Filed under: ATPTwenty-nine years old, and no longer on the perch. Most likely, Roger Federer will never get back onto it again, either. And even if he does, the inevitable is already closing in.
It's an uncomfortable spot for a tennis superstar, for any world-beating athlete, really.
Pete Sampras knows. Ten years ago, Sampras was here, where Federer is now. He was the Greatest Player of All Time (GOAT, in tennis lingo). Then, he won Wimbledon at 29, but fell from No. 1. Just over a year later, he was out of the top 10 for good.
Federer is 29. He won the Australian this year, but has fallen from No. 1. And now?
"Well, I struggled after that Wimbledon," Sampras said Thursday on a conference call to promote the BNP Paribas Showdown Feb. 28 in New York. He will play Andre Agassi, and John McEnroe will face Ivan Lendl.
"I just felt that week-in and week-out, I just didn't have it in me as much as I did - the grind of going to some of these events and finding the fire. I just sort of was trying to win another major, and those guys got a little bit better, the young (guys in their) 20s. I was slowing down."
Sampras did win one last major, the 2002 U.S. Open after two years of tumbling down the rankings. Then, he retired.
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