For Andre Agassi, the mind and heart were willing but the body gave up at this year’s US Open, ending an amazing career spanning two decades. Interestingly he lost in 4 sets to B. Becker(Benjamin not Boris) yet another young player who says Agassi was his role model while growing up. This year has been tough for Andre physically and maybe in hindsight it would have been better for him to retire last year at the US Open when he  had a great run to the finals before losing to Federer in straight sets. In this match it was sad to see Andre 3-4 meters behind the baseline playing a defensive game on a surface where he’s dominated in the past attacking the ball on the rise, right on the baseline. I guess his back pains were not allowing him to move quick enough for such a type of game. But Andre at 36 still had the steely will of old to push Becker to four sets while hobbling around the baseline. At the end of the match an emotional Andre was in tears after thanking the crowd for supporting him all these years. 

Looking back on the last 2 decades, though I really enjoyed his matches with Pete Sampras, Andre was never among the players I really rooted for. Maybe coz so much of his game was based on pure natural ability that I could never relate to him much on a tennis court. Just a commentry on my (lack of!)abilities not his game as such. But I do still remember as a very young kid trying(not so sucessfully) to open up on the forehand to hit the ball on the rise like him. His sucess also made people aware of the importance of having a good return of service. With Andre Agassi I also associate witnessing some of the most heroic moments in sport as seen in his second coming post semi-retirement in the late 1990’s. The victory at Roland Garros in 1999 and subsequently his rise back to the top 10 in rankings must rank as among the most incredible comebacks in tennis. Only Jeniffer Capriati’s emotional comeback post a troubled teenage period compares(favourably?) to that. In any case with 8 grand slams and more importantly a career slam(win in all 4) his place among the all-time greats is assured. 

I didn’t get to see the match but looking at this match report it must have been another of those never ending classic night matches that happen only in the US Open. Some nice edited excerpts:

Marcos Baghdatis said before his 2nd round match with his childhood hero Andre Agassi that he could well be playing the villain’s role in Andre Agassi’s last tournament before retiring. And apparantly so it was for more than 5 hours as the New York crowds cheered every time Baghdatis missed and almost willed Andre to hang on with their support. Eventually Andre playing with the determination of a man who knew it could be his last match in a slam, prevailed over his younger opponent. The scoreline was 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 5-7. As usual Andre Agassi was graceful and had nice things to say about his 21 yr old opponent.

“It’s a guy like that who makes it easier to walk away from the game because you see what kind of hands it’s in. He’s a true professional with a lot of style, a lot of charisma and a lot of talent.”

Marcos who was inspired to take up tennis after watching Andre win Wimbledon 14 years back said he didn’t mind being jeered by the partisan crowds every time he celebrated after winning a point .

“It was tough, really tough. But that’s life. That’s the way it is. He deserves what he has and having this crowd with him.”

Baghdatis fought back from two sets down and overcame a 4-0 deficit in the fourth set, aided by 83 winners to 34 for Agassi. But any advantage in mobility was erased at 4-4 in the decisive fifth set as the cramps left him sprawled on the court in pain. Because he had received medical treatment earlier in the set, he was unable to call for assistance. Baghdatis was forced to get back to his feet or lose the game after receiving a match-delay warning from the chair umpire. The game went to eight deuces before Agassi won. Marcos said later in an interview that the pressure of playing Andre in the 5th set got to him and he started to cramp up.

“It’s the first time it happened to me. It wasn’t physical, it was about stress. You have to control yourself and Andre has more experience than me.”

Three games later, Agassi broke Baghdatis’s serve to end the match after three hours and 48 minutes. Marcos’s parting thoughts reflected his disappointment.

“Playing Andre Agassi on center court in Arthur Ashe, I wanted to die on the court. I’m really disappointed, but you have to accept it. You have to look forward. “

I’m kind of disappointed too since now there will be fewer players for me to root for at the closing stages. Even Marat Safin, on the recovery trail post injury and still not at peak form, has to face David Nalbandian in today’s match. That will be a tough match for Marat. Apart from Marcos I’m still trying to get more familiar with the new players breaking out. Richard Gasquet has looked impressive in the hard court season this year. And Tomas Berdych(who famously beat Federer at the Olympics) is another player who impressed in some matches. Berdych thrashed Nadal recently in 3 sets(was 6-2 in the third) and has a winning record against him. Gasquet has swept past most people(including Berdych!) in this hardcourt season. Both are still young and inconsistent but have the talent to win a slam provided they learn to handle the mental side of the game better. Richard Gasquet in particular seems incredibly talented and also prone to strange lapses of concentration(those type of players usually end up being my favourites!). An interesting statistic is that of his 6 matches against Federer so far 4 have gone to the deciding set. In the most recent one I saw him totally outplay Roger Federer for a set and a half in the Toronto Masters and then lose his focus completely. Well anyway hopefully at least one of these three advances to the second week or by default I’ll just be just left with supporting the sentimental favourite Andre Agassi among the men.