Federer versus Sampras

Here are some pictures that my friend Garnet took at the NetJets Showdown: Roger Federer versus Pete Sampras on March 10, 2008 at Madison Square Garden. It was an exhibition match against two of the greatest tennis players of all-time. Garnet and I sat at opposite end of the stadium, but her view was much better than mine! From my side, I could see the television networks interviews - specifically John McEnroe. He's much skinnier in person than I imagined him to be, but he's quite tall and lanky. It was interesting to see him commenting the game but I was more interested in watching the live action.

Overall it was a great game. I was rooting for Pete the entire time and I was hoping that he could pull an upset. (Yes, sadly it would be an upset even though die-hard Sampras fans would disagree with me). The crowd was very supportive of his efforts but alas, he made too many errors in the third match. Roger was too good and easily turned on his charm and made ace after ace... Oh and it was very interesting when Roger first entered the court. Since he wore all black, I guess the musicians thought it would be funny to play the Darth Vader Star Wars theme while he entered the court. Hahaha. Dum dum da dum.

Black versus white. Good versus evil. Swiss versus American. The current great star versus the old great tennis player. There are so many ways to dramatize the entire event. But the scoreboard at the end says it all.