Roger Federer admits that it got uncomfortable on court during the Hit for Haiti when Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras traded ill-conceived impersonations and appeared to get angry at each other.
The Swiss said his hands were largely tied, though he tried to lighten the atmosphere. “I don't think it was that crazy bad, but it was a bit awkward because you didn't know, was it just fun, was it not fun? What was it?” Federer commented after navigating through his opening match at Indian Wells.
“Sure, you try to loosen up the moment, because for us to play tennis with microphones on is not something we're used to. I mean, I couldn't even talk to Pete after that because we were having the microphones on. The whole time to have the microphone right there it's kind of tricky and dangerous at times, I think as we saw the other night. But I tried to help with the situation. And now being a father, I thought maybe we have to give both guys like a timeout or something. We didn't have to go that far.”
American Andy Roddick, who has played Davis Cup with both Sampras and Agassi, heard about the controversy and decided to watch it on YouTube.
“I think they would probably both tell you it got away from them a little bit there,” Roddick said. “I think all the years of kind of intense competition might have come out a little bit there. With any great rivalry where you play that long there's going to be a boiling point. Unfortunately, I think we might have seen that the other night.”