When Roger won his eighth Wimbledon title on Sunday, he put to bed any doubts about who the greatest grass player of all time is.

Sitting on seven titles, and tied with the Swiss maestro until this past weekend, was Pistol Pete Sampras, and it’s a shame that there wasn’t a greater overlap between these two great players.

They did meet once in an official tournament though, Wimbledon in 2001, and that match remains the stuff of legends.

Before we go to the highlights reel, Bleacher Report sets the scene:

Sampras, whose seemingly languid movements around the court belied his quickness, would turn 30 shortly.  The seven-time Wimbledon champion met Federer, 19, on Centre Court at Wimbledon—marking the debut of the man from Switzerland on these esteemed grounds during the fourth round in 2001. ..

Coming into Wimbledon, Sampras had won 31 consecutive matches on the green lawns at the All England Club and had lost only one of his last 57.  Sampras symbolized [sic] Wimbledon—it was his home court. The court where he felt his most invincible and could deliver the best his game had to offer.

The knock on Federer coming into this match was his inability to do well in the big moments—at the four slams.  Coming out of the juniors, Federer was touted to be the next best and greatest.  So far, the Swiss failed to live up to his billing and that troubled him, making him try too hard and go for too much.

I think you’re ready for three minutes of tennis magic:

If you have a little more time on your hands, here’s a 15-minute highlights package that really does the battle justice:

It may sound melodramatic, but it represented a changing of the guard:

As Federer fell to his knees, allowing his emotions finally to surface, Sampras sagged at the full impact of his defeat at the place where he’d enjoyed his greatest victories.

The American would never win another championship at Wimbledon.

It symbolised the end of an era, with Sampras losing to the man who would serve as the icon of Wimbledon champions for the next era—even though Federer would not win his first Wimbledon title until 2003.  At the press conference following his defeat, Sampras vowed to return and win another Wimbledon crown.  He never did.

Hate on sport all you like (if so why are you reading this?), but when it presents moments like this you can only watch on in awe.

And yes, before someone gets clever, the two did play in an exhibition match in 2008 – this was also a decent tussle:

[source:bleacherreport]