By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Tennis fans will be presented with the dream match they have been waiting for when world No.1 Roger Federer goes up against the legendary Pete Sampras at a southern Seoul court in November.
According to officials at Sema Sports Marketing, which announced the match as official Tuesday, Federer and Sampras will meet at the Olympic Tennis Court in Jamsil, southern Seoul, on Nov. 20 in an exhibition match for bragging rights as the greatest tennis player ever.
The match will mark the start of the ``Federer-Sampras Asia Tour’’ that also stops at Malaysia and Macao.
The two players have met only once in their careers, with the up-and-coming Federer beating Sampras, who was at the tail-end of his prime, 3-1 in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2001.
Sampras, who was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in January, is a former world No.1 tennis player from the U.S. who won a record 14 Grand Slam men’s single titles, including seven Wimbledon crowns and five U.S. Open titles that stand as records for both tournaments.
He finished No. 1 on the ATP rankings for six consecutive years, a record for the open era and tying him for third all-time.
As ridiculous as Sampras’ achievements are, the Swiss-born Federer seems to be on pace to put up even better numbers than his boyhood idol.
Federer so far has won 11 Grand Slam men’s titles, three Tennis Masters Cup titles and 14 ATP Masters Series titles.
His rivalry with Spanish clay-court genius Rafael Nadal has turned into this generation’s version of the Sampras-Agassi rivalry.
This year at Wimbledon, Federer reached his ninth consecutive Grand Slam singles title, which is an all-time record in men’s tennis. By winning, he tied Bjorn Borg's open-era record of five consecutive Wimbledon championships.
Federer has been ranked No. 1 in the world since Feb. 2, 2004, and holds the all-time record for most consecutive weeks as the top-ranked male player. His current lead in the rankings guarantees that on Aug. 27 he will break Steffi Graf's record for most consecutive weeks (186) as the top-ranked male or female player.
Federer also visited Seoul last year for an exhibition match against Nadal.