2000 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles 2000 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles Pete Sampras successfully defended his title for the fourth consecutive year, defeating Pat Rafter in the final, 6–7, 7–6, 6–4, 6–2 to win the Gentlemen's Singles tennis title at the 2000 Wimbledon Championships. Sampras' 7th Wimbledon title equalled William Renshaw's record, and was an Open Era record in the Gentleman's Singles until 2017, when Roger Federer won his 8th title. His victory was his 13th Grand Slam title, surpassing Roy Emerson as the overall leader in Grand Slam singles titles. This was to be Sampras' last Wimbledon title. With his first round victory against
The Championships, Wimbledon the United States, ABC began showing taped highlights of the Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles Final in the 1960s on its "Wide World of Sports" series. NBC began covering Wimbledon in 1969, with same-day taped (and often edited) coverage of the Gentlemen's Singles Final. In 1979, the network began carrying the Gentlemen's and Ladies' Singles Finals live. For the next few decades, Americans made a tradition of NBC's "Breakfast at Wimbledon" specials at weekends. Live coverage started early in the morning (the US being a minimum of 5 hours behind the UK) and continued well into the afternoon, interspersed with commentary and