Roger Federer, Pete Sampras set to meet at sold-out Madison Square Garden
By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Tennis Writer
Roger Federer loves Pete Sampras’ game, even if the old guy last played a real match in 2002.
“He’s so fluent, you know? His whole technique is so smooth,” Federer said. “And it was funny sometimes, because when I played him, it was intimidating. Because he reminded me so much of myself.”
How’s that for a compliment?
Similarly, Sampras loves Federer’s attitude, even if the youngster is fast approaching Sampras’ record for career Grand Slam titles.
“I don’t think he gets too overwhelmed, too worked up,” Sampras said.
Sound familiar?
Sampras, the best of his generation, and Federer, the best of his, bring two eras of excellence together Monday night, when they play an exhibition match at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. It’s the first men’s professional tennis match at the New York arena in a dozen years.
Pistol Pete vs. The Artful Roger.
The past vs. the present: Sampras is 36; Federer is 26.
A total of 26 major singles championships, 14 for Sampras vs. 12 for Federer.
A total of 10 year-end No. 1 finishes in the rankings, a record six for Sampras vs. four for Federer.
Sampras’ serve-and-volley style, something rarely seen these days.
Federer’s all-court brilliance, conjuring up shots rarely if ever seen.
They only played each other once on tour, in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2001, when Federer beat Sampras in five sets.
That came after Sampras had won the last of his seven titles at the All England Club, and before Federer began his current streak of five consecutive championships there.
“I knew he was extremely talented then—a lot of power, didn’t have holes in his game,” Sampras said. “He figured it out, kind of how I figured it out in my early 20s. Then, the way he started winning majors pretty much with ease, I just accepted that he was going to break my record.”
They have started to get acquainted with each other’s personality and tennis, having played three exhibitions in Asia in November.
Federer won the first two, and Sampras won the third.
Now comes their first matchup in the United States, a best-of-three-sets encounter on an indoor hard court.
“Look, Roger Federer obviously is a huge favorite, just based on the fact that he’s 10 years younger and is playing full-on. He certainly is not going to go out there in front of 19,000 people in New York City and want to lose to Pete Sampras,” U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe said. “And Sampras is going to want to show that he can still play. … Will it have the same intensity as a U.S. Open final? No. But it will be very competitive. Both guys will want to play as well as they can.”
For Federer, Monday’s match might represent an exhibition with no trophy at stake and a guaranteed payday, but it also represents a chance to get in some work.
He’s coming off consecutive losses, in the Australian Open semifinals and the first round of an event in Dubai, so there hasn’t been much activity of late for a guy accustomed to playing all the way to the end of tournament after tournament.
It wasn’t until Friday that word emerged from his camp that Federer was diagnosed last month with mononucleosis, an energy-sapping infection caused by a virus.
“The good news really is to be certain of what has occurred,” Federer said in a posting on his Web site. “The bad news is that I have quite some catching up to do in terms of fitness as I am not in the physical state that I would normally be in at this time of the year.”
Article from Yahoo Sports Tennis
