2001 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles 2001 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles Pete Sampras was a record seven-time (and four-time defending) champion, but he lost in the fourth round to 19-year-old Roger Federer. The Sampras-Federer match was the only time the two tennis legends ever competed against each other in any ATP event as active tour players. This was the first Grand Slam tournament at which Federer was seeded. Sampras was also attempting to equal Björn Borg's 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles. Goran Ivanišević defeated Pat Rafter in the final, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 9–7 to win the Wimbledon title. Ivanišević became the first unseeded player to
1996 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles 1996 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles Pete Sampras was the three-time defending champion but lost in the quarterfinals to Richard Krajicek, in his only loss at Wimbledon between 1993 and 2000. Krajicek defeated MaliVai Washington in the final, 6–3, 6–4, 6–3 to win the Gentlemen's Singles tennis title at the 1996 Wimbledon Championships. Krajicek had originally been unseeded, but as the 17th ranked player in the Wimbledon seedings he replaced 7th seed Thomas Muster in the draw, when Muster withdrew shortly before the start of the tournament. A number of high-seeded men were eliminated early, including 1992 champion Andre Agassi