Victory delight for Federer at house of Sampras

Roger Federer took great delight in beating his childhood idol Pete Sampras at the American player's home in a friendly match during his build-up to the Pacific Life Open. The two met only once on the ATP circuit, in the fourth round of Wimbledon in...

Roger Federer took great delight in beating his childhood idol Pete Sampras at the American player's home in a friendly match during his build-up to the Pacific Life Open.

The two met only once on the ATP circuit, in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2001 when Federer triumphed 7-5 in the fifth set.

"Beating him in his backyard in Wimbledon was so special to me so I wanted to beat him in his house," Federer said with a smile.

The Swiss maestro spent two days hitting with Sampras while visiting the 35-year-old former world number one at his Beverly Hills home in Los Angeles.

"It was great," Federer said. "I knew I was coming to LA. so I rang up Pete and asked: 'Any chance?' He was like: 'Yeah, sure'."

Sampras, who won 14 grand slam titles and more than $43 million in prize money during a 15-year career, retired after winning the 2002 US Open final against compatriot Andre Agassi.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.