The venue: Flushing Meadow, New York
Head to head odds: Pete Sampras ($1.89 with CrownBet.com.au) vs. Roger Federer ($1.91 with WilliamHill.com.au)
The premise: In our sports imagination series, we’ll take a look at some of the greatest athletes to ever grace the sporting arena and, using our time machine, pit them against each other at the peak of their powers in imaginary match ups. Comment below and let us know if you think we got it right.
Head to head record: Roger Federer leads Pete Sampras 1-0
THE Swiss Master Roger Federer knows he is in for the fight of his life when he meets the supreme talents of American legend Pete Sampras on the hallowed Flushing Meadows court – and he is taking it in his typically humble stride.
It won’t be the first time this pair has met – their sole foray onto the court ended in a five-set thriller in 2001, won by the pony tailed Federer, 7-6(7) 5-7 6-4 6-7(2) 7-5, in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Federer – a now 17-time grand slam champion – was just a 19 year old kid with potential when the pair met, while Sampras, 29, was the fading king, having won seven straight Wimbledon titles and 31 straight matches at the tournament.
It signalled a transition, from the best to next.
“It was really exciting playing against the guys from television,” Federer recalls of his first meeting with Sampras.
“I never got a chance to play (Boris) Becker and (Stefan) Edberg, but Pete clearly was huge, plus it was on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
“It was just already very exciting playing against the guys you knew from TV, doesn’t matter who it is.
“You just wonder: Does your game actually match up with those kind of guys?
“Because it’s so surreal that you don’t think it does, and then you realise it’s so easy to win games.
“I thought it was the most exciting time almost in my playing career, rubbing shoulders with those guys, seeing them prepare, joke around, being one of you, and all of a sudden, you become friends with them.
“I think it’s very cool.”
It was a test of wills and old man Sampras – who did not win a slam that year and went just 35-16 – almost held off the young buck and this will be the first time they have gone head to head at the absolute peak of their powers.
In 1996, Sampras was in the midst of building a career that would yield 14 grand slam titles and have him known, when it was all said and done, as the greatest men’s singles player ever.
Federer, in 2005, had no peer and drew comparisons to Sampras because of his utter dominance. There’s a new kid on the block who might just be better than both of them in Novak Djokovic, but he still has a little more to prove before his is fully in the conversation.
“He’s done everything in the game,” Sampras said of Federer when we spoke to him from 1996 last week.
“He could walk away tomorrow feeling great about it.
“I don’t know how he maintains the level.
“As long as he’s healthy and enjoying it, I can see Roger playing for another two, three, four more years.”
Is it a bit of gamesmanship from Sampras ahead of the massive match?
“You look at the numbers of what he’s been able to do, you have to say he’s the greatest we’ve seen,” Sampras said.
“The statistics of doing all-around court play – he can do a lot of different things, he can come in, can stay back, and he can do everything.”
One man in the Fed’s corner is eight-time grand slam champion Agassi.
“Pete was great, I mean, no question,” Agassi said.
“But there was a place to get to with Pete.
“You knew what you had to do.
“If you do it, it could be on your terms.
“There’s no such place like that with Roger.
“I think he’s the best I’ve played against.
“He does things that others just can’t do.”
Our predictions
Match result: Pete Sampras wins ($1.89 with CrownBet.com.au)
Correct set score: Pete Sampras wins 3-2 ($5.50 with sportsbet.com.au)
To win the first set: Roger Federer ($1.75 with Bet365.com.au)
Chase the ace with WilliamHill.com.au – Pete Sampras
Sampras retired the year after Federer beat him at Wimbledon and, forgetting his loss to Todd Martin in Adelaide, he went out on top of the game with a win over Andre Agassi in the 2002 US Open Final. The Fed is still kicking, but he hasn’t won a major since Wimbledon in 2012. But all that is out the door here. Both men are playing their absolute best tennis in this match and we think this will be perhaps the greatest match of all time. We can see Fed playing from the baseline, but getting to the net aggressively to try and throw Sampras off his game. Conversely, Sampras would use his devastating serve and volley game to get to the net and blast them back pas the Fed. For us, Federer was a more well rounded player than Sampras. Elegant, moving like a smooth machine and returning just about everything with grace and flair. But he never faced that monstrosity of a serve that Sampras produced throughout the 1990s, which was backed up by a booming forehand. And he never faced a competitive beast that was as talented as the American, who used to produce something out of nothing with regularity. This one is going to be so close, but we’re backing Sampras to draw on his remarkable fighting spirit and take this one out. And even if he doesn’t, we’ll at least make our money back on him whacking a ton of aces if we back him in with WilliamHill.com.au and utilise the bookie’s fantastic Chase the Ace feature.
