Sports People: 49-year-old McEnroe praises Sampras after losing match
Photos & images All Slideshows ยป
Click Photo to Enlarge
ADVERTISEMENT
EVER-READY GLASS
SALES REPS Trades/Construction
Sun Tran
PT Maintenance Supervisor General
COMMUNITY PROVIDER OF ENRICHMENT SERVICES
CAREER GROWTH Finance and Accounting
Sun Van
Accounting Analyst Finance and Accounting
FLOWERS, RIEGER & ASSOCIATES
TAX STAFF Job Fairs
Southwest Truck Driver Training
Accounting Assistant Health Care
CHILDREN'S CLINICS
MEDICAL RECORDS SUPERVISOR
- Most Commented Stories Today
- Most E-mailed Stories Today
LONDON - A fast court, plenty of fast serves and a straight-sets win. It was all vintage Pete Sampras.
The seven-time Wimbledon champion played tennis in England on Wednesday for the first time since 2002, beating John McEnroe 6-3, 6-4 in a seniors match at the Royal Albert Hall.
"To be retired six years and still play in front of good crowds is an honor," the 37-year-old Sampras said. "It was a fun night of tennis."
On the court, Sampras dominated. Wearing a dark blue shirt and white shorts - instead of the usual all-white attire he used to don at the All England Club in his heyday - he served 19 aces, including three in the final game.
"That serve is just scary," said the 49-year-old McEnroe, who wasted four break points in the opening game of the match. "It's not often you get a chance to break a serve like that."
In true McEnroe fashion, however, the seven-time Grand Slam champion wasn't happy with all the calls.
"At 30-40 (in the first game), that serve, to me it was clearly out," McEnroe said.
In the final game of the first set, McEnroe thought another of Sampras' serves was out, but his opponent was all too happy to show him where it landed.
The record 14-time Grand Slam champion walked toward the net with a tennis ball held over his head, mimicking the trajectory of the previous shot. He approached the net, then hopped over it, continued walking toward the center service line and placed it down, right on the line.
"The ball was clearly in," Sampras said later.
Despite the result, McEnroe played well, too, impressing the much younger Sampras with his fitness and his serving ability.
"I had a hard time sort of picking up his serve," Sampras said. "To be 49 and be able to serve and volley and be effective, and has the hands and the movement. Forty-nine's not young in tennis."
McEnroe was even more impressed with Sampras, saying again he thinks the American great still has the ability to be playing on tour with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
"They wouldn't want to play him," McEnroe said.
London Games in trouble?
LONDON - A key organizer of the 2012 London Olympics has rebutted suggestions that the global financial crisis has made this the worst possible time to stage the games.
With the London Games set to cost three times more than the original estimate and the British team facing a shortfall in funding of $74.8 million because of an absence of private finance, some lawmakers and commentators have suggested the British capital erred in bidding for the event.
But Olympic Delivery Authority chief executive David Higgins said investment in the city's infrastructure, which accounts for three quarters of the $13.8 billion budget, is providing an unforeseeable boost to the economy.
Analysts have suggested there will be 2 million unemployed in the U.K. by the end of the year and, with Britain's construction sector having shrunk last month at the fastest pace on record, Higgins suggested the Olympics is providing a rare stimulus to the economy.
"In a challenging economic climate, work on the Olympic Park has already created nearly 3,000 new jobs with nearly one in 10 of those working on site previously unemployed," Higgins said in a prepared speech for a business conference Thursday.
"Up to 9,000 construction workers will be needed at the peak of construction."
- Read All Comments » 0 TOTAL COMMENTS
- Post a Comment »