Roger Federer has selected his favourite match from his entire career and it’s not one that involves him playing Rafael Nadal.
The legendary figure has been quizzed on his career during an interview earlier this week.
Federer won 20 Grand Slam titles during his career – including eight at Wimbledon and six in Australia.
In total, he won a staggering 103 career titles and also won the Tour Finals on six occasions.
Although Federer had some epic tussles with Nadal, he’s claimed that his favourite match of his entire career didn’t come against the Spaniard.
Roger Federer picks his favourite ever match that he played in
Well, this one is perhaps a bit surprising considering that it’s a match that doesn’t involve Nadal.
Instead, he’s picked his epic five-set win over Pete Sampras – a man he calls his idol – in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2001.
Federer won on that occasion in five sets, beating the defending champion 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 and he’s called it his favourite ever match.
He told We Are Tennis: “I was junior Wimbledon champion a couple of years earlier from when I played Pete and that was the only time I ever played him which was a dream come true in itself.
“Maybe looking back this was my favourite match I ever played. Just because it was my first time at Wimbledon against Pete, my hero, and it was disbelief that I actually got a chance to play him – let alone beat him!
“I was lucky beating him 7-5 in the fifth and he’s a good friend of mine. I’m happy I got a chance to play against him. Pete retired rather quickly following that and that was definitely one of my favourites.”
Federer win over Sampras saw a new star born
The Swiss superstar endured a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show after beating Sampras.
He lost in the very next round to Tim Henman, with Goran Ivanesevic claiming his one and only Wimbledon title.
The win had a bigger complexion though and Federer beating Sampras in 2001 seemed to represent a changing of the guard.
The Basle native won his first Wimbledon title just two years later and would then go onto dominate the tournament for years to come.
It really must have been a dream win for Federer to beat the man he’d looked up to for so long.
That win gave him serious belief that he had what it took to be among the best in the world and it’s perhaps no surprise he’s picked out that win as his favourite ever.
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