Flashback Friday: Mac and Sampras Meet in US Open Semis

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Flashback Friday: Mac and Sampras Meet in US Open Semis

By Chris Oddo

(August 17, 2012) -- "If I keep playing the way I'm playing, there'll be plenty of guys scared to play me," said John McEnroe after he had taken apart David Wheaton in the 1990 US Open quarterfinals.

It made sense to anybody who had witnessed McEnroe's mastery of the New York stage over the years. He had won four titles, outplayed the likes of Connors and Borg in their primes. So, what could a 19-year-old, uproven first-time semifinalist like Pete Sampras do to derail Mac?

Sampras may not have been as outwardly confident, but his five-set victory over Ivan Lendl in the quarterfinals prompted him to say "I think if I can handle Lendl I can handle McEnroe."

He was right.

McEnroe had not won a Grand Slam since 1984, but in 1990 he appeared as committed as he had been in years, apparently driven--in that demonic, no-holds-barred way that only Johnny Mac can be driven--to add another Slam to his legacy. "He's been locked in like one of those phaser missiles," said his former doubles partner Peter Fleming to the New York Times. "He was on the road to being potentially the greatest player of all time, being a Rod Laver, and now he's back on it again. I haven't seen him concentrate like this in years, and I think it's because he feels his career isn't complete."

Cue the videotape and realize that however locked in McEnroe was, the teenage phenom on the other side of the net was all that and more.

From the very first game, McEnroe found himself in a struggle to win points, games, space and time against Sampras.

Who knew that the 19-year-old could be this overwhelmingly good on this grand of a stage? He wasn't even inside the top ten--had never been--and this stage of a Grand Slam was uncharted waters for the soft-spoken California kid.

As hard as it was for McEnroe to accept--and for those New Yorkers who weren't prepared to see him swept aside by a younger, better version of an American tennis player--the 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory was a torch-passing moment for American tennis.

In retrospect, this was the match that set Sampras on the path to becoming the greatest American to ever play the game. It was also the one that marked the last-ditch, finest attempt from McEnroe to retain his former glory.

Even as McEnroe's redemptive attempt at finishing his career by burning out in a blaze of glory fell short, his tennis was nothing short of spectacular on this day. In taking a set off Sampras (he also had chances to break for a 4-2 lead in the second set), McEnroe did something that a 20-year-old Andre Agassi, who had upset Boris Becker in the other final, couldn't come close to doing in the final against Sampras.

McEnroe was clearly overmatched in this match, and all credit goes to Sampras's easy power and now mythical big-match pedigree for that. But also, as you watch, note the grittiness of McEnroe. Note how he struts around the court, owning the stage, owning the moment, and emanating so much aggression and fury as he played. Note how he puts every single ounce of his energy into defending a break point. He's almost miraculously intense.

If there was ever a player that Sampras should have been required to go through before he passed into the realm of Grand Slam greatness, McEnroe was that guy.

It was fitting that one would have to go through the other on a sunny New York afternoon to make their claim for greatness known.

The rest, as they say, is history.