Former No. 1 Pete Sampras showed glimpses of his dominating best against a top player 12 years his junior in the second set of his 6-3, 7-6 (2) exhibition loss to Spain’s Fernando Verdasco at the SAP Open.
Sampras received a rousing standing ovation once the 56-minute match was over. He waved and hit three balls into the crowd before telling everybody he “felt a little old” out there.
It was first exhibition match for the 14-time Grand Slam champion since he beat long-time American rival Andre Agassi 3-6, 6-3, 10-8, decided on a match tiebreak at Macau in late October.
“It was a pretty rough night,” Sampras said. “I never really felt I could get into his service games. Playing defence is harder for me. That’s something I used to do a pretty good job at. It’s harder to move.”
The seven-time Wimbledon champion, who played his last tour match winning the 2002 U.S. Open, plays about a half-dozen exhibition events a year, as well as on the champions tour run by his friend and former rival Jim Courier. He uses a bigger racket now than his ATP Tour days to try to keep up with the hard-hitting youngsters on tour now – like the overpowering Verdasco.
Sampras hit back-to-back aces in the first game of the second set and a big first serve that Verdasco couldn’t return to capture that game. Sampras’s impressive scoop volley for a winner four games later drew a thumbs-up from Verdasco across the net.
Yet the very next game, Sampras sent a forehand long and shook his head and looked at his racket. When the chair umpire called another forehand by Sampras long on the next point and then corrected it, Sampras held his arms in the air and twirled his racket.
“I felt a little old,” he said. “I tried. At times it wasn’t all that competitive.”