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Yinette PerezAndre Agassi fairytale continues at the US Open
September 2nd 2006 01:26
The 2006 U.S. Open [11], starting August 28, represents the last opportunity for tennis fans to see Agassi in ATP play live. Agassi is unseeded in the U.S. Open for the first time since 1997.
Agassi was visibly shaken and nervous in his pre-match interview with Jim Courier before his first round match, but the appreciative crowd roared when he stepped out onto the court. Before the pre-match warmup, Agassi paused, glanced around the arena, and took a deep breath. He seemed to want to take it all in and savor the experience.
Agassi won the match, defeating 77th-ranked Romanian Andrei Pavel 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (6), 6-2[12]. Commentator John McEnroe called the match one of the best first round matches he has seen, impressed by Agassi's high level of play and praising Pavel's powerful one-handed backhand as one of the best in the game. Agassi was down 0-4 in the third set and his chances looked bleak. But after his coach Darren Cahill brought him more tightly strung racquets, Agassi seemed to find his range and was able to take control of the match, reeling off 5 games in a row. Pavel received treatment for stomach cramps and diarrhea. In the fourth set, Pavel's fatigue took its toll and Agassi, fighting off tears, was able to serve out match point.
It was a stunning display that silenced all of his critics, proving that he could still play world class tennis. After the match, Pavel remarked, "He's still one of the fittest guys on tour. He's amazing." Pavel added his support. "He's the man right now. I wish him well. I hope he can go all the way. He deserves it." An elated Agassi then thanked the crowd who for years have embraced him as their own and have given him enormous support on every point. "To be out there for that long gives me hope for what I can push myself through," Agassi said. “I want to be here real bad, for the whole two weeks. I really want to leave my best stuff on the court. I’m very proud of this day, and I’m glad it gets to happen again. ... You want it to be everything you hope it is. It was perfect.”
The next day Agassi revealed that he could hardly stand an hour after his grueling first round match due to his recurring back pain from an inflamed sciatic nerve [13]. He went to the hospital and was given a painful injection of cortisone with a seven-inch needle deep into his back to dull the pain in advance of his third round match. Such injections have helped Agassi to play the last couple of years. "The inflammation was pretty bad, and I just don’t want to go off the court limping," Agassi said.
In his second round match against eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus), Agassi started out strong taking the first two sets, but was unable to take the third set. In the fourth set, he went up 4-0 on Baghdatis before Baghdatis won seven of the last eight games to take the set. In the telling fifth set, Baghdatis broke Agassi in the 36-year-old's first service game, but after Baghdatis took a medical timeout to get his strained left thigh massaged, Agassi was able to recollect himself and break back in the next game. The pair traded games until the ninth game, when both of Baghdatis's thighs seriously cramped up on him during an extended Agassi service game[1]. Baghdatis was able to continue, although he was visibly hurting. After again receiving on-court medical treatment from the trainer at the end of that game, he was able to slow Agassi down, holding off an initial match point. But he was ultimately unable to hold off Agassi, who finally won 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5 in 3 hours and 48 minutes. Agassi has never lost a five-set match when winning the first two sets. After the match, a gracious Baghdatis remarked how important Agassi has been to the sport of tennis, and how he wishes him luck for the tournament and, even more importantly, for his life. Agassi then thanked the raucous, sellout crowd that buoyed him through the match. "You're not guaranteed these moments," Agassi said, "and to feel it out there is something I can keep with me forever." Agassi then said of his triumph, "It just seems like it's getting better and better, just keeps getting topped, and the feeling of that kind of enthusiasm ... my head was ringing when I came in the tunnel afterwards. I've lived a dream for 21 years. It's going to be impossible for me to be disappointed with a result when you have that sort of support and feeling out there. This is why I chose here (to retire)."
The effect of this extended five-set match on Agassi's fragile back is not yet clear, but he was already limping as he entered the post-match media interview room. On Saturday afternoon Agassi's third round match will be against Benjamin Becker, a 112th-ranked German qualifier with no tour titles who nonetheless knocked off 30th seed Sébastien Grosjean in straight sets.
*Article from Wikipedia, used with permission.
*Pictures from Getty Images, Copyright.
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