Grand Slam Record, Pete Sampras vs. Roger Federer
The former American tennis ace Pete Sampras was famously recognized as one of the best men's singles tennis player of all times during his professional life and even after his retirement. His record of fourteen Grand Slam trophies stood alone until last year when Roger Federer levelled it at the French Open championship and then later on surpassed it at the grass court Grand Slam tournament. However there is one significant match in Pete Sampras' professional life that could have given him, unduly, another Grand Slam trophy.
Petr Korda another former professional tennis player who is known for succeeding in the 1998 Australian Open tournament however soon thereafter he turned ill-reputed for testing positive as a result of having taken a forbidden substance. That positive test for taking a prohibited substance really should put a champion beside Petr Korda's solitary Grand Slam. If Mark McGwire can earn a billion home victories in his career and be left out of the Hall of Fame for taking the Fifth Amendment concerning the prohibited substance utilization then definitely the cogency of Korda's Grand Slam accomplishment can be disqualified.
The Grand Slam that followed the 1998 Aussie was the United States Open back in 1997 where Pete Sampras was seeded number one. Moreover, the1.84 meters tall Sampras was also the two times defending winner of the US hard court championship and it was predicted that he will grab that title easily.
Just imagine who knocked him down?
Petr Korda, the fifteen seeded player, kicked out Sampras from the fourth round of the championship in their exciting five set close encounter with a final score of 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6. A number of analysts who watched the match were totally shocked by Sampras’s early exit from the Grand Slam tournament. After the match, Korda in his interview said that he could have knocked down Pete in straight sets if wasn't for dreadful line calls.
In reference of the fact that the match was held at such a period in Korda's professional life when he was caught consuming prohibited materials then a major question needs to be asked. Did Sampras actually lost that game as he was fighting against a deceiver? In such a closely played clash that went to a fifth set tiebreaker one has to think that any deceiving benefit could practically have influenced into the outcome.
If Sampras had succeeded in that clash he would have had comfortable draw to the finals versus the unseeded players such as Greg Rusedski and Jonas Bjorkman, both players that are traditionally trivial. The final encounter versus Patrick Rafter would have been a very hard one to triumph for Rafter as the American tennis star Pete Sampras was 12-4 lifetime versus the Aussie Tennis player. Roger Federer, on the other hand has won a total of sixteen Grand Slam titles so far in his career. However according to several analysts Federer is just one ahead of Sampras in terms of Grand Slam titles Sampras in their books got fumbled up by a Korda's embarrassing cheating.
However, there is certainly no doubt about the fact that both the players in the game of tennis are a true specialist beyond any measure of speculations. Federer's class and flair was highlighted by Jimmy Connors who commented about the tennis master by saying that, “In an age of experts, you're a hard court specialist, a grass court expert, or a clay court master or you're simply Roger Federer”. On the other hand, Pete Sampras is also widely regarded as an “all court player” all around the world beyond any doubt.
Tags: