This past Monday, we were two of 19,000 lucky tennis fans who got to see a battle of the Champions -- an exhibition match between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras at Madison Square Garden. Even better, we got the prime view from seats in one of the luxury boxes, which is undoubtedly the only way to be at the Garden.
Check out our view. Donald Trump was a few boxes down from us. Tiger Woods and his wife, and Roger's girlfriend and parents were right below us.
The match was billed as "Good vs. Evil" -- perhaps not quite jokingly, as Roger (dressed in menacing black) came out to Darth Vader march, whereas Pete (decked out in his tennis whites) made his entrance to the theme from Superman. It was definitely a treat to see these two extraordinary players go head-to-head, although it really is not a fair comparison. Roger is pretty close to the top of his game right now (his bout with mono notwithstanding) and Pete is over five years into retirement. The game has changed pretty significantly since Pete's dominant days -- his serve-and-volley style was almost jarring to watch since we are all used to seeing players camp out on the baseline. Pete definitely looked like he had lost a step or two over the years.
But Roger is well known for being a class-act and someone who respects the history of tennis. My suspicion was that Roger was not going to embarass Pete if the match was turning lopsided. Roger is an amazing talent on-court, and he has the ability to dial down his play just enough to allow another players a good showing. There were several times when it seemed like Roger was holding back just a bit. That made for a good show (see the score) but it also made the match seem somewhat "manufactured". Even with an exhibition, there is a sense (or a hope) that the players are going to play to win, even if they don't give 100%.
The Garden has not hosted tennis matches on a regular basis for several years and I don't think it is a very good venue for the sport. The acoustics of the arena seem to be more suitable for noisy events (such as hockey, basketball, and concerts) but that does not work well with tennis. The arena is not very big and our box was not that far off the court, yet we had a lot of trouble hear the ball come off the racket and even the line calls. Also, the Garden tried to work up the crowd by using a lot of the same techniques used in basketball games, which seems inappropriate and out of place at a tennis match.
Even still, this was a very special treat to see these two players hit around. Roger and Pete gave a good show and the crowd (including myself) ate it up. It is almost poetic that the only time these two played each other in an actual tournament was in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2001, where Roger won in a very close five sets (7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5). In fact, after the match at the Garden, Pete hinted that their next exhibition may be on the lawns of Wimbledon. With 12 of the last 15 Wimbledon titles between the them, that would truly be a special match.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Federer vs. Sampras
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