve and let an opponent like Pete Sampras get to the net first.
I suspect in this match, he was doing it to try and take the net from Sampras, knowing that Sampras also wasn't the very greatest passing shot artist. Sometimes just coming to the net can force an error.
At that point, he wanted to win Wimbledon A LOT. So, he tried to improved his game to be more suited for Wimbledon grass (far faster than today, with ball usually skid the surface) which made him more well-rounded player (he even won some grass tournament), but certainly dulled his breed and butler baseline game for sure
??? When he wanted to, he could really hit that forehand (Sampras's forehand was based on Lendl's technique). Lendl could also serve very well. Lendl though tended to play a percentage game - working his way through points and setting them up before going for the big shot.
Lendl perd ce match contre ce jeune joueur de 20 ans ,et même pas top 10 alors ,mais bon il a 30 ans et a gagné 3 fois le titre ...de quoi se consoler quand même
I guess those who say that Sampras style was fun and with more variety are just longing for the “old good times”....I can’t find anything funny on the serve & volley game. To me it is just trying to finish the match as soon as possible avoiding rallies where they might be on disadvantage because of their slower mobility. Yeah, everyone maxes out its strengths but this is just like the tall player that depends only on the serve and lacks everything else. To me it is boring and easily left on evidence with passing shots.
this shows your lack of knowledge of the sport, if serve and volley is boring then what the hell is nudging the ball from the baseline is? S & V players try to win the point n not just wait for unforced error from the other player. What you are saying is knockouts in boxing are so boring they should box out all the 12 rounds n not try n finish each other...
This is the legendary match. The 1st time that young Sampras was interested by a lot of media and tennis fans.
Imagine how much more knowledgeable the US tennis community would be today if we had been able to have Vitas Gerulaitis commentating matches for the last 25 years... what a treasure trove of wisdom this guy is.
So much easier to listen to than Robbie Koenigg.
Yes, he died in a very freakish way.
@@antonboludo8886 Not really freakish just tragic. Somebody left the gas on and he got carbon dioxide poisoning at a guest house he was sleeping at. .
@@KeyofDavid5778 Yes, I think the heating system for the pool was faulty and gas was leaking into the guest house. Unfortunately carbon monoxide is odourless so it was undetectable.
@@antonboludo8886 Nastase said that he was with Gerulaitis in New York the day before and he bought a mobile phone and Gerulaitis was so kind that he paid for it. Nastase flew to Paris and he was sleeping when he heard the phone, the first call on the new cell phone and it was a reporter telling him what had happened to Vitas
This match was the passing of the torch. The most dominant player of the 80s topped by the most dominant player of the 90s after a champion-like fight to the end.
Interesting to see young Sampras. Glad to meet old Lendl. Very good match.
Unbelievable Sampras! Forever fan here
Wow - Vitas. What insights you bring.....
I'd never heard Vitas commentary before and I have to say he's excellent: insight, engaging, articulate. Clearly nice guy, too.
16:17 -- Look at that great slice approach shot by Sampras.
For me the two best Players ever in Tennis History.
Sampras in that cool assed Tacchini Archer shirt. Rip Vitas
Start of one legendary career and the end of a legendary run at US Open; Lendl had reached 8 consecutive US Open finals and was going for his 9th straight
You can generalize it. This very game started the slow demise of Lendl, vice versa for Sampras.
Dayum that's pretty impressive.
Thanks for uploading. love that era
quel plaisir de voir enfin ce match ! !
Awesome Voo. Thanks. Vitas on the booth is just great
This match reflected change of guards
Changing of the Guard.. Magnific
After Lendl making 8 finals in a row it was definitely time to change the guard !
A changing of the guard here.
Two hard playing guys with one-handed backhands.
Quel plaisir de voir ce match. Sir Sampras
I noted that Sampras didnt bend his knees nor arch his back that much in his early years before he filled up, later he served bigger, reachibg 134mph in 2002 with that tiny raquet
He served harder later, yes. But his serve is probably more difficult to read in this match, because his windup and motion are more compact. He's getting more power from his strings at this stage of his career, I think. Also makes zinging a good, deep volley easier.
From Agassi's autobiography I think Sampras was still rebuilding/refining that part of that game. In his junior era I think Agassi mentioned he didn't really seem that special, but then faced off him at the pro level and he was taken by surprise by that so so kid from before.
Arguably the greatest of the 80s against the greatest of the 90s.
arguably?
@@MrVoodemar Well, in Lendl's case, I considered McEnroe, primarily because he won so many doubles titles. Although Borg dominated the late 70s, he still played some great tennis in 1980. I still choose Lendl, though, because of his overall skills.
@@yacovmitchenko1490 ok, I was thinking just about singles
@@MrVoodemarMcEnroe was a genius between'79 and '84.Lendl was never that, and the limitations of Lendl's game were always exposed at Wimbledon. Lendl didn't start beating McEnroe until McEnroe had shoved a ton of cocaine up his nose and lost his interest in, and motivation for, tennis. Everybody beat him after that as he became a shadow of the player he once was. As Jimmy Connors put it: "Lendl had to wait to become number one until Borg retired, I got old and McEnroe went nuts."
Don't get me wrong, Lendl was a formidable player - brilliant classical one-handed backhand, a good serve (great at times) and one of the great forehands - but he was poor at the net.
@@martydav9475 Well, that's partly true. But I think Lendl's peak coincided with the decline of the other legends. Their issue was not only their decline, but that their respective games also were becoming a thing of the past, peak or not. Lendl's peak represented an evolution in tennis. They just couldn't handle his power and precision.
McEnroe's major limitation is that he relied too much on his serve (to set up his volleys). His ground strokes were just a way of biding his time until he could scurry up to the net. Contrary to what many people believe, Lendl's net play became solid with Tony's coaching. At that point he didn't really have any major weaknesses.
Sampras with the nice big graphite racquet while Lendl looks like he’s still using the old technology
Lol, talking about Lendl's hat in the beginning that'd eventually become his trademark look.
The day after Pete won the 1990 USO, I told a co-worker that he would without question end his career at the greatest ever. He did, for a few years anyway.
who said pete is still npt the goat?
@@jschaeffer5549 everyone in the universe? but other than them, I dunno.
@@jschaeffer5549 For many he was never the GOAT because he never won Roland Garros
@@uncletony6210 Sampras And Delpo are best ever
@@fabiennefertiti3017that was because in his time there were a lot of players who Excel at French open.
ich erinnere mich an dieses sehr spannende match. hatte damals das gefühl als ob sampras die personifizierte weiterentwicklung von lendl war. also insgesamt noch kompletter und variabler. später beim wimbledonturnier 2001 kam dann die weiterentwicklung von sampras, das war dann bis heute federer. auch dieses match war seinerzeit unfassbar spannend und als ehemaliger tennisspieler und aktueller fan dieses sports konnte man erahnen dass man von federer ganz sicher noch mehr hören würde. wann kommen die weiterentwicklungen von mcenroe, becker und edberg?? borg's nachfolger : wilander, safin, djokovic???? connors nachfolger: roddik, nadal, murray???? bin mal gespannt wann die next gen sich durchsetzen werden..
If Lendl attacked the net more behind his solid groundstrokes, he would have won more slams. That tiny racquet was brutal with a tiny sweet spot. He should have changed it after the two 89 losses to Becker at Wimbledon and the US Open.
He changed it for the larger head for grass season 1990, but switched it back to smaller headsize for USO 90
This needs a run through the resolution apps. They can do wonders with these low-resolution videos these days.
Pete Sampras played superbly in the 1st, 2nd and 5th sets of his 1990 U.S.Open quarterfinals match against Ivan Lendl and deserved to win the match, but one has to wonder if Lendl had not made the foolish mistake of waiting too late (he waited until the Hamlet Cup tournament the week before the 1990 U.S. Open) to switch back from his Mizuno Lendl Midsize (85-90 square inch head-size) racket to his Adidas Lendl GTX Pro-T racket (which was 73 square inches in head size), would he have played better in that match and possibly defeated Samoras? Lendl switched back to his Adidas GTX Pro-T 73 square inch head-size racket just one week before the start of the 1990 U.S. Open tournament and in the Hamlet Cup tournament the week before the start of the 1990 U.S. Open he was mishitting the ball badly throughout that one week tournament and was fortunate to win that tournament! Lendl was not satisfied with the stiffness of the Mizuno Lendl Midsize racket and Mizuno's engineers had to redesign it to Lendl's precise specifications before Lendl made the permanent switch to that racket some time after that 1990 U.S. Open.
wow can you imagine trying to handle Sampras's serve using a 73 sq in racquet
@@jamesnguyen6766 .Yes it is amazing that Lendl was able to play as well as he did against the huge servers like Sampras and Becker with that small-head, 73 square inch Adidas racket! You really have to wonder how Lendl's pro career - as successful as it was - would have been if he had switched to a midsize racket way back in 1982 or 1983 when the men's and women's pro tours were switching to midsize and oversize rackets?! Lendl's Adidas contract did not expire until sometime in 1989, so he stayed with that GTX racket too long. Adidas had manufactured a midsize version of the GTX racket, but, to the best of my knowledge, Lendl never played any tournaments with the GTX midsize racket. There was one Wimbledon tournament ( I think it may have been the 1985 Wimbledon tournament) in which he played with a midsize racket painted over with black paint.
Federer the great. Sampras the legend.!!.
Whatever 😂
Djokovic THE GOAT
@@fabiennefertiti3017You mean the Loser of all time?
Was Sampras born with that serve ??? WOW
tennis enter the modern age
The new guard never tucked in their shirts
1:06:00 sad that the old man only had 4 more years with his son...who left first
Poor Vitas, lost him way too soon😢
Hard to believe that Vitas would go on to live another 4 years only. Died at the young age of 40.
08:25 "Both arms come up together"
What...? Sampras' right arm during the service motion had a massive lag compared to almost anyone on tour at the time.
yes.simular technique uses Kyrgius.that allows to serve without a break in trophy position
46:54 Wilt the Stilt!
Wow...check out the racket difference!!
Agree entirely, very good observation. Too often overlooked, and arguably this technical difference alone changed the outcome of the match, but is not really discussed at all. Lendl’s racquet easily 15-25% more difficult to use, which makes the match far from equal footing so to speak. Too often overlooked when considering GOAT status with regard to this era versus current. These rackets in comparison require far more talent for a similar result. Federer for example used a tiny racquet compared to nearly all his competition and still ran them over and using a one handed backhand. Remarkable.
@@thebeardedgolfer9819that's why Federer will remain forever as the goat of tennis. Not to mention that he's the first to achieved 20 GS.
Entre Federer,Sampras et Lendl c quand même ce dernier qui gagne 3 Roland Garros et la raquette de diamant au tournoi d Anvers
Sampras/Lendl 90 us open reminds me of Federer/Sampras 2001 Wimbledon match! I guess someone should be playing federer real soon ha.
Jannik sinner
LOL, he said, "Sampras has lots of potential!" Oh, really??
Lol i love watching past matches and hearing stuff like that haha
Obviously your not a Lendl fan. Sampras was Lendl´s trainingspartner as a youngster for a while, so of course he could recognize his potential. But this match could have gone both ways and Lendl was already a veteran by then. And Lendl reached the final of every slam, something what Sampras wasn´t able to do. I wonder if Sampras even won one clay court titlle in his career.
@@marnix6801 He won Rome (master 1000, then Super 9), and a US champinship (Huston). Those I remember, perhaps some more
When the student beat the master
Pete Sampras Serve & Volley style and Net approaching Shots look very dominating here.
But, In late 1990s, Sampras (he was still in his prime), could not approach the Net for volleying aganist player like Safin, Hewitt etc due to Deep ground strokes & Passing shots from the opponents.
If Pete Sampras played in this era, Nadal & Djokovic would have kept Sampras at the baseline if he did not serve very high percentage ( 75%) of 1st Serve.
Samprss would have ended with 5 or 6 Grand slams wins
I think Sampras would do very well in this era with the new racquet technology and his natural talent. What amazed me in this match was how quick he was around the net and how good his groundstrokes were when he was younger- as he got older his backhand looked worse and he depended solely on his serve and forehand. Take this version of 19 yo Sampras and train him with today’s methods and improved racquet technology and I think he would compete very well against the Big 3. The only thing holding him back might be his stamina due to thalassemia. Sampras only changed his racquet when he retired and played a few “seniors” matches and he routinely served in the 130’s with a new racquet and commented that he should have switched racquets years before while he was still on the tour.
Lendl the Legionnaire !
If Lendl had won this match, I think he may have gone on to win the tournament. Agassi had never beaten him at this point and Lendl had McEnroe's number by then.
No shit, Sherlock.
Dang Lendls head size was so small
Size doesn't matter, it's what you do with it. 😉
@@boke75😂😂😂
Ivan made unforced errors at key-points. Quiet easy passing shots on the op of the net.
At the end of 2. set, there is a double fault of Pete at 30-40 which would have given 6-5 for Ivan. Even if Pete the 19 years old young tennisman can be congratulated, many regrets after this match for a Lendl's die hard fan
Lendl played in wrong era.With modern rackets he would wein more on slow surfaces.
Si Lendl remporte le deuxième set, il gagne le match, c'est quasiment certain...et je ne vois ni McEnroe en demi, ni Agassi en finale,inquieter le Tchécoslovaque...comme quoi,à tient le destin d'un tournoi, voire même d'une carrière
Lendl looks like he was playing Lawrence of Arabia...
Lendl was such a poor volleyer.. it cost him here and in every match.. he would have been better off playing entirely from the baseline like people do today
Only approach the net sometimes, with judgement. He failed so at it.
agreed, Lendl came to the net too much for a player who lacked natural volleying ability, but in his defense, the hardcourts of 30 years ago were much, much faster than hardcourts are today, and it was dangerous to stay back on serve and let an opponent like Pete Sampras get to the net first.
I suspect in this match, he was doing it to try and take the net from Sampras, knowing that Sampras also wasn't the very greatest passing shot artist. Sometimes just coming to the net can force an error.
Indeed, that's how he got in the Wimbledon final amongst others, as you do with a poor volley.
At that point, he wanted to win Wimbledon A LOT. So, he tried to improved his game to be more suited for Wimbledon grass (far faster than today, with ball usually skid the surface) which made him more well-rounded player (he even won some grass tournament), but certainly dulled his breed and butler baseline game for sure
The real discriminating factor for Sampras was his service. Far over his volleys
Pete Sampras x Andre Agassi
Lendl's hat ... he deserved to lose!!!
@Roger B If Drago had worn a dress against Rocky in the ring..
thats a bad hat Harry.
Lendl had zero weapons...
🙄
??? When he wanted to, he could really hit that forehand (Sampras's forehand was based on Lendl's technique). Lendl could also serve very well. Lendl though tended to play a percentage game - working his way through points and setting them up before going for the big shot.
Idiot.
@@lzv6990 Yes you are! ^____^
@@primeribare you fckin serious? Have you even watched his matches?
Lendl perd ce match contre ce jeune joueur de 20 ans ,et même pas top 10 alors ,mais bon il a 30 ans et a gagné 3 fois le titre ...de quoi se consoler quand même
Vitas talks to damn much. Thank god he didn't stick around. The sound of his voice gives me homicidal thoughts.
I guess those who say that Sampras style was fun and with more variety are just longing for the “old good times”....I can’t find anything funny on the serve & volley game. To me it is just trying to finish the match as soon as possible avoiding rallies where they might be on disadvantage because of their slower mobility. Yeah, everyone maxes out its strengths but this is just like the tall player that depends only on the serve and lacks everything else. To me it is boring and easily left on evidence with passing shots.
Is there anyone more boring than Djokovic, with his robotic, low-risk, grinding get-past-me-if-you-can-tennis.
Since when were most of the great S&V players slower?
this shows your lack of knowledge of the sport, if serve and volley is boring then what the hell is nudging the ball from the baseline is? S & V players try to win the point n not just wait for unforced error from the other player. What you are saying is knockouts in boxing are so boring they should box out all the 12 rounds n not try n finish each other...
@@martydav9475 Boo hoo
cant beliwe this arab gay won 14 grand slams
m marin he's greek not arab
Funny lmao
You're a racist! Sampras is of Greek descent.