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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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Comment by Nicholas Clawson Stiver I on June 24, 2009 at 5:06pm
Sampras is still good--I was there too. The Pit was not designed for professional tennis, as the serves bounced well into the stands and kept pelting people. I have never seen professional serves in person before and they seemed really fast to me, but I have a feeling that Pete and Sam were holding back a bit on their serves.

Do you really think that Sampras won that match? Perhaps Sam threw it--he looked like he was going about 40% in the second set. Maybe Sampras' game was just too good for him-who knows. I think the surface was extraordinarily fast which was designed to help Pete. I mean, his serve, volleys and forehand were just brutally fast and so well placed.

Anyway it was really fun to watch and the money went to a great cause. Well worth the ticket.
Comment by Mickey on October 27, 2008 at 12:35pm
Woohooo, I wish I were there, Pete was my Idol!
Comment by Tough Love Tennis on September 28, 2008 at 9:30am
whoa, that court IS pretty tight... especially behind the baseline... and the court is right there... i love it when people get zinged with balls at matches.... i bet this was a good one for it.

-ben of tennis zone

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