Some moments stay with you for the rest of your life. Tennis legend Roger Federer recently spoke about one such moment at the Shanghai Masters. Federer talked about a lot of things: about China and tennis spreading into more and more countries. However, his statement about the match with another legend, Pete Sampras, became the highlight.

Federer made his appearance at the event a bit earlier than usual, when he showed up at Andrey Rublev’s match in the quarter-finals. It is understandable that Federer is an important figure in the world of tennis. Hence, people pay attention when the 20-time Grand Slam champion talks about something.

Roger Federer and his experience when he defeated Pete Sampras

According to Federer, it is important to taste success at least once to get the wheel rolling. He says: “You need results and you need success sometimes. I got that with my win over Sampras at Wimbledon. He was my hero at the time and it was a tough match for me too.” He digs deep into the fact that defeating Sampras was a pivotal point in his career. However, it was also quite tough for him. 

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Federer explained that even though the win felt nice, he also felt bad for Sampras. He says: “To win in many ways because I feel bad for him because he was trying to win his 5th Wimbledon in a row. Anyway for me it was terrific and it just showed me that I was on the right path.”

The reason for that was, if Sampras had won that match, it would have been his 5th Wimbledon title in a row. The win was also important because it made him realize his true capabilities. In his words: “As I explained and how then that gives me motivation. The confidence to keep on going is actually almost like shifting gears and finding the next gear. That maybe I didn’t know I even had.”

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Roger then talks about how happy he is that more and more players are joining tennis. He says: “So I’m just very happy to hear that more players are actually playing. In the process, you will have more better players.” He also specifies that this will lead to the filtration of the best players in tennis. Soon after, he shed light on the growth of tennis as a sport.

Tennis making its space in Asia

Roger Federer, without any hesitation, put the truth out for everyone. He describes how Americans and Europeans are currently dominating tennis. He says: ‘Tennis in Asia will become much much stronger than it is right now. Because right now it is very much American especially Europe-based.” 

He leans on the idea that tennis’ popularity keeps moving around the world. Furthermore, he expresses his support for China and the whole of Asia. The Swiss says: “But I think as we know tennis always moves around. I’ve always been a big supporter of the Asian market especially here in China.”

Federer, like always, shared some great insights on tennis and its expansion. His little story about winning against Sampras definitely piqued the interest of many fans. Did you find that story motivating? Let us know in the comments below.

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