World number one Roger Federer said Pete Sampras would be ranked in the top five if he was still a player.

The American, who retired after capturing the last of his record 14 grand slam titles at the U.S. Open in 2002, proved that he was still a force to be reckoned with in an exhibition match against Federer.

Although Sampras lost 7-6 7-5, his blistering 210 kph first serves impressed the Swiss.

"It was very difficult to read his serve," said Federer, who is two grand slam titles from equalling Sampras' record.

"I think if he was still playing he would be a top five player."

Sampras, however, has no plans to make a comeback at 36.

"No. It's a tough lifestyle and I'm happy with a great wife and great two kids relaxing in Los Angeles," he said.

Sampras, retired for five years, brought back memories of his no-nonsense style of play during the match and later lamented the demise of serve-and-volley tennis that he put to such good use over the years.

"Serve and volley is extinct," he said.

"In my day we had some great serve-and-volley players. There was myself, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Goran Ivanisevic and others.

"But with the size of rackets getting bigger, junior players these days are only taught to hit the ball as hard as they can. There are some players who come in but they are not natural serve-and-volleyers."

The match in the Malaysian capital was part of the country's 50 years of independence celebrations.

NIJE LI OVO SRAMOTNO DA JEDAN 36. GODISNJAK JE U RANGU SADASNJIH TOP 5. TOLIKO O USPOREDBAMA SADASNJEG TENISA I KONKURENCIJE I ONE IMA 10 GODINA!!

pa to tvrdim Nikita cijelo vrijeme...

Oooo Nikita  pa to je Federer izjavio iz pristojnosti ne znači da bi tako i bilo, neka se vrati i neka uđe u top5 ako može Bjorkman igra i dalje a ima 37.

Ma kakvih top 5. Jeste li vi gledali ova dva meca? Federer je igrao iz zajebancije, a kad zaskripi dodao bi gas.
Ljudi su platili OGROMNE pare za ulaznice i sta sad  da ga ovaj samelje sa 6:1 6:1 u 40 minuta!? Pa na sto bi to licilo?
Federer je dobar i pristojan covjek....ove izjave ne znace nista, a Sapras bi se vjerovatno premorio posle 5 meceva u 10 dana, ono sto ti treba na turnirima.
Slazem se da je muski tenis pre 10 godina bio bolji, ali tvrditi da Sampras sada moze biti medju 5, je smejurija.

Točno to Federer se zajebava, čitao sam da mu se prvi servis smanjio za 15 mph po prosjeku protiv Samprasa, igra na nekih 40%.

Smatram da je apsurdno usporedjivat njih 2. 10 god razlike je ipak malo previse cak i da je rijec o Supermanu,a ne o obicnom smrtniku. Federer ce zasigurno nadmasit Petea po broju GS-a,al za mene ce Pete bit i ostat No.1 bez obzira na broj Fedovih GS-a. Po meni Samprasovih 7. Wimblica ima puno vecu tezinu nego Federerovih. Tako vladat u All England Clubu pored svih onih igraca da ih ne nabrajan sad je za poklonit se. Iako volin Nadala-moran priznat da to sta je on igra 2 put finale Wimblica govori sve-ako ga jos i osvoji....Tenis vise nije sta je bija i to je cinjenica!!!

Upravo san pogledala snimku na YU BI TOU  pa ovo je apsurdno. Sampras jedva da se krece!!!!

Pa normalno izgleda kao traktor u usporedbi sa Federerom, stare kosti i kada je zadnji put igrao pravi tenis prije 5 godina, to je egzibcija.