Ronaldo versus the Sa-Za twins was tasty, Dunga squaring up to Bebeto rather shocking and Andre Agassi being mugged by star-of-the-future Tommy Haas somewhat satisfying.
But those World Cup and Wimbledon match-ups were tame compared with the heavyweight contest that's going on in a London court at the moment.
Former armed robber turned investigative reporter John McVicar is being sued for libel by athletic hard-nut Linford Christie, the former Olympic sprint champion. Now that's ugly.
McVicar, a London gangland figure before swapping his pistol for a pen, wrote an article in the now-defunct magazine Spiked about Christie's athletic career and the prevalence of drugs in the sport.
Christie reacted as he usually does to negative reports about his career - angrily - but this time his ire did not subside quickly. He cried 'libel' and hauled McVicar into an arena he is pretty familiar with, the courthouse.
If initial reports of the proceedings are anything to go by, Christie should have stayed in his blocks and not challenged McVicar to this particular race.
As so often happens in libel cases, it's Christie and the murky world of international athletics that is coming under scrutiny as much as McVicar's musings.