ANDRE GOING OUT AS ONE OF THE VERY BEST
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
June 30, 2006 Friday
Andre is retiring.
Andre Agassi, along with Michael, Tiger and Brazilian soccer stars,
is one of the rare sports figures whom people know around the world
by their first name. All good things must end, and Andre has announced
that this will be his last Wimbledon and he’ll retire from competitive
tennis after the U.S. Open.
Andre is one of my personal favorites for many reasons. For one,
he is the most charitable athlete in the world.
He came into this year’s Wimbledon only 4-4 in matches this year,
but he’s 47-12 at Wimbledon, counting two wins this week. His court
movement is clearly restricted from the body that had him No. 1 in
the world for 101 weeks.
At 36, Andre has played opponents 20 years younger.
"I feel old when I see mousse in my opponent’s hair," he said at one
postmatch news conference.
Andre is looking more to the future than to the past or the present.
When friend and former rival Pete Sampras and his wife had a baby,
Andre said, "I’ve got a hundred bucks that says my baby beats Pete’s
baby. I just think genetics are in my favor."
Of course, Andre is married to former Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf.
We can’t help but think of the past, however. Who could forget Andre’s
debut at the U.S. Open? His long hair resembled a lion’s mane, and
his cheetah quickness was evident. He wore fashionable denim shorts,
and the electric New York crowd encouraged his rebel attitude.
Sponsors pursued him and he became a walking billboard. The infamous
"image" ad by a camera sponsor encapsulated his defiant nature.
Ironically, Andre’s toughest opponent that year was another radical
player — an aging one, Jimmy Connors.
Andre, one of only a handful of players to have been in four
consecutive Grand Slam finals, has had wrist, back and hip injuries
that have kept him from being in premium shape. These injuries have
limited him to mostly Slam events the past few years.
Andre is a grinder. He loves to outlast his opponent. No one believed
Wimbledon would be the first Grand Slam tournament he won, yet 14
years after that championship he’s back in the third round.
An Armenian raised in Las Vegas, Andre avoided this premier tournament
like the plague for three years. Wearing white and playing on grass
didn’t suit his personality or game, so he thought. On a lark,
he flew to London mere days before the event with no practice on
the hard-to-find grass courts. He banged away until he won the 1992
Wimbledon event.
He was nearly as adamant about traveling across the world to play
in the Australian Open. For years he didn’t believe he could win it,
but he won it on his first visit. Four other Australian Open titles
followed.
Through the years, Andre has dramatically changed, for the better.
After all, he had to grow up in the limelight. However, instead of
merely "evolving," Andre metamorphosed into an involver.
I will write more about Andre the week of the U.S. Open in August.
Meanwhile, expect a great third-round match between Agassi and Rafael
Nadal at the All England Club.