Competitive Cojones: Comparing Corretja, Courier, Chesnokov, and Coria

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In a recent article, an argument was presented for Tennis's top five "competitors".

And in response, a comment appeared stating that Rafael Nadal should not be rated higher than Pete Sampras because Rafa has not yet pulled off a "Corretja," or a "Courier". Another comment mentioned that Roger Federer was missing from this list. 

I would like to examine the Corretja or Courier comment in greater depth, and look at Sampras more closely. I will look at Sampras vs. Corretja; vs. Courier; vs. Chesnokov; and then at Nadal vs. Coria.

Though I will not attempt to suggest a re-ordering of Mr. York’s list—I will leave that for the comment section, if any—I will attempt to set the stage for why Sampras, though normally low-key and a player who would forgo the exuberant fist pumps and "Come-ons!" of more demonstrable competitors, still finds his way onto Mr. York’s list at the expense of some other familiar tennis names (Federer, for example).

Competitive Fire

What is competitive fire?  What is it that makes us love and honor the greatest competitors?  Because somehow tennis is a microcosm of the things that make our lives function: courage, tenacity, focus and drive, compressed into two-to-four hours of time.

We all require these things to live and move ahead. But we usually exercise them over a longer period of time, often months or years and especially in adversity.

On the tennis court, there are players and moments which show us a truth about  themselves and thus ourselves, that helps us connect with these fundamental, visceral, and primitive components of life, especially in adversity.

AntiMatter, a writer here at B/R, once wrote a piece in which he said, "I have to battle. I have, but one aim in my life - to overcome myself. I have to try to be the best I can. But I do not have a  measurable entity or a metric that will tell me whether I am doing the best - that I am living the limit. "

That is the essence of the competitor's fire, to be at the "limit", to overcome oneself and to utilize mental strength rather than solely the physical to achieve the victory.  It tells us something about the human condition.

I'm not going to suggest or put words in Mr. York's mouth, but for me, adversity is a necessary component of finding this "limit" and exhibiting this "fire".

Though I don’t expect to talk about it in this article, in his final Wimbledon championship against Rafter in 2000, Sampras had shin splints. He took a cortisone shot to stay in the tournament but it wore off in a classic Wimbledon rain delay, and Pete couldn’t have another one. Yet he toughed it out to achieve his 13th Grand Slam title and showed his competitive fire.


Corretja

Let’s look at a historic match: Sampras vs Alex Corretja, (7-6, 5-7, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6) U.S. Open, Quarterfinal 1996.

Alex Corretja, from Spain, was ranked as high as world No. 2 in 1999, and was a key player in obtaining a first ever Davis Cup for Spain in 2000. In the 1996 USO QF, Sampras was anemic and dehydrated through five sets, facing match point in the 5th set before taking it to a tie-break.  

At 1-1 in the tie-break Sampras vomited on court, drawing a delay of game warning. He continued with partial heaves throughout the tie-break, clearly struggling physically. He went on to win this match, in quintessential Sampras style, with second-serve aces, etc.

It is often said that the fifth set is about heart and this fifth set tie-break is a classic example of where a champion digs to come up with a victory.

10 minutes of that final set tie-breaker are available on YouTube.  In part one, the first 30 seconds, the stakes are nicely set up by John McEnroe.  Look for standing ovations from the crowd as Sampras struggles to pull this out, and his courage is on the line. There's also a part 2.


Courier

Sampras vs Jim Courier, (6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3) Australian Open QF, 1995 is another classic.

Sampras’ long-time coach Tim Gullikson, who had trained him as a boy and was with him since he had left Peter Fischer, had collapsed earlier in the tournament and was flown home to the U.S. for diagnosis. Sampras and his team would learn that Gullikson had a brain tumor, to which he would succumb later in the year.

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