re: Least Naturally Athletic Person to Have the Best Career in Sports

I haven't looked at all the post, but I would have to say this guy...

quote:

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Pete Sampras, say what you want but he was not a natural athlete by any stretch.

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A pretty bold pick, but I gotta disagree with you on that one.

Sampras had one of the best serves all-time and maybe the best second serve ever, which, to achieve that level, required a high level of coordination, timing and ability.

He had one of the best forehands ever and, more importantly for this discussion, maybe the best running forehand ever. Again, being able to hit the dead-on-the-run forehands he routinely hit for winners required high athletic ability.

Sampras also was famous for his jump smash, or "slam dunk", where he jumped and then hit the smash in mid-air. The regular smashing shot, along with the downward force of his falling body, made his smash doubly effective. He almost never missed that shot, even when he had to go way up to hit it. You have to have really good athletic ability and timing to pull that jump smash off as many times as Sampras did.

Sampras Slam Dunks (the second slam on the video made from just inside the baseline is really something).

Sampras may not have looked very athletic walking around (as Agassi once made fun of him for), but on the court he showed his innate athletic abilities.

The answer is probably Ryan Bowen.

rik smits