Samprasfanz

Excerpts from AP news
Sept. 10, 2007

On Roger closing in on his record

“I did all I could do in the ’90s, and I really thought the 14 would be tough to beat. Little did I know Roger would come along and dominate the way he has – and that could last a while longer,” Pete Sampras said Monday in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

“If there’s a player and a person that I’d like to see break this, it would be Roger. He’s a great guy. Lets his racket do the talking. One of those humble champions I like.”

“I won’t be disappointed – it’s more respect than anything. Would I like my record to last forever? Of course. But records are made to be broken,” Sampras said. “He’ll win a ton more. Motivation will be his biggest hurdle, but he could win 17, 18 majors the way he’s going, if he’s healthy.”

“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.”

On their upcoming XO’s in Asia this November and next year at Madison Square Garden.

“I still serve well. Roger’s Roger. It’s going to hopefully be competitive tennis,” Sampras said. “We both wanted to do it because our names have been linked and will be linked for the next couple of years.”