Product Description

System Requirements:Running Time: 180 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SPORTS/GAMES/TENNIS Rating: NR UPC: 829567050323 Manufacturer No: 670503

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38717 in DVD
• Brand: HART SHARP VIDEO
• Released on: 2008-04-22
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 180 minutes

Features

• On March 10, 2008, tennis' all-time Grand Slam Champion Pete Sampras and World #1 Roger Federer faced each other for the first time on U.S. soil at Madison Square Garden, the World's Most Famous Arena. Before a sell-out crowd of over 19,000 and a worldwide television and broadband audience, Federer defeated Sampras, 6 3, 6 7, 7 6 at the NetJets Showdown in a match that captured all the mag

Review
Official Synopsis:
On March 10, 2008, tennis' all time Grand Slam Champion Pete Sampras and World #1 Roger Federer faced each other for the first time on U.S. soil at Madison Square Garden, the World's Most Famous Arena. Before a sell out crowd of over 19,000 and a worldwide television and broadband audience, Federer defeated Sampras, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, at the NetJets Showdown in a match that captured all the magic that these two champions have to offer. Now you can own a piece of history in an event that brought out the best in tennis and the best in New York. Featuring color commentary from John McEnroe as heard on the Tennis Channel.


Our Take:
I m sort of a casual tennis fanatic. I don t really follow the sport all that carefully or know all the players involved, but when Wimbledon or one of the Grand Slam tournaments comes around, I try to watch as much as I can. Sometimes I see a lot of it, and sometimes I only catch a match or two. I love the sport (hence the fanatic part) but only ever get to watch it in small increments (hence the casual part.)

So I love the tennis-on-DVD releases that have been coming out recently, and Pete Sampras Vs. Roger Federer: The NetJets Showdown is one of the best I ve seen yet. Here you have two of the biggest names in the sport meeting up for the first time ever; it would be akin to Michael Jordan and Larry Bird playing a game of one-on-one hoops. The match was a scorcher, too, running until the end and with a hard fought victory. For me, since I didn t actually watch the match on TV but just heard about the outcome, this DVD is a fantastic way to get to go back and relive it. With commentary from John McEnroe as heard on the Tennis Channel, it s basically like watching a real match, and it isn t even a little bit less exciting when you know the outcome ahead of time.

Now, just a tennis match on DVD wouldn t really be worth the purchase price, but this disc also comes with some great extra features:

* Exclusive Interviews With The Players.
* Pre-Match Warm Up.
* Celebrity Interviews.
* Behind The Scenes Footage.

Of course, Pete Sampras Vs. Roger Federer: The NetJets Showdown won t appeal to non-tennis fans, but I don t see how anyone who s into the sport couldn t enjoy this terrific DVD. I d like to see more discs like this for both tennis and other sports. --DVDsnapshot.com

Customer Reviews

great for the lighter moments
Okay, I'm a big tennis nut, plus I used to be a big fan of Sampras and I'm now a big fan of Roger--that would make me the ideal target audience for this dvd, but I hesitated over it. I'm not too keen on exhibitions ("exos") in general, since they lack the intensity of real matches. Then I saw part of this Madison Square Garden match on cable and I was delighted with the lighter moments it displayed, and wanted to see the rest of the interviews and other features on the dvd.

We can only wonder how Sampras and Federer would have played each other when each was at his peak, say, when they were both 25-26 years old. The one contest between them, the 2001 Wimbledon 4th round match--was played when Pete's career was on the wane and Roger's was on the rise (and when Roger still served-and-volleyed a lot). This MSG exo offers a few hints of what might have been. While Roger was clearly not in top form at the time (still suffering from mono), this match was entertaining. From the way Pete gave Roger surprised looks after some of Roger's dazzling shots, and the way Roger grinned back at him in response, I think Roger's creativity would have edged out Pete's power in a "top Roger" vs. "top Pete" contest. Also, though I've long admired Pete's fluid game, it was never beautiful, like Roger's game. But whatever you think, it's fun to watch these great champions and speculate.

Both players seemed to enjoy the match and smiled a lot. At 4-4 in the 2nd set, Roger smiled through his entire service motion after Pete missed a return, and kept smiling after the point ended on a close line call. He then gave the point to Pete, saying "the ball was out" and Pete applauded him. Pete does a McEnroe impression at one point, and later offers his racquet to Tiger Woods in the front row, so Tiger can play for him. Then Pete wins the next point and does a Tiger-style fist pump to celebrate, and Tiger laughs back at him.

Other highlights:
--at a press conference, Pete refers to the 2001 Wimbledon match saying, " . . . 8-6 in the fifth" and Roger interrupts to pipe in "it was 7-5", with a grin. Hmm, wonder if Roger has watched that match more often than Pete?
--also at the presser, reporters are asking questions all at once and Pete looks annoyed. Roger shushes them and when they fall silent, grins and says "what do you know, it works".

Negatives: Some of the on-court interviews by Justin Gimelstob are annoying. His comment to Roger that "I didn't think you got nervous; I didn't think you were human" annoys me to no end, like all comments that assume "to be human" means "to be weak", since I have long regarded Roger's ability as an example of human ability at its best. Gimelstob's attempt to pump up the crowd by saying "this isn't England" was also lame, since he seems to have forgotten that both these gentlemen have every reason to like England, with a total of 12 Wimbledon titles between them (so far). But this is a minor drawback.

It's interesting that both men were nervous about playing an exo. Also, despite the smiles, both competitors clearly wanted to win. When Pete seemed poised to win the 3rd set, Roger cranked it up with an acing display that had them smiling. Both men clearly like and respect each other, which is nice to see. Pete seems to regard Roger more as an heir than as a rival, and really doesn't seem to mind seeing Roger break all his records, since it enriches tennis as a whole.

After he won the 2008 US Open, Roger credited this MSG exo in March as a reason why the NY crowds supported him in August and September. Well I'm sure the exo didn't hurt and we'd love to see more tennis at the Garden, but there are a lot of people who cheered Roger in NY anyway, even before this exo (and even when playing Americans!). On the whole, I greatly enjoyed this dvd and I'm glad I bought it. As a fan of fast-court tennis, it will help me slog through the clay court season.

Awesome video!
These are two of the finest athletes to ever grace a tennis court and this video didn't disappoint. I enjoyed everything about it especially seeing Pete Sampras play again since I miss watching him these days. I thought that the video was very well done and enjoyed all the bonus footage - interviews and set-up for the special day. I highly recommend this video for any fans of mens tennis.