Sampras Still Looking Good.

I was there, in the danger zone. The place: Albuquerque, NM in The Pit. The occasion: Pete Sampras vs. Sam Querry. The court was too small and both players were returning closer in than they were comfortable. The fans were close and where i was, center behind the baseline, we were all ducking for cover the entire match. We learned to pay attention and not take pictures while the player was serving toward us. A little old lady 2 rows in front of me got pounded twice - she just didn't have quick enough reflexes. She eventually gave up and moved to safer seats. There was a dude checking his text messages on his phone and he got tatooed right in the middle of the forhead by a querry first serve ace. (Seves him right.) Pete had a laugh with/at him. He walked over and grabbed the guy's phone away from him, closed it and stuffed in his own pocket and walked away. When the joke was over, he threw the phone about 15' to the guy, who dropped it. ...awkward...

As for the play, Pete started sluggishly and didn't like the surface at the beginning. I'm not sure what it was - maybe some kind of carpet on panels. Pete kept rubbing the court with his foot and looking down quizically. As the match went on, Pete got more and more comfortable and started rushing the net. Toward the end, his forehand was on fire and he litterally ripped poor Sammy a new one. But to be fair to Sam, I honestly feel that he did not try to win the second set - to give us all a show you know. But then it got out of control for him and the old man was cooking.

I took some amateur photos and put them in this album:


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