Roger Federer is similar to Pete Sampras in one way, says expert

• Tennis News
• Roger Federer

The Sky Sports commentator Barry Cowan believes there is one common thing that makes Roger Federer and Pete Sampras some unique champions. Speaking during the Swiss Indoors final in Basel between Federer and Marius Copil, Cowan praised Federer's big serves in key moments.

'Pete Sampras had an incredible back-turn which added to the disguise, very much like Federer. You know the great servers as they always serve amazingly well no matter what the conditions are. Federer has always done that, Sampras has', said Cowan.

Cowan also criticized a Copil's drop shot error during the first set tie-break that Federer won 7-5. After serving, Copil hit a drop shot that ended on the net, and Federer took the mini-break. 'The question I always ask when you are watching a match - and when you are playing someone who hits a drop-shot - is 'is it the right play in terms of the opponent's court position?'" If you're a long way back, it's the right play.

If, on an important point you're playing someone like Federer whose court position is on the baseline, more often than not it's a cop-out. If you play the drop-shot as a cop-out, you lose the point more or less every time', said Cowan.

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