Sampras vs. Federer
This past week there was a series of exhibition matches between Pete Sampras, arguably the best tennis player ever, and Roger Federer, the current #1 ranked player. It was an interesting series that I was looking forward to seeing. I was hoping that Sampras could show that he could still hold his own four years after retiring and ten years older than his opponent. The first match in the series went to Federer (6-4,6-3), as well as the second (7-6,7-6). But finally Sampras came through and one the final match in Macau, China (7-6, 6-4).
What this proves to me is that Sampras is by far the better player. Yes, Federer is a great player and, yes, he is on the verge of breaking Sampras’ title record. The problem I have always had with the praise that is thrown upon Federer all the time is that it isn’t that he is just so amazingly good, it’s that he doesn’t have the same caliber of opponents that Sampras had throughout his career. Right now the main obstacles for Federer are Nadal and possibly Djokovic. Atleast these are the only two players semi close in point standings to Federer. There is always the hope of a Davydenko, Safin or Nalbandian upset against Federer though. The point is that Sampras had so many more better players to contend with throughout his career, let alone the Agassi-Sampras rivalry that existed for most of it. And to see a player in his mid-30s come out and give such a strong performance throughout the series against someone in their mid-20s, as well as clearly learn Federer’s weakness and adapt so quickly match to match, is just amazing. Tennis will never be the same without him. I am glad that he is atleast a part of Jim Courier’s Senior Tour so the possibility to see him on TV is still very possible. Those matches are great. Seeing Todd Martin and Sampras play is like jumping in a time machine back to the greatest era (IMO) of men’s tennis.
There will definitely be a New York City exhibition coming next year in March, hopefully ticket prices won’t be too high so we can get a chance to check it out. It may be the last chance we have to see Pete Sampras in action live. Hopefully he will pull together another win.
