WIMBLEDON, England -- A peculiar, obscure tennis match from Tuesday, June 25, 2002, has breathed on ever since with a relevance few in its Centre Court audience would've forecast.
On that afternoon, the defending Wimbledon champion remained Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia. Pete Sampras lingered one day from his last Wimbledon match, an incomprehensible loss to 145th-ranked George Bastl. And an 18-year-old qualifier from Croatia, Mario Ancic, ranked No. 154, played his first Grand Slam match.
He beat Roger Federer, 20 years old and seeded No. 7, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3, becoming the first teenager to win a Centre Court debut since 1972.
Ancic said of Federer, "I knew him from TV."
Federer said of Ancic, "I knew he was young; I didn't know much more."
Federer said, "I'm terribly down right now."
He must've meant it, for that's the last match Federer lost on Wimbledon or on grass, so it provides some distant backlighting for Wednesday's Federer-Ancic quarterfinal at Wimbledon 2008.
At the time, Ancic seemed an Ivanisevic replica, hailing from the same Croatian city (Split), offering the same deadpan wit and bombing a similarly pulverizing serve.
Perhaps, some might have thought, this promising young Federer and this audacious young Ancic might grapple for future Wimbledon titles.
"No, that's not how I felt when I played him," Federer said Monday after beating Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6 (7), 6-2, 6-4.
He felt mere shock.
The year before, Federer's ample promise had sparkled in a classic five-set win over Sampras. Federer came in as one of the hip favorites alongside Hewitt, Tim Henman and maybe even Sampras.
"I completely underestimated him back in 2002 when I played him," Federer said. "I played a great Wimbledon the year before . . . I mean, I just thought, you know, I'll play a little bit of serve and volley. I expected him to stay back and it was the opposite. I couldn't serve and volley because I thought conditions were slow. He served and volleyed first and second serves, I can remember.
"I got completely surprised. He played well till the very end. I was a little shell-shocked and didn't know what happened to me."
Then Ancic moved along to play Jan Vacek of the Czech Republic in the second round, where he promptly lost in straight sets and deepened Federer's lost-opportunity shock.
