Fed Express
Sampras's game was based on a great serve, fine volleying and flat, hard groundstrokes. On his day, and especially on the grasscourts of Wimbledon, he was an irresistible force.
Like Sampras, Federer can play from the baseline and take the game to his opponent at the net. The fluid Swiss is a court craftsman of great skill, using angles others can only dream of.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Federer's 2004 campaign is that he achieved it all without a fulltime coach.
His decision last December to part with Peter Lundgren, just five months after winning his first Wimbledon title, was seen as foolhardy at the time.
Yet Federer, accompanied on tour by his girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec, has proved that behind the smiling, open exterior there is a single-minded man not afraid of risk.
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