Pete Sampras was blown away Federer back in 2014, a time when the Swiss star was in the latter stages of his glittering success.

Federer won a total of 103 ATP Tour titles during his time on the court, with his Grand Slam success starting and ending in 2003 and 2018 respectively.

He is now enjoying his retirement, but the iconic figure will more than likely keep tabs on the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Roger Federer left crying his eyes out after 2000 Open 13 final in Marseille

Federer will have very fond memories of the ATP 500 tournament, which is now underway, given he won his 100th title there in 2019.

He beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4 to reach the milestone, following in the footsteps of Jimmy Connors in 1983.

Asked in his winning press conference which of his 100 titles stand out, Federer replied: “I mean, I have a few.

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“French Open 2009 was a big deal for me. Of course, also Hamburg 2002 when I broke the top 10 and beat [Marat] Safin in the finals completely out of the blue, that title. I think title number one, it was a special one for me.

“I’m not kidding if I tell you I hoped I was going to not go down as a player never to win a tournament because I lost my first two quite dramatically, 7-6 in the third against my good friend Marc Rosset in Marseille.

“I cried my eyes out. He told me, ‘don’t worry about it, you’ll win some more’. I’m like, ‘it’s easy for you to say’. Then in Basel, my home tournament, I wanted to win so badly, I ended up losing 6-1 in the fifth.”

Federer met compatriot Rosset in the 2000 Open 13 final in Marseille, reaching that stage as a wildcard after superbly knocking out defending champion Fabrice Santoro.

But it was Rosset who would overcome future world-beater Federer, with the former beating the latter 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(7-5).

Roger Federer ‘so relieved’ after first ATP title at Milan Indoors in 2001

Federer was then left with a similar feeling after he took on Thomas Enqvist in the Swiss Indoors final in the same year.

The Swede overcame the Swiss ace in his home tournament, winning a thrilling clash 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(7-4), 1-6, 6-1.

It’s fair to say he recovered after that defeat, with Federer still the most successful player at the Basel tournament thanks to his 10 titles.

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Federer’s 100th ATP Tour title in Dubai came 6,600 days after he won his first title at the Milan Indoors in 2001, when he overcame Julien Boutter.

Discussing that match, Federer continued in Dubai in 2019: “When I came to Milan in 2001, the sanction was owned by the Dubai tournament already, I was able to beat [Yevgeny] Kafelnikov along the way, beat Julien Boutter in the final.

“I think I had match points in the second set, lost the second, went into the third. I was so relieved I was not going to be that guy who was going to be endless talent with no titles.

“You can imagine today sitting with 100 how much disbelief there is in between what happened then and now.”

Unsurprisingly Federer also looked back fondly on his 2009 French Open success, where he beat Robin Soderling in the final for his one and only title at Roland Garros.