Posted on: March 11th, 2008
Sampras chips away at Federer's aura
- petepageBy Harvey Araton
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Two to tie, three to transcend. Pete Sampras has already said he doubts this will be problematic for Roger Federer, who eventually will replace him as the men's leader in Grand Slam tennis titles, by 15-14, at least.
But isn't it fascinating how Sampras, retired since 2002, restrung his rackets and recalibrated his serve just as Federer closed in? What has the restless competitor inside the Sampras subconscious been trying to say? What, if anything, has he set out to do, or undo?
Their exhibition series, arrived with great fanfare to Madison Square Garden on Monday night and delivered with a 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6) Federer victory. The series has on the surface been a fun, intergenerational fantasy, pitting a couple of all-timers whose tour careers intersected once, in 2001. In the fourth round at Wimbledon that year, Federer previewed his coming dominance by ending a four-year hold Sampras had on the very tournament Federer has now won five straight years.
And counting? Or is it possible that Federer is hitting his career plateau?
He had to summon his best when trailing Rafael Nadal in the fifth set on the scarred Center Court lawn last summer. He won his fourth straight U.S. Open title two months later but benefited from a jittery Novak Djokovic, who reversed that result convincingly in the Australian Open semifinals early this year.
Federer's recently revealed bout with mononucleosis may have been a factor, or perhaps Djokovic, a brash and talented Serb, announced himself to Federer as Federer did to Sampras in 2001.
Seven years later, after four years of virtual invincibility, Federer, 26, finds himself on a losing streak of sorts. First Djokovic out-hit him in Melbourne. Andy Murray bounced him in the first round in Dubai last week. Even Sampras, 10 years Federer's senior, finished their three-match Asian jaunt last fall on the winning side, albeit on a court so fast that the result was more suspect than the typical exhibition, or X/O, as the players call them.
"Some of the serves down the middle were curving maybe six feet," said Ivan Lendl, a pretty fair ball-striker from the baseline in his day. "Well, nobody plays on a surface like this."
That was why Monday's match, played on a moderately paced indoor court, in front of a capacity New York crowd, was the perfect chance for Sampras to broadcast a message to Federer foes worldwide, as Lendl pointed out in his role as match co-promoter and curious tennis great.
"I think Federer has so much in the bank it will take more than two or three losses to lose it," Lendl said before Sampras and Federer carted their combined 26 Grand Slam titles into the Garden. "But the other guys are always looking for little chinks."
It is often said there is a point most No. 1 players reach where the others view them differently, with near-reverence, if not fear. Federer climbed that pedestal and has remained there by seeming to control time itself.
As Lendl explained, the truly gifted have an ability to make us believe the clock moves differently. "In every sport, all the athletes like Gretzky and Jordan, they all look like they have a little more time than anybody else," he said.
How long can Federer maintain that shotmaker's edge measured in milliseconds? After hitting with him last spring, Sampras was very public and opinionated when he said that Federer's contemporaries, by abandoning serve-and-volley tennis and staying back, give him too much time to decide where to send the next stroke of genius.
They need to attack, he said, and who better than him to use a few X/Os to demonstrate the fundamentals of speeding the game up?
"Obviously I've got more time on my hands," a grateful Sampras said. "He's the one trying to win majors and stay No. 1." He called the exhibitions "a treat for me, in a way."
Even while dealing with his medical issues, Federer was happy to indulge his hero. They "hung out," as he said, in Asia last fall. They went to dinner.
Treat, or trick? Not to say that Sampras diabolically baited Federer into these matches, but anyone could see who was exposing his ego and risking his standing, in the all-time rankings and the current ones.
Sampras could lose and admit to being 36. He could do well, back up the argument he made last summer, have everyone flatter him with questions about another run on the Wimbledon grass that he has already said he has no intention of making.
The Sampras serve remains one of the best in the sport, his volley still unmatched. But loading up the cannon against Federer indoors, or slapping Tommy Haas around in a tune-up for the X/O, is one thing. The Grand Slam grind across the steamy summer is another.
Those are the conditions Federer faces week after week - trying to stay on his pedestal, trying to convince Djokovic, Nadal and the others that it's his rightful place - from now until he makes the historical claim to where Sampras stands, trying to fend Federer off in the only way left Monday night, one chink at a time
Source: International Herald Tribune
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