Roger Federer Reminisces About Beating Childhood Hero Pete Sampras at Wimbledon: “I Had Tears in My Eyes”

Back in 2001, Roger Federer hogged the spotlight for the first time when he upset his childhood hero Pete Sampras in the fourth round of Wimbledon. After a five-set thriller, Federer reached his career’s second Grand Slam quarterfinal.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion ended Sampras’ winning streak in the London Major, as prior to his defeat, he won four consecutive titles in the tournament.

I remember the corridor walk, and just that feeling was crazy. And then that first moment when you start hitting with Pete, I had ice-cold hands, and I remember hitting the ball and then Pete was hitting the ball back to me, obviously in the warm-up, and I was thinking to myself, this is so cool. I am so lucky. This is incredible. But I just felt, my god, I’m playing well. Anything can happen.

Roger Federer said (via International Tennis Hall of Fame YouTube channel)

In 2002, Sampras made one more appearance at Wimbledon, and the next year, he called time on his career.

It was like disbelief. I had tears in my eyes, and that moment never gets forgotten. It’s incredible how vivid it was for me and still today. A lot of people were talking about is the passing of the torch.

Roger Federer added

Federer never met Sampras in another match. After his win over the American, Federer lost to home favorite Tim Henman in the quarterfinals.

Steve Flink calls Pete Sampras the most dominant grass-court player ahead of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic

Pete Sampras, the 14-time Grand Slam champion, retired after winning seven Wimbledon titles. Roger Federer, after winning his first Wimbledon title, completed a five-peat but lost to Rafael Nadal in the 2008 final. He won three more titles, the last of which was in 2017, which made him the first man in the Open Era to win eight titles in the grass-court Major.

Federer lost four Wimbledon finals, three times at the hands of Novak Djokovic, who is tied with Sampras with seven trophies at SW19. Djokovic also lost three finals in the tournament.

Recently, Steve Flink, a Tennis Hall of Fame journalist, made an appearance on the Tennis and Bagels Podcast, during which he explained why he considers Sampras the greatest Wimbledon champion ahead of Federer and Djokovic.

I’d probably put Sampras at the top, because he was the most dominant grass-court player. It’s true that Roger, to his credit, surpassed him and got to eight titles to Pete’s seven, but Pete never losing a final is pretty convincing to be 7-0 in Centre Court finals. […] I have to say, even though Roger was the more natural grass court player, it is hard to ignore [Djokovic’s] three final wins over Roger.

Djokovic last won Wimbledon in 2022 by defeating Nick Kyrgios, and since then, he has played two finals in the event, in 2023 and 2024, losing both times to Carlos Alcaraz.

Last year, Nole reached the semifinals but lost in straight sets to eventual champion Jannik Sinner. This year as well, the Italian ace knocked the Serb out and later beat Alexander Zverev to become the 10th man in the Open Era to defend the title in the third Major of the season.

Prior to his defeat to the five-time Grand Slam champion, Djokovic overcame Felix Auger-Aliassime in a five-set thriller, with the match lasting more than five hours. Djokovic, however, has already played one Grand Slam final this year.

Following his five-set win over Sinner in the Australian Open semifinal, the 39-year-old lost to Alcaraz in the final. But at the French Open, Joao Fonseca ended his run in the third round.

Also read: Former British ATP Star Speaks on the Toll of Tennis Schedule Amid Carlos Alcaraz Comeback Puzzle