FIRST again?

Good finds, Steve. Leconte was a mystery, loved watching his flair and natural talent, hated how fleeting and unpredictable it was.

Always thought of him as the French version of Jimmy Connors - because of how they both so thoroughly involved every member of the audience in their matches.

"That weekend, Pistol Pete was the bad kind of goat."

Wonderful. Thanks, Steve, for shooting us another arrow from your time-capsule quiver.

Agree about Leconte. I looked forward to watching him play in the same way I looked forward to waytching Hicham Arazi, only minus the dread (as Arazi was known to tighten up and get that apple in his throat).

Also, Leconte was technically as evolved as any player between Nastase and Federer, but he was in a relatively small frame and had somethat awkward movement. Otherwise, pure genius with the racquet.

Here's what occurred to me while I watched the clip, especially when they show Leconte head to the chair after an amazing game, winded and sweating bullets but pumped on adrenaline and crowd fever. We see Captain Noah kneeling before him waiting for the right moment to speak....

What does a cpatain say in these moments? What can he say? He must feel that even opening his mouth may somehow break the magic spell that his player is under. You certainly don't want to talk tactics when your man is flying way above the clouds, where tactics cannot reach. Maybe something like this: "Breathe in. ... Now, breathe out. ... Repeat."

—A jumping one-handed swinging backhand volley winner: That’s flair. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that anywhere else.

Gasquet, circa '06 U.S. Open. They are similar, indeed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAHCy5WkZzw&feature=related

Hi Steve, Leconte + Forget: both left-handers. Sampras no likee.

Leconte was one of those guys in the same vein as Goran Ivanisevic and Marat Safin. The opponent doesn't matter much. When they are hot, they are nearly unbeatable, but when they are cold, they are ice cold and most of the time will beat themselves.

Those two clips are probably the only times I've ever seen Pete with the deer-in-headlights look on his face.

Hey, Steve

I have to say Henri Leconte's display in this particular match agaisnt Sampras is one of my dearest memories in tennis.

This YouTube bit doesn't give justice to the overal quality of the match; it was huge, fabulous, magical. I got truly emotional watching it -- I mean, against the best player at that moment (even if he was a Davis Cup rookie, Sampras had the best results coming into the final, having just won the Masters) Henri played the perfect match I had dreamt of playing: high backhand volley scissors, aces, passings, winners from all over the court, he was hyperventilating, everything he touched turned into gold.

Leconte was the true Magician, with the purest of tennis, a classical technique -- not the freaky style of Fabrice Santoro (who was on the bench for this final, having helped France qualify in one of the first ties that year; you can also see Arnaud Boetsch, who is now head of sponsoring at Rolex). Henri mistified Sampras right there in Lyon and then did it again a few years later at Paris-Bercy.

This Leconte-Sampras match changed completely the momentum of the final (Agassi having beaten Forget) and served as Leconte's redemption after the 1988 Roland Garros finals fiasco -- in his speech after he got anihilated by Mats Wilander, he said clumsily to the public «I hope now you understand my game» and turned into Le Con (I won't translate it...).

It should be pointed out that a few months before, Leconte was lying in a hospital's bed after another back surgery (he had to change his service motion afterwards yet again) when Yannick Noah told him he needed him to win the Davis Cup final. The guy was nowhere to be seen on the rankings, his confidence was flat; but he made a goal out of being ready for the final and he sure was ready, beating all the other guys in the practice sessions (including Forget, who had won Paris-Bercy by beating Sampras in the fifth weeks before).

The next day, Leconte came back still with the Midas touch and helped Forget crucify Robert Seguso and Ken Flach. He helped Forget get on a high to beat Sampras... but if necessary, you could almost bet my life on a Leconte win in the fifth rubber agaisnt Agassi.

During a period where Leconte's relationship with Yannick Noah was not the best, I interviewed Henri -- and, at some point, he said to my surprise, «he won Roland Garros, but I won the Davis Cup for France!».

Using a golf analogy, Leconte had 20 clubs in his bag, like Federer; but unlike Federer he couldn't use them properly all the time... he gost lost deciding which one! For instance, Agassi had only 6 or 7 clubs in his bag, but he made the most out of all of them and knew how to use them.

Henri also liked (and still does) women, parties, nice wristwatches, great cars. His ex-wives and his joie de vivre stripped him out of a lot of money...he can be really funny -- he's always the center of attention, dancing, DJing... he's not the most intelligent guy, but very spirited, witty: in a party last year I was with him and Goran Ivanisevic, the big croat was telling me if I remembered when he said, after losing to Rafael Nadal at the first round of the Estoril Open in 2004, «this kid is going to win 3 or 4 Roland Garros titles»; Leconte immediately jumped on the occasion and commented «Goran, that was the only correct thing you've ever said!».

For the anecdote, when I was a kid I used to play like Mats Wilander as a 14 year-old -- topspin, two-handed backhand, I even played with a Rossignol F200 Carbon. Then I saw Henri Leconte play and... saw the light: that was how tennis should be played! I was so awestruck I changed my grips, my technique... one night I was shadow practicing in my bedroom and crashed a light while trying to emulate Leconte's follow-through on the backhand.

A few years ago I got to tell that story and embarassing episode to both Henri and Mats while having a beer with them...

The other anecdote regarding this Leconte-Sampras match is... I was scheduled to umpire a match of the Club Championship final that day... but I was following this match on the tv and wanted to see it until the end at the clubhouse of the Clube de Ténis do Porto. When I got on court, everyone was waiting for more than 10 minutes already -- the players and both captains gave me a hard time, and after crying with the quality of Leconte's play I almost cried with the bad quality of the match I had to umpire right away!

rocheux

A few other things regarding the second video-clip...

-- you can't see it because the angle doesn't allow it, but the ball was almost still in play when Noah and other french players invaded the court on the match-point...

-- in this match, Forget served the gutsiest second serve ace I've ever seen on a crucial point -- it was Sampras' kiss of death.

-- Sampras' backhand drive was not technically good -- he never really extended the arm on the followthrough... he could take lessons in that department from a journeyman like Andrei Pavel...

-- take a look at Forget's Lacoste unique racquet frame... unique!

Uh, Steve, I think Gasquet's a Righty. Sorry to be nit-picker.
Or maybe I just read that sentence incorrectly.

Sorry Miguel, but Sampras' backhand was just fine.

"Sorry Miguel, but Sampras' backhand was just fine."

Sampras was not perfect.

His bachand was adequate to very good on very fast surfaces where he could time it to explode on the ball.

It was on clay where Sampras' bh beaceme painfully evident as suspect. On ocasions he would hit a bh OFF HIS LEFT FOOT when recovering to a ball hit back to his left side...

A begginers move on clay.

The rest of Sampras gme was so good that even that backhand allowed him to overpower opponent on fast surfaces.

Not a bad backhand, but on clay it was a sub-par weapon and something opponents could exploit ad nauseum.

evidence of that is the one and lonely time he reached SF at RG he endured a bagel on his way out.

I thought my rather banal comment didn't require much in return, but what can you do, no?

"didn't require much in return"

it depends.

Seabra's comment were lengthy and very good, while yours appeared to me as to try to dismiss Miguel's comment on Pete Sampras' backhand. You provided little evidence or comment to back your statement. I proceded to give some more proof of what Miguel was referring to:

Pete's glaring weakness (we all have one, except Rafael Nadal no?)
which would surface on clay.

—What’s the French word for Rocky? 2 Words:

Surrender Monkey

"proof"

Oh, God.

Saying something is "fine" is hardly ill will.

It's really not that deep.

"Oh, God."

Well, if you don't understand the concept of tournament results as "proof" in a tennis conversation then there is no point in trying to explain it to you.

Again:
"You provided little evidence or comment to back your statement"

All you did is try to minimize the other posters comment on PS bh by saying that "it was fine" (oh brother-with eyes rolling) without giving any substantive comment on what you meant by fine.

Chill out, guys!

No, Sampras' backhand was not up to his standards. In fact, I think he'd change a Grand Slam title for the backhand of someone like Philip Kohlschreiber -- in the long run, a better backhand would get him more Grand Slam titles and better results at the French...

Then again... would it?

Pete changed from a two-handed backhand to a one-hander in his teens. When he won the US Open in 1990, he was hitting backhand winners down the line... but a couple of years later he started being less agressive.

In 1996, I interviewed Joe Brandi, the coach that was with him when he won his first Grand Slam title, and asked him about Pete's backhand becoming less effective/aggressive. «I don't know what happened, looks like he's playing the percentages now», he said.

The following week I tried to confront Sampras with the subject at the Paris-Bercy event; he was not happy and didn't say much -- telling me that in the long run it had worked. Well... but what if he had a better backhand? Richard Krajicek, Michael Stich, Petr Korda and Wayne Ferreira knew how to play to his backhand -- and I still think Sampras backhand drive was not technically au pair with the rest of his game and it was obvious on clay court that Pete was playing 'in mono' from the baseline, not 'in stereo'... especially if he wasn't feeling that confident. He would finish his follow-through with his elbow bent, not with the full arm extension of a great one-handed backhand.

To paraphrase former Florida Gators coach Steve Spurrier:

"I guess 14 slams and six straight years at No. 1 ain't enough for some people."

Whatever, guys,

I'm out.

Well, Roger Federer's got 13 Slams and if he had a better backhand, or used his backhand better against Rafa Nadal (namely use the slice some more, or at least as much as he uses it against other players), he could have a few more Slams.

But that's the measure of grandeur, guys like Federer or Sampras always demand high standards. So, no... in their case 13 and 14 is not enough, whereas 1 for someone like Thomas Johansson seems too much.

PC: you are a bigot. I am sure that you've never met a Frenchman in your lifetime. You don't even have the guts to leave your name.

The 1989 QF tie with Germany, featuring that amazing match between Becker and Agassi was the birth of my Davis Cup love. That victory by France, in Paris, sealed the deal. Always loved Guy Forget in his playing days - that he got to be a national hero was one of those heartwarming moments in sports that stays with you for decades. I had a viewing party in my apartment - I still lived in Manhattan then - and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.