ATP: Success coach Paul Annacone: This is the biggest difference between Federer and Sampras

Hardly anyone can judge the skills of Roger Federer and Pete Sampras better than Paul Annacone. Now the success coach reveals which special gift only one of his ex-protectors possesses.

Strong serve, one-handed backhand and fantastic net play – that’s how Roger Federer and Pete Sampras secured a total of 33 Grand Slam titles. With a small but subtle difference: While the Swiss “only” won a major under the leadership of Annacone,”Pistol Pete” won nine of the most prestigious trophies alongside his compatriot.

Despite this, Federer had a way of thinking that Sampras had lost in the final phase of his career, the American told Express Sport,”Roger still deals with defeats today in a similar way as he did when he was young.

Sampras said it wasn’ t:”At the end of his career it was the same with Pete as it was with many other players: defeats started to hurt more and victories felt less good”.

That is the crucial point, Annacone stressed. Federer could only achieve his great successes this year because he kept his euphoric feeling for winning and could quickly put an end to the few defeats “Roger has a different point of view, his perspective on tennis differs from that of Pete.”

That’s why Federer was able to survive a four-and-a-half year dry spell without a Grand Slam title. Everything changed with the epic five-set win over Rafael Nadal in Melbourne.

Before Sampras’ US Open triumph in 2002, the last match in his career, the situation was different:”Pete had not won a tournament for 25 months. Frustration began to creep in. He was eager to resign with great success.”

The dream came true,”because Pete was just Pete – he could focus incredibly well and readjust for that moment.”