Dubai: Former world number one Pete Sampras is surely headed to Dubai as part of the annual Legends Rock Dubai tennis tournament.
"I always keep my promises. I promised to bring Borg and I did. I said I would bring McEnroe and he too came.
"Now it is time for Sampras and he too will be here in the near future," Farbod Dowlatshahi told Gulf News.
After taking a few years off tennis following his retirement, Sampras has started playing in selective tournaments on the Outback Champions Series.
His last involvement with the sport was last week when he took part in a couple of exhibition matches in Asia against current world number one Roger Federer.
"Having Sampras here is something of a dream and I will ensure this dream comes true for the UAE," Dowlatshahi promised.
"In the next two years Sampras will play in Dubai as part of the Legends Rock Dubai," he vouched.
The President of Delwood, organisers of the annual event, went a step further and stated that in all likelihood Sampras may be pitted against his arch rival Andre Agassi.
"Both players [Agassi and Sampras] are involved with the Outback Champions Series. So getting them here should not be too much of a problem," Dowlatshahi said.
Sampras has already started mapping out his playing schedule for 2008, while Agassi has been showing signs of playing in the odd tournament.
This year's Outback Champions Series concluded with the Dubai tournament - the seventh and final round of the championship.
Todd Martin displaced Jim Courier as the new champion, while Sampras was in second place overall with 2,400 points before the start of the Dubai tournament.
Courier confident
Courier, who is the co-founder of the Outback Champions Series, also struck a confident note on Sampras playing in the UAE.
"Not many players want to play the whole year round now that they have retired from an active career," Courier said.
"Sampras is playing well at the moment. He took part in three tournaments and won all three.
He was down three match points in Boston, but he fought back to win the tournament. This just shows how competitive he is still," Courier said. Meanwhile, former top ten player Thomas Muster of Austria has jumped in favour of the fast-changing game of tennis.
Commenting on the lack of emotion showed by players, especially the top ones like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the Austrian said: "It is a very intense game these days. One can no longer play with the crowd like in a team sport. You identify with the crowd and you lose your concentration and lose the match."
Muster said that the modern-day player has to choose between wanting to be popular with the crowd or winning.
