THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Pete Sampras was hardly at the height of his powers when he ceded the stage to Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon, losing their only head-to-head encounter that counted.
Sampras would go on to win only one more match at the All England Club after that 2001 defeat, never coming close to adding to his seven championships at the grass-court Grand Slam.
Federer, a decade younger, would go on to supplant Sampras at No. 1 in the rankings, assume his status as a perennial power at Wimbledon with five consecutive titles there, and begin to chip, chip, chip away at his record for major trophies.
So perhaps its fitting that Federer is on a rare losing streak heading into Monday’s latest exhibition match against Sampras at New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
The Swiss was upset in the Australian Open semifinals in January — preventing him from adding to his 12 Grand Slams, two shy of Sampras’ total — and then in the first round of a tournament in Dubai this month.
"I think it’s a cause of concern for Federer, to be honest," U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe said. "To me, it’s really big that these guys go out there and don’t seem to be intimidated by Federer and have sort of figured out that if you play consistently and can run a lot of balls down and make Federer hit a lot of shots, that you can beat him.
"Certainly, I wouldn’t say it’s a crisis for Federer. But I’d say that his days of utter domination may be coming to an end."
An explanation emerged Friday, though: It turns out Federer was diagnosed in February with mononucleosis, an infection caused by a virus with symptoms that include fever, sore throat, headaches and feeling tired.
"This gave him a reason for why he wasn’t able to move and why he wasn’t able to recover," said Federer’s agent, Tony Godsick. "It was annoying for him to not have reasons for why his body wasn’t responding."
Sampras, who beat Andre Agassi in the 2002 U.S. Open final in his last professional match, paid quite a compliment recently by comparing tennis’ current top player, Federer, to its former standard-bearer, himself.
"He’s got a good perspective. Doesn’t get too high or low on losses or wins. You know, just sort of has that attitude that I had: single-minded focus," Sampras said. "He just goes out there and wins."
Federer’s drive could be on display Monday, a simple exhibition.
"He’s not going to want to lose; I’m not going to want to lose," Sampras said. "That’s what people are coming to really see. It’s not us doing cartwheels."
The match might answer, for some, who is the best.
"There’s going to be a never-ending debate about who is the best or who would have done what against people from the previous era. We can talk about this for days and not come to a conclusion. That’s part of why this match is attracting a lot of attention and a sellout crowd," said Ivan Lendl, who won eight Slam titles and is helping promote Monday’s event.
"They didn’t get to the top of the field in their time — and most likely top two or three or four all-time — by not being competitive," Lendl said in a telephone interview. "So, yes, there may be a little lightheartedness, but at the end of the day, I think both will want to win rather urgently."
It’s been a dozen years since Madison Square Garden, site of the second Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier heavyweight title fight in 1974, has staged a men’s tennis match.
More than 8,000 tickets were sold within 72 hours when they first went on sale in January, promoter Jerry Solomon said, and the whole thing effectively was sold out in three weeks.
"There’s just a tremendous interest in these two guys. Pete retired after winning the U.S. Open and then sort of wasn’t around anymore. Roger has not been, until recently, all that high-profile in America," said Solomon, who worked to promote a tennis event at the Garden at the start of his career in the 1970s.
"So I think there’s just a real fascination with these two guys, who are not only great champions but great people and great ambassadors for the sport. They don’t get in trouble. They’re not throwing rackets. They’re really world-class guys, in addition to being world-class tennis players."
Federer, 26, and Sampras, 36, faced each other three times in Asia in November, and by all accounts wound up as friends and mutual admirers. Federer took the first match 6-4, 6-3 in Seoul, and the second 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) in Kuala Lumpur, while Sampras claimed the third 7-6 (8), 6-4 in Macau.
Federer came away impressed, saying Sampras’ volleys would match up with the best on tour these days and acknowledging that Sampras’ serve still stings.
"You can wake him up at 2 in the morning," Federer said, "and he’ll hit a monster serve."