Posted on: March 11th, 2008
Pete Sampras hints at Wimbledon date with Roger Federer
- petepagePete Sampras dropped the L word. “Maybe another in London,” the seven-times Wimbledon champion said after his exhibition match with Roger Federer in New York, as the five-times champion at SW19 nodded his approval. And where better to hold such a fantasy grass-court match than the supreme fantasy venue for all tennis dreamers?
New York had its moment the night before last and 19,000 disciples - Rupert Murdoch, Donald Trump and Tiger Woods included - went all weak at the knees and mushy over this collision of players with 26 grand-slam tournament titles between them; Sampras in ghostly Wimbledon white and Federer dressed head to toe in black. “Good against evil,” Sampras laughingly described it and, when the goody served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, you would have bet your house on the evil one getting a distinctly bloody nose.
The Sampras of old rarely faltered with the balls in his hand and the finishing line in sight, but when you have spent four years without competitive thrill as a routine adrenalin rush, the killer instinct diminishes and, although the 36-year-old was three times within two points of the match, he could not prevail. The final score - 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 to Federer.
It had been a remarkable evening, this NetJets Showdown, so labelled for the sponsoring private jet company in which the players - and probably half the crowd, given the finery on display - are stakeholders. The US Open apart, a city such as New York ought not to be starved of such high-octane tennis and that Madison Square Garden was so full its pips squeaked served only to reinforce the message that one misses the other.
Arlen Kantarian, the entrepreneurial head of the United States Tennis Association, who has done so much to enhance the Open's position as this city's leading sporting money-spinner, said that the match should not be labelled an “exhibition” for fear of driving off potential custom. He was happy to accept that he could not have been more wrong. And so, after a three-match series in the Far East in November and New York - Federer leads 3-1 - where next? Sampras can still play more than a bit, the second-serve aces, the reflex volleys, the slam dunks were there in all their glory, but he is retired, as he keeps pointing out.
He will come out to play so long as Federer is the man who asks him - and the No1's commitments are massive - and the venue is appealing. That's why his eyes brightened when talk shifted to a potential date in London, where they have celebrated their most marked sporting hours.
“Roger has more important things to worry about than playing me,” Sampras said. “That he is out here at all shows how special he is. I like the fun of these occasions, I didn't do fun when I was playing for real.”
From here, it is back to the real world for the Swiss, the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, where Federer will be favourite and Sampras may just pop in to have a look.
Source: Times Online UK
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