Federer and Sampras play one for the ages...
Boy, this sounds like one heckuva night...
First of all, you've got my hero, Billie Jean King, on court at Madison Square Garden with Pete Sampras and Roger Federer who went on to stage a thrilling three sets of tennis that lasted 2.5 hours before a crowd of just under 20,000 that included Federer pals Tiger Woods and Anna Wintour.
In the end, the elegant Federer edged Pistol Pete 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) and won $1 million.
“It turned out to be this thriller match,” Federer said. "You don’t often get the No. 1 in his prime playing against maybe the greatest player of all time.”
The two only played one real match, back at Wimbledon in 2001 and it was a real changing-of-the-guard affair. A teenaged Federer edged Sampras in a five-setter on Centre Court, ending his’ 31-match winning streak at the All England Club; Sampras never won there again while Federer has won five consecutive championships at Wimbledon.
Kennethinthe212 was there and wrote up a nice recap you should check out!
Greg Hernandez has covered the entertainment industry for the Daily
News since 2001. He's considered a bit odd by some for his obsession
with box office numbers, has been known to camp out near the kitchen
at premieres for first crack at the hors d'oeurves, and Greg's never
seen a red carpet he didn't want to stroll down.