McEnroe, Sampras to compete in Seoul next week

Marat Safin, left, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe

By Baek Byung-yeul

Four tennis legends ― John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Marat Safin and Pat Cash ― will compete in a friendly match on an indoor court at Olympic Park SK Stadium in Seoul Nov. 12 to 13.

The Kia Champions Cup in its second year will feature four true tennis greats as three of them ― McEnroe, Sampras and Safin ― have been inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Event organizer JISUN Sports said the first preliminary match will be between Sampras and Safin, and McEnroe and Cash will play the second match on Nov. 12. The following day the winners of the first and second preliminary matches will compete for the winning title.

The Kia Champions Cup is part of the ATP Champions Tour, a men’s tennis tour open to former tennis professionals who are 35 or older or have been retired from the ATP World Tour for more than two years. The participating players are also required to have been either a world No. 1, a singles player on a winning Davis Cup team or a Grand Slam finalist ― winning at the four most important annual tennis events, including the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Last year’s Kia Champions Cup featured Safin, Goran Ivanisevic, Fernando Gonzalez and Michael Chang. Gonzalez won after defeating Chang in the final match.

Tennis fans are awaiting a possible big match between the two big American names ― McEnroe and Sampras ― in the final.

McEnroe, 57, who is well known for his volleying skills, dominated the world tennis scene in the 1980s, winning seven Grand Slam singles title. His official visit to Korea comes 24 years after he his exhibition match with Andre Agassi here in 1992.

Sampras, 45, winner of 14 major tournaments including seven Wimbledon, five U.S. Open and two Australian Open titles, held the record of the most Grand Slams and spent the most weeks as the world’s top tennis player until Roger Federer broke both of them. It will be his second visit to Korea since 2007.

Safin, 36, won two Grand Slam singles including the U.S. Open in 2000 and the Australian Open in 2005. The Russian played against Sampras and took the U.S. Open title over the American.

Cash, 51, is a retired Australian player who clinched the Wimbledon men’s singles title in 1987.

Prior to the event, Sampras will give a serve lesson to junior tennis players here. The organizer said they limited the number of participants to 50. Also, the tennis stars will have autograph-signing events on both days.