24 November 2007

Sampras defeats Federer

I thought I'd post regarding the Sampras - Federer exhibition matches. Within the last week the former and current world number ones have played three exhibition matches in Asia.

I'd been both excited and worried about these matches. I've mentioned before that Sampras is my all-time favorite men's tennis player and I was looking forward to the opportunity to see how he matches up against Federer, even if only in exhibition. On the other hand, Sampras retired five years ago, and is a decade older than Federer. Truthfully, part of me was worried Federer would blow Sampras off the court. To my great relief that didn't happen. Sampras was competitive and got progressively better as the series went on.

Match 1 in Seoul: Federer wins 6-4, 6-3.

Match 2 in Kuala Lumpur: Federer wins 7-6 (8-6 ), 7-6 (7-5).

Match 3 in Macau: Sampras wins 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

I wish I could have watched these matches instead of just reading about them. :o(

I try to refrain from walking down the endless meanderings of "What if..." especially when comparing athletes of essentially different periods; nevertheless, I can't help but wonder how great the tennis might have been had these two great players' careers overlapped with both in their primes.

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