It's Sampras v Federer for Macau
World number one and his illustrious predecessor set for casino arena clash
A friendly knockabout by legends Pete Sampras and Roger Federer two months ago will turn into the real thing in Macau in November.
The pair, who had struck up a friendship following Federer's win at the 2006 US Open, practised for two days at Sampras' Los Angeles home and enjoyed themselves so much they thought fans might want to see them in a competitive setting.
That concept has come to fruition with a multimillion-dollar series of exhibition matches in Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and, finally, Macau on November 24.
'We want to put on a good show but also make it competitive,' Sampras, 35, said yesterday from California. 'I think we can duplicate what we had on my court; we'll just have a few more people watching.'
If organisers have their way, it will be 15,000 people watching in a packed stadium at the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel.
The Venetian Macau Tennis Showdown is the third high-profile event planned by the Las Vegas Sands Corp for the opening of its casino, expected by the end of the summer. The Cotai Strip resort will host Manchester United v Shenzhen Xiangxue Eisiti in July and the NBA's Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers in October.
'This continues our promise to deliver the most exciting sporting and entertainment experiences as part of our overall Macau entertainment-destination strategy,' William Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp, said.
However, the match differs from the other marquee events in that it is the number one tennis player in the world against Sampras, who retired in 2002 and has only recently come back to play in a few Champions Series events, winning two tournament titles in 2007. And unlike the football or basketball exhibition games, the competition is between two of the best players to have ever played.
Sampras and Federer have only played each other once in competition, in a classic centre-court match at Wimbledon in 2001, when Federer, then 19, won 7-5 in the fifth set. Now 25, Federer has 10 grand slam titles and Sampras said that one day Federer will break his record of 14 titles.
'If there's someone I want to break my records, it's Roger,' Sampras said.
'[But] it would have been nice to let me enjoy this for more than seven or eight years - it didn't last too long.'
But even with Federer's dominance of the game - on Sunday, he broke Rafael Nadal's 81-match win streak on clay - Sampras felt he would be able to be competitive, even though he said he wasn't as sharp and he didn't move as well.
Federer will be arriving from the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, scheduled for November 11-18.
'I can still hold my own and so I'm looking forward to it and hopefully I'll have a few tricks up my sleeve,' Sampras said.
Federer said the opportunity to play Sampras again was a dream come true.
Both players were adamant that one of the matches be played in Macau and when organisers approached the Venetian, Sands Macau president Mark Brown said it was an opportunity they simply could not pass up.
'It's Bill Weidner, it's like his dream,' Brown said. 'On the sports side he's very passionate about every single type of sporting event that can possibly come together, whether it's an exhibition match or something real, bringing NBA games here. As long as he's here, we're going to be pushing sports strongly.'
1 Competitive meeting
Federer won 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 in the 2001 Wimbledon quarter-finals
Pete Sampras
Age: 35
Height: 1.85 metres
Grand slam titles: 14 (9 by age 25)
Singles titles: 64
Career prize money: US$43,280,489
Consecutive weeks spent at number one: 286
Roger Federer
Age: 25
Height: 1.85 metres
Grand slam titles: 10
Singles titles: 48
Career prize money: US$30,565,328
Consecutive weeks spent at number one: 172 and counting