Pete Sampras believes Andy Murray is among a small group of players who can challenge the dominance of world number one Roger Federer.

Sampras believes British number one Murray is among the likes of Nadal, Serbian Novak Djokovic, Ukrainian Nikolay Davydenko and Spain's David Ferrer, who make up the chasing pack trailing Switzerland's five-time Wimbledon champion.

"I think Andy has a lot of potential. He has had to deal with some injuries but he is part of a crew that can threaten Roger. Roger is still the man to beat, but it is possible," Sampras said.

But Sampras insists Federer's opposition falls short of the standard of Pat Rafter, Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Jim Courier, who formed the American's main challengers when he dominated in the 1990s and early part of this decade.

"The crew behind Roger is really, really good but he is also great," added Sampras.

"But I had more major winners up against me versus the rising stars behind Roger."

Federer also acknowledged Murray ranks among his nearest challengers.

"It is interesting time for me in my tennis life right now. I am facing the new generation such as Rafael and Novak and I think it is going to be fun over the next few years with other young talent like Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet and Marcos Baghdatis looking to make the next step," he said.

"We have many great young players coming up, but we also have the usual guys like Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick and the future is bright."

From:  http://sport.scotsman.com/tennis.cfm?id=1847272007