Another one of Pete Sampras’s all time great rivalries other than Andre Agassi and Boris Becker was the one he had against Goran Ivanisevic and those two were two contrasting styles of tennis players where Goran was the left handed aggressive player and Pete Sampras was the all round right handed player and the matches these 2 had were some of the best . Goran Ivanisevic was a force of nature on the tennis court and Pete Sampras had to work hard to get the wins against him.
Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanisevic played 18 Matches against each other and again the head to head record is in favor of the great Pete Sampras who won 12 out of the 18 Matches they played against each other and Goran Ivanisevic won 6 of them. The tennis fans were ready to pay good money for their matches and they would not be left disappointed. So, let’s look at this legendary rivalry between two all time greats.
Pete Sampras vs Goran Ivanisevic Head to head in Grand Slams
They played 5 Grand Slam Matches out of 18 against each other which is a great ratio as it tells us that these two would meet often in Grand Slams. The first Grand Slam meeting between these 2 was at the 1992 Wimbledon Semi Final and it was a cracker and Goran Ivanisevic won this match in 4 sets and he came back after losing the first set and he won the match. Then they net at the 1994 Wimbledon Final and here Pete Sampras got his revenge as he beat Goran Ivanisevic in straight sets. In 1996 they faced each other in the US Open semi final and here In 4 sets it was Pete Sampras who got the win. And in 1998 they had their best match yet as in a 5 set thriller which could have gone either way it was Pete Sampras who was the victor and won yet another Grand Slam title.
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Pete Sampras vs Goran Ivanisevic Other Head to Head
They had 13 matches against each other which were not a part of Grand Slams and those Matches were also extremely competitive. They had their legendary rivalry from 1990-1999 and in those 9 years they gave all the tennis fans 18 of the best matches and they were left wanting for more. They played in ATP World Tour Championships and the ATP Masters 1000 events and their head to head outside of Grand Slams ja Pete Sampras won 8 matches and Goran Ivanisevic won 5 Matches.
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The following is an illustration of their Head to Head:
Competition | Pete Sampras | Goran Ivanisevic |
Grand Slam | 4 | 1 |
ATP World Tour Championships | 3 | 0 |
ATP Masters 1000 | 1 | 2 |
Other Events | 4 | 3 |
Total | 12 | 6 |
Also Read: Pete Sampras - Andre Agassi Rivalry
