Roger Federer vs. Pete Sampras

I am not a big believer of stats. That said, there are several interesting coincidences about the careers of Pete and Roger. And unsurprising it is. Though they have vastly different approach to tennis as well as slams, here is an attempt to celebrate the coincidences rather than as a comparison between them.

Sampras and Federer were both born in August ten year apart. Federer's birthday is August 08, 1981, while Sampras's is August 12, 1971. So, at the time of writing, Sampras is 33, while Federer is 23. And the grand slams make up this way too. For example, Federer won Wimbledon 2005 at the age of 23, while Sampras won Wimbledon 1995, at the same age of 23. And so on.. get the drift?

Sampras	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	Career
Australian	-	1r	4r	-	-	SF	W	F	3r	W	QF	-	SF	4r	4r	2
French	-	2r	-	2r	QF	QF	QF	1r	SF	3r	2r	2r	1r	2r	1r	0
Wimbledon	-	1r	1r	2r	SF	W	W	W	QF	W	W	W	W	4r	2r	7
US Open	1rw	4r	W	QF	F	W	4r	W	W	4r	SF	-	F	F	W	5

Federer	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Career
Australian	j-F	q1	3r	3r	4r	4r	W	SF	W	W	SF	F	W	SF		4
French	j-1r	1rw	4r	QF	1r	1r	3r	SF	F	F	F	W	QF	F		1
Wimbledon	j-W	1rw	1r	QF	1r	W	W	W	W	W	F	W	QF	QF		6
US Open	j-SF	q2	3r	4r	4r	4r	W	W	W	W	W	F	SF	SF		5
RF/PS age	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30

Sampras won his half of his 14 slams (7), at his mid point, at his 8th year as a pro (of his 15 year career).

Note: RF/PS age is the age of both Roger Federer and Pete Sampras when the tennis season starts (Jan 1). By the time they play US Open, they would have had their birthday and older by one year. (Like Sampras won his last US Open at age 31, though he was 30 when the tennis season started).

Original idea by Tennis28 ; Data by Wikipedia.

Also Federer at Grand slam Singles Main draw.
______________

Sampras vs Federer on Wimbledon 2001:

Some stats about the historic match in the Round of 16. It was the only time they both met and since Sampras has retired, Federer holds a 1-0 lifetime head to head against him. Going into the match,

• Pete had never lost a 5-set match at Wimbledon before he lost to Federer 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7- 5.
• He had a streak of 31 straight wins at Wimbledon, tying him with Rod Laver.
• Pete had won the seven of the last 8 Wimbledons going into the 2001 Wimby.
• Pete was looking for his 100th win at Wimbledon when he met Federer. He got his 100th win at Wimbledon with his 3-set win over Martin Lee in R128 the next year. It was also his last win at Wimbledon.

For the record, you can get the 2-disc DVD of the match from Adrian. He sells it for US $7.50 [See more]. It is nice to Roger that young and playing a heck of a great match.