The Hindu : Sport : A fascinating odyssey comes to an end

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 05, 2006

Sport

Sport

A fascinating odyssey comes to an end

Christopher Clarey

NEW YORK : It hardly ended with a whimper, yet it ended just the same for Andre Agassi.

In a 21-year tennis career that came to a close at the U.S. Open on Sunday, he produced many a memorable plot twist; he reshaped his image, physique, priorities and place in the game by the force of his personality and an often underrated will.

But he could not summon the energy or the shot-making to reshape the course of a third-round match against the qualifier Benjamin Becker of Germany, losing 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5.

When the match finished — with Becker holding serve at love with his 27th ace — Agassi and his last opponent met at the net, then Agassi sat courtside and put a towel to his face.

He was already starting to cry, and there would be more tears as he eventually rose, walked back onto the court and stuck to tradition by blowing kisses to all four ends of the stadium.

He returned to his chair, overcome by the moment, as the sellout crowd of over 23,000, which had not always had reason to cheer during his last match, stayed on its feet for several minutes applauding.

His wife, Steffi Graf, one of the game's greatest women's champions, and their children, Jaden, 4, and Jaz, 2, were also standing and applauding.

Emotional speech

So was Becker, and Agassi eventually rose again, blew four more kisses, then asked for the microphone from the CBS reporter Mary Joe Fernandez. He chose to give a speech instead of an interview, and his voice was breaking.

"The scoreboard said I lost today," Agassi told the crowd. "But what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I have found. Over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life.

"I found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments, and I've found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could never have reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you, and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life."

With that, Agassi handed back the microphone, grabbed his equipment and walked, pigeon-toed of course, off the court. He walked away from the game that was imposed upon him by his father Mike when he was a child prodigy in Las Vegas, but a game that eventually became something he lived for quite willingly.

"I am thankful for my father giving me this game," Agassi said later.

He was not the best American player of his remarkable generation. That was Pete Sampras, who won 14 Grand Slam singles titles to Agassi's eight and beat him four times out of five in major finals. But Agassi was unquestionably the biggest tennis star of his generation.

In his final seasons, he was also in frequent pain, because of sciatica caused by a degenerative back condition linked, according to his trainer Gil Reyes, to slippage in a vertebra.

The condition curtailed his play this season and led to his decision to announce that he would retire after this tournament. He considered not playing after some disappointing results on American hard courts earlier this summer, but he ultimately stuck to his plan and, with the help of a cortisone injection in July and another one last Tuesday, he played unexpectedly well.

Still, after beating Marcos Baghdatis in a thrilling second-round match that ended on Friday morning, he collapsed in pain on his way out of the stadium. He lay on the sidewalk with a case containing a freshly minted DVD of the match under his head for a pillow.

"That was the worst I've ever been; I just credit the doctors that I was able to get out there today," said Agassi, who was administered anti-inflammatory injections on Friday, Saturday and again Sunday morning.

Nonetheless, he was far from his best, and his movement, particularly his lateral movement, bore little resemblance to his crank-back-the-clock footwork against Baghdatis.

"My heart was telling me to go get him out there," Reyes said. "He's hurting bad, and it hurts so bad to see him do it. But his heart was telling him: `No. Finish. Finish it out. Leave it all, and when you leave, open up your arms and heart and take something with you that you will never forget.'"

Though Agassi was nearly always interesting during his two decades at the top, he was not always worthy of admiration. He once spat at a chair umpire during this very tournament. Over the years, he has made offensive jokes during news conferences and the occasional uncharitable comment about a lineswoman or an opponent, including Sampras.

Rare athlete

But has been that rare athlete who has made a huge impact on and off the court. On the court, he was ranked No. 1 for 101 weeks and won 60 tour titles.

In perhaps his most impressive achievement, he was the only man in the last 37 years to win all four Grand Slam singles titles — the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

He is the only man to have won them on three different surfaces. When Don Budge, Fred Perry, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson managed it, three of the four Grand Slam events were on grass. Now, only Wimbledon is played on the game's original surface.

Off court, he has leveraged his celebrity for worthy causes: creating one of the most successful charitable foundations in sports and launching a charter school for underprivileged youth in Las Vegas, his home city.

Above all, he has grown up in the public eye, which helps explain why there were also so many tears in the eyes of fans Sunday. A lot of those watching might once have had long hair and questionably colourful taste in clothes, too. A lot of those watching might once have said things in their youth that they would not mind retracting.

Asked what he would say to his 17-year-old self, Agassi answered without hesitating: "I would say, I understand you a heck of a lot more than I want to be you."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport