Sampras Fed Up

It's surprising, for a guy who's basically retired, to push the number one men's tennis player to the brink of defeat, but that's what Pete Sampras almost did. Like fellow American superstar, Andre Agassi, Sampras has been steadily losing his hair, though unlike Agassi, Sampras has yet to shorn off his remaining hair.

Wielding his old Wilson Pro Staff, a racquet Federer himself used to beat Sampras at Wimbledon 2001, Sampras was using a strategy seldom seen. Come to net. For a while, it seemed that this rematch of a series of games played last year in Asia between the two, would easily go Federer's way. Federer had won the first set 6-3, and had chances to win the second set.

But Sampras held tough, forced it to a tiebreak, and a few errors by Federer lead to a Sampras tiebreak.

The third set opened with Federer taking a break. Enough fooling around, you thought. Federer is ready to take control of the third set. Au revoir, Monsieur Sampras. Except Sampras not only broke back, but broke again. And it seemed all Sampras had to do was hold serve and win again, as he did back in Kuala Lumpur.

Except Federer managed his own break, to bring things back to serve. The two of them them held serve to head in a tiebreak, where Sampras again took a tiny lead, and it looked as if it would be a repeat of the second set. Federer, however, managed to win the points where it mattered most, namely, the end, and Sampras, so close to winning against Federer, had to tip his hat.

Was Federer really, truly that close to losing? Certainly, he was very relaxed in the match, while Sampras was pretty serious. Sampras appeared to serve quite well. Indeed, one could argue, if this were being played as well as both can play, that Sampras could still contend for major titles, if his stamina was solid.

While I never particularly cared for Sampras's style of play, it says something that he can come to net, and attack Federer, a strategy few players ever seem to play these days.

Sad, but true.