1 Response to paris97sampras_bjorkman

1. Voo de Mar says:

   October 3, 2022 at 7:54 pm

   Points won by each set: | 34-30, 29-33, 30-19, 30-18 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   30 % Sampras – 37 of 120
   21 % Bjorkman – 22 of 103

   A happy ending for Sampras [1] after an exceptionally demanding week (on Friday evening, after his quarterfinal, he went to the hospital to check his right shoulder because he couldn’t fall asleep due to pain). Never before or after, the best player of the 90s faced such a tough opposition in five consecutive matches – only “Top 5” players, including three Nos. 1. The 25-year-old Bjorkman [10] was playing tennis of his life in 1997 and he confirmed his self-confidence in the 2nd set; he trailed *0:2 (30-all), but managed to break Sampras twice. The American threw his racquet (a rarity in his case) after the second break. He modified his tactics at 1 set apiece a bit: he abandoned the idea to play S/V behind his 2nd serves & implemented the chip-and-charge strategy. After slight modifications, he had problems on his serve only leading 2:0 in the 4th set (saved four break points).

   Sampras’ route to his 51st title:
   2 Boris Becker 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3
   3 Petr Korda 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4
   Q Thomas Muster 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
   S Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7-6(4), 6-3
   W Jonas Bjorkman 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1

   # Sampras six points away to lose to Korda; “The tennis we played was outstanding, some of the best tennis I played all year,″ said Sampras…
   their last meeting, Sampras won the H2H 12-5

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