【Tennis】7月號特集：Sampras Speaks (六)
Q: Do you see your family much?
A: My sister Stella’s great, she’s married. My brother [Gus] has two
little girls. My other sister is married with a little boy. Everyone
is around here, in Palos Verdes, Manhattan Beach, here. We’re all
very close. We get together once every couple of weeks. Everyone’s
got their own families, but we make it a point to try to get together.
Q: Where do you feel the game of tennis is right now?
A: I think the game is fine, you’ll always have your tennis fans. But
to reach basketball fans, baseball fans, the mainstream—we have Andre,
but when he’s retired . . . We have Andy Roddick. But I think we just
need more of them. More Americans. It’s hard to say if there will be
another generation like mine. Roddick is like the only guy now, in the
U.S.
You need a rivalry. They want a rival for Tiger Woods. Andre and I had
it, but the thing in tennis is that the players are bigger than the
sport. People tune in to the majors, but tennis is at a disadvantage to
golf, because you’re going to have Tiger Woods, all four days. In
tennis, I might lose early, Andre might lose early, and you might have
two no-names in the final of a big tournament like a Miami or Indian
Wells. Not having the continuity and the rivalries, it hurts it. There
are too many good players. Instead of making note of that, people want
Andre and Andy to play every final.
Federer, he’s a Swiss guy, he’s going to be big in Europe. But I
don’t know if he’ll grab the hearts of people here. And he’s going
to be around for years. The game is still fine, all the majors are
packed. People are still coming out to watch. I just think, coming
across on TV, in the ratings, that’s where a lot of the money is,
you still need to have the right final, and the right people in the
final of Wimbledon. In this country, you can’t have a [Lleyton] Hewitt
and a [David] Nalbandian in the final of Wimbledon. That just hurts
the game.
During the tennis boom, McEnroe, Connors, Borg, they played each other
in the biggest matches in the world and they hated each other. People
hang on to that. McEnroe and Connors were expressive guys that people
at the time didn’t like, but they kind of want that a little bit now.
But I think the game today is stronger than it’s ever been, the
players are better than they were in the ’80s. But it’s hard trying
to capture someone who’s watching a basketball game and keeping him
with tennis.
I felt that when I was playing. When I was playing Andre, there were
always a few more people in the media room, people you wouldn’t often
see, even non-tennis people. That’s what has to happen. I don’t see
it happening.
Q: Can, say, Federer and Roddick become this generation’s Sampras and
Agassi?
A: I just don’t think it’s about two guys any more. It’s about eight
guys. I mean, you’ve got Ferrero, Nalbandian . . . there’s just too
many good players. It’s harder to be dominant. It was also pretty
hard to be dominant when I was playing.
Q: Do you think your records are safe?
A: These records could be broken but it will be very hard. It’s a lot of
work in today’s day and age. Not to blow my own horn, but the six
years finishing number one is to me one of the best efforts in sports.
You know, winning a major is great. You can have two great weeks
winning a major and that’s what we all play for, but I think to stay
on top year-in, year-out, the pressure put on your shoulders, playing
through some injuries. It kind of has to be your life. Connors had
that, Lendl had that, where they had that edge to them. I had that.
Federer could do it, he has the right mentality. I’m not sure if he
wants to do it. Does that make sense? Because it’s like--to do this,
you need to do A, B, C, D, and E. And a lot of guys will say, “Whoa,
I’m not doing any of those. Or I’m doing two of them.”
I actually thought Hewitt, a couple of years ago, when he was
dominating, he wanted it. He had the mentality to stay No. 1. We’ve
seen now that with his game, he can be overpowered. The fact is, I
thought he was a little better than [Michael] Chang, and Chang got
overpowered later on. Hewitt’s still going to be around, he’ll still
win majors. But I thought he had the right disposition to stay on top
for years. Federer, he’s pretty mellow. I feel like he plays a high
level the easiest.
Q: Does that make sense?
A: Whereas for someone like Roddick, it’s work. You can tell, watching.
Roddick is grinding, Federer, he’s gliding. That helps him. That
helped me. I could play at that high level the easiest.
Q: Do you think Roddick has the shoulders to carry the game?
A: I don’t think it’s fair to put that on him. I don’t think any one
person can carry the game. You need a lot of personalities and
different games, but I think he’s the best American we have.I don’t
see him wanting to have that pressure on him. He just wants to win
matches, the rest will take care of itself.
I think he could win multiple Slams. I don’t know about staying No. 1
for years—like I said, I think it’s harder to stay dominant. But I
think he could win multiple majors . . . four, five, six. I think he
has a great future.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 219.70.245.86
Sampras 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
