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Byline: DODIE KAZANJIAN editor: Valerie Steiker
Two tennis greats prepare to meet at Madison Square Garden.
Tennis nirvana is at hand: Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, the two greatest players of our time--or maybe all time--will play a three-set exhibition match at Madison Square Garden on March 10. The matchup was born last November in Asia, where Federer won their first two meetings but lost the third. "This guy can play tennis, you know," Federer said after that one. Sampras, ten years older at 36, and five years into retirement from the pro circuit, advised us not to get carried away. "The court was very, very fast, which helped my game out a little bit. Actually, quite a bit."
The surface at Madison Square Garden will be somewhat slower but fast enough to help Sampras's still overpowering serve-and-volley game. "He will serve and volley basically each time," Federer tells me from Melbourne, where he's getting ready for the Australian Open. "This is actually pretty simple for me, since I know what is coming at me each time. The problem is that his serve is still so good, which gives him so many opportunities."
"I probably hit the ball better today because of the technology," Sampras says by ...