Submit a blog post to us
Sampras speaks out about tennis stars
Page last updated: 8th Dec 2008 - 09:07 AM
Written by Charlotte Cook
It’s been a fantastic year for Andy Murray, the rising star of British tennis. He has managed to reach the final of the US Open and he now stands at number four in the world rankings.
Murray may have thought that his year could not be made any better. However, he has now received the backing of Pete Sampras, a true legend in the world of tennis.
Critics of Andy Murray believe that he does not have the ability and natural talent to match the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. However, whilst Sampras agrees that Murray is “one notch below” these two players, he feels he is “on the edge of breaking through”.
Furthermore, Sampras believes that the young Brit is set to win a major title in the very near future. If anyone can be trusted on the subject of tennis, it is surely Pete Sampras. During an extremely successful career, the player won fourteen Grand Slam titles and was a popular character with tennis fans all over the world.
Confidence was one thing that Sampras was not short of on the tennis court and the legend believes that Andy Murray needs to increase his level of self-belief if he is to succeed quickly. Sampras thought, whilst watching the US Open final, that Murray was lacking the self-belief that he could win and this proved detrimental to his game.
Whilst the American was keen to praise Murray, he cast doubts over the long-term success of Nadal. Nadal won the Wimbledon title this year at the expense of Federer, who had not lost on grass since 2002. However, Sampras believes that Nadal will not prove a serious threat to Roger Federer for too long, since it “takes a lot less energy" for Federer to “stay on top”.
Stefanki teams up with Andy Roddick
Page last updated: 2nd Dec 2008 - 03:58 PM
Written by Charlotte Cook
Andy Roddick has announced that he will receive the coaching services of Larry Stefanki before the start of the 2009 tennis season.
Roddick, who is twenty-six years of age, ended this season ranked number eight in the world but he has endured a slightly disappointing season, which culminated in a forced withdrawal from the Masters Cup as a result of an unfortunate ankle injury.
On the brighter side, he did manage to reach the quarter-final stages of the US Open earlier this year but the American tennis player is now looking forward to teaming up with fellow American, Larry Stefanki.
Stefanki has previously coached the legendary tennis player, John McEnroe, as well as British tennis favourite, Tim Henman. He was recently employed by Fernando Gonzalez and, in the past, he managed to guide Yevgeny Kafelnikov to the top of the world rankings.
Although he played tennis professionally for several years before becoming a coach, he only reached a top ranking of thirty fifth in the world and Stefanki did not really start to make a name for himself until he entered the world of coaching.
Until relatively recently, Andy Roddick was being coached by Jimmy Connors. The famous pair started working together in the summer of 2006 but decided to split earlier in the tennis season. The American player is hoping that teaming up with such a legend in the world of coaching will spur him on to another impressive Grand Slam win at some point during the 2009 tennis season.
Comments - 0 Leave your comment!