Who's the GOAT?: Sampras edges Borg

Eurosport - Wed, 12 May 23:15:00 2010

Eurosport-Yahoo! readers think that Pete Sampras would have just about too much power for Swedish legend Bjorn Borg in the second or our Greatest Of All Time semi-finals.

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With nearly 6,000 votes cast, a marginal 61 per cent of you thought that Sampras would progress to the GOAT final where he will face current world number one Roger Federer.

Bjorg certainly had his supporters in the contest, with most of you thinking that the match would turn on the grass court encounter.

And some of you even suggested that temperament would play a bigger part in the competition, as while Sampras was undoubtedly calm and collected, Borg was a veritable ice king and rarely let emotions interfere with his game.

But despite the debate raging on the message boards, the vote has Sampras edging the encounter by nearly 1,500 votes.

Match result: Sampras wins 7-6 (grass) 3-6 (clay) 6-3 (hard)

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Poll results (at 10:00BST on May 13)

Pete Sampras v Bjorn Borg

Sampras: 61 per cent - 3,645 votes

Borg: 39 per cent - 2,294 votes

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Best of your comments:

Simondi.filippo: "Well, it the match would take place on the clay, of course Bjorn Borg. Otherwise Pete Sampras, expecially on the hard court. But it would be interesting seeing Sampras playing on current Wimbledon's courts, where the grass is much slower than it was when Pistol Pete was at his peak ... you know, if Nadal was able to beat Federer on such grass, probably Borge could beat Sampras."

Bojandh: "Even though Borg has 5 consecutive Wimbledons, Sampras has 7 with 1 break, and that was the year when Richard Krajicek simply had the days of his life, I think it was a 5 setter between two of them in the quarters. I vote for Sampras 6-4, 6-3, 7-5, with 1 break... I dont think Borg would even have a chance for break. Sampras gave only 2-3 chances during the match, and that was it..."

Baigorrybasky: "I don't buy the premise that Borg would have automatically lost to Sampras at Wimbledon. Borg was a terrific returner of serve;he beat McEnroe in onefinal and beat Roscoe Tanner who was serving in the low 140's in the late 70's. Sampras' game was neutralized if the opponent could return his serve, much like Roddick's game is neutralized."

Noelgault: "while the points made throughout the great GOAT debate past v present, modern technology, different surfaces, modern training methods etc has been interesting, one aspect that has been noticeably absent is a players mental strength. For example in this weeks match up sampras was up against an opponent who was ice cool and pratically unflappable at his best, how would this have affected him? Conversely how would borg have dealt with the pressure of playing against a serve that at its peak was untouchable?"

But the final word goes to garethds, who perfectly sums up the tricky problem that confronted all of those who took part in the debate:

"I think one thing that everyone is overlooking is the evolution of haircuts from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. Borg's late 1970s haircut would have been ill suited to the needs of the late 1990s serves measuring over 200kph. Should Borg's haircut have evolved into a short back and sides to fit in with the short trimmed players of Sampras's era, I feel Borg could have nullified the most potent Sampras weapon, namely his serve by increasing his own visibility, seeing the ball coming early rather than as a blur through his late 1970s fringe."

WHO'S THE GOAT? - THE DRAW

Top half

1-Roger Federer

---------------------> Roger Federer 6-0 6-2 6-0

16-Jim Courier

------------------------------------------> 1- Roger Federer 6-4 7-6 6-4

8-Mats Wilander

---------------------> Boris Becker 6-2 4-6 7-5

9-Boris Becker

---------------------------------------------------------------> 1- Roger Federer 6-4 6-0 7-6

5-Ivan Lendl

---------------------> Rod Laver 6-2 5-7 7-6

12-Rod Laver

-------------------------------------------> 12- Rod Laver 6-4 5-7 7-5

13-John Newcombe

---------------------> Jimmy Connors 6-4 6-2 6-2

4-Jimmy Connors

+++

Bottom half

3-Bjorn Borg

---------------------> Bjorn Borg 6-2 6-2 6-2

14-Ken Rosewall

----------------------------------------------> 3-Bjorn Borg 6-3 3-6 6-4

6-Andre Agassi

---------------------> Andre Agassi 4-6 7-6 6-3

11-Rafael Nadal

------------------------------------------------------------------> 2-Pete Sampras 7-6 3-6 6-3

7-John McEnroe

---------------------> John McEnroe 5-7 6-4 6-2

10-Stefan Edberg

-----------------------------------------------> 2-Pete Sampras 7-6 5-7 7-6

15-Guillermo Vilas

---------------------> Pete Sampras 5-7 6-3 6-3

2-Pete Sampras

Log on to Eurosport Yahoo! on Friday when Simon Reed runs the rule over the final match-up: Roger Federer v Pete Sampras

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 5 of 5

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  1. I still can't believe Sampras beat Borg 61%& to­ 39%???? Come on..... Call me a looney, but for me Borg­ will always be the GOAT

    From Ted, on Sat 15 May 14:10
  2. Sure Borg was a more versatile player..he won on the­ fastest surface as well as on the slowest...he retired­ at 25 if i recall it well, with 11 slams..sampras is a­ player with one dimension only in this game...serve,­ serve, serve, serve...oh and he can also...SERVE...in­ my opinion it is not only titles that count..the way­ the player plays the game is a very important aspect­ for me...so for me borg would have win this­ contest...

    Federer, Laver and McEnroe are for me, the­ greatest ever...because their game inspires me in a way­ that no other does..

    From scourge_werepire, on Fri 14 May 15:39
  3. once again, all I can say is that these articles suck.

    From stefan m, on Fri 14 May 7:45
  4. From the very beginning, it was clear to everyone that­ the final of the GOAT will be between Federer vs­ Sampras, with Federer victorious by a 10-15% margin;­ does that actually reflect reality? we will never know.

    From 3.14, on Fri 14 May 6:21
  5. Fair enough.
    But Federer should win overall.
    Remember,­ form is temporary, class is permanent.
    oh yeah,­ 1st....

    From yaldencottage, on Thu 13 May 23:26
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