US TENNIS
June 1998
Lessons from my key rivalries
By Pete Sampras, Playing Editor
with Alexander McNab

For me, the simplest strategy usually is the best one.

One or two key ideas often is all it takes to put together a winning effort against an opponent. Anything more complicated and you risk getting so confused thinking about tactics and patterns that you cannot relax and execute the shots you need to win. In the end, making your best shots and preventing your opponent from making his is what determines the outcome of most matches.

Here, I summarize the matchups I face against my biggest rivals. What works for me against them can work for you against players of similar styles at your skill level.


An Aggressive Baseliner
Facing my fellow Americans

Andre Agassi, Michael Chang and Jim Courier all play a similar style, with individual variations. These players are most dangerous when they're standing in the middle of the baseline hitting big forehands, making me do the running.

At the baseline, the key is to use the whole court. Keep the ball away from the center of the court. If you just trade crosscourt backhands, sooner or later your opponent is going to run around a shorter shot of yours and hit a big forehand. So use the backhand up the line to make him move and to open up the backhand corner.

You want to get to the net against aggressive baseliners. Coming in against Agassi, Chang and Courier lets me dictate how the match is going to go. To be effective serving and volleying, you need to make a high percentage of first serves -- around 65 to 70 percent is where I want to be. Against all three guys, my serving strategy is pretty much the same: Mix it up. Go into the body, go out wide. Serve and volley some on my second serve.

Because his returns are so good, Agassi is a tough guy to serve-and-volley against. He can make me stay back when my first-serve percentage is down. When I get into baseline rallies, he can run me and wear me down with his ground strokes. Your first serve often is the key shot against an aggressive baseliner.

Chang is more versatile than Agassi or Courier. He can come in and hurt me at the net if I hit a short ball. I want to get to the net first, so I try to attack his second serve by chipping and charging a little on the return. Also, with Chang's speed and quickness, he forces you to overplay your shots. That's how he wins a lot of his matches.

Against a fast player, you must constantly tell yourself, "If he's going to get to it, he's going to get to it. Just don't miss." You must consciously think about avoiding the temptation to go for too much, to hit a little bit harder than is safe.

Courier serves a bit better than the other two. He likes to camp out on the backhand side and hit the big forehand inside out to my backhand and control the point from there. Against a player like him, again, you must use the whole court to keep the ball away from that big forehand. Hit the backhand up the line to make him play a running forehand, which then opens up his backhand side for your next shot.

A Power Player
Battling Becker

Boris Becker and I play pretty similar games and our matches have been very close, especially indoors. He's probably the best indoor player I've ever played. Playing Becker is not like playing Agassi or Chang because they at least give you a little time.

Not only can Becker overpower you with his serve, he can do it with his return of serve. You've got to be on your toes against an opponent who serves and returns with power. A couple of shots here and there can decide the set.

A key against Becker is how well I return his second serve. He doesn't serve quite as well if I'm making him play. Becker is a pretty good mover. But like many power players, he's a big guy. So one way to disarm the power player is to get him on the run.

In my service games, the aim is to play solid. Agassi's got the best return, we all know that. But if I miss a couple of first serves against Becker, he doesn't hold back on the return. He takes a big windup and cracks it. That puts a lot of pressure on you. So don't give the power player a lot of swings at your second serve.

A Grinding Baseliner
Taking it to Muster

Thomas Muster doesn't have quite the baseline firepower of an Agassi or Courier. He's not going to hit a lot of winners, but he's one of those guys who'll just grind you down because he doesn't miss much.

The grinding baseliner doesn't like someone who comes in a lot and puts the pressure on him. If you can play consistent net-rushing tennis, the matchup is dangerous for him, and it's why I've had pretty good results against Muster.

One thing that should make you feel comfortable playing a baseline grinder is how far back he stands, especially on the return of serve. Watching Muster before I played him in the 1997 Australian Open, I noticed that he actually backs up 4 or 5 feet to return after you toss up the ball to serve.

When your opponent plays way back to receive, hit a lot of wide-breaking serves and follow them to the net to exploit his court position. You should be able to get inside the service line to hit your first volley.

Sometimes you can get burned, because if he sees you coming in he can snap off a good pass on the return, as Muster did in our match in Australia. Getting passed periodically is part of serve-and-volley tennis. Keep applying the pressure until it's clear the returner is getting the better of you.

A Huge Server
Standing up to Ivanisevic

A match against Goran Ivanisevic on a fast court can be scary because his serve is so overpowering. Plus he's a lefty. His big serve puts a lot of pressure on my service games, it could be the set. On a good day, Greg Rusedski can make you feel the same way.

To get the edge on the huge server, you just need to make him play. Get his serve back any way possible. Use a short backswing and be firm at impact. It's just a split-second reaction. Realize that he's going to hit his share of aces, but that you'll have your opportunity on his second serve. Once the point is under way, the matchup can even out quickly.

To protect your service games when you're up against a big-serving left-hander, hit more slices out wide to his backhand. It's a fundamental play against all lefties.

A Steady Baseliner
Pressuring the Spaniards

The Spanish players I've faced, including Sergi Bruguera, Alex Corretja, Albert Costa and Carlos Moya, all play pretty much the same -- they're all baseliners. One may do things a little bit better than another, but they all like to camp out in the backhand corner and hit big forehands, many with a big western grip. They hit with a lot of topspin, so when the ball hits the court, it really kicks up, which gives me problems.

You can take advantage of an extreme grip by hitting a slice serve to the forehand. A Western player has a lot less leverage when he's stretched out. So force him wide with the serve and, when the opportunity arises, with a hard crosscourt forehand wide to his forehand.

Steady baseliners hit good passing shots. But you must attack anyway. what I try to avoid is getting into a clay-court match, with 30-shot rallies, on a hard court. I don't mind doing that for a while, but that's not the way I'm going to win. It's tough sometimes to move forward, though, because these players hit the ball very deep and very heavy.

In addition to using your wide serve to get to the net, chip and charge on the return at times early in the match. You may get passed a lot early, but if you can stay even, when it comes to a critical part of the match, maybe you won't get passed. Maybe your opponent will miss because of your continued pressure. Or maybe he a double-fault on a big point near the end of the set because he's expecting you to chip and charge.

A Chip & Charge Attacker
Repelling Rafter

Like Stefan Edberg, Patrick Rafter is always putting pressure on you. He's going to come in on every serve and, when he can, come in when you're serving. That's what makes him tough. You're the one always hitting passing shots.

Rafter does not have a serve that gets him 25 aces, but it's a serve that gets him into the net, so you need to keep the return low. Anything high, he's going to put away because he volleys very well. I try to return his serve as best as I can and go from there.

You hope during the course of the match that you wear him do -- by returning steadily, that you put enough pressure on him that he eventually misses a lot of first serves and you get cracks at his second.

The chip-and-charger likes a guy who stays back, someone he can control, as Rafter does so effectively with his slice backhand. When I play someone who likes to chip and charge, I try to come in myself. Take the net away from him. I don't want to be the one at 30-30 hitting a passing shot.

On my service games, I want to make him play at the baseline, where he's least comfortable. Try to get to the net even on the second serve to foil the chip and charge. Serve into the body on the second serve. A guy who likes to chip and charge wants the ball at the sides of his body, so if you put it into his body, he can't go anywhere with it.