Andre Agassi is - by far - the most globally recognized tennis athlete the world has ever seen. In terms of face recognition he probably rivals (if falls a bit short) of icons such as Tiger Woods and Michael Jordon. He’s raised twice as much money for charity than he won in tennis tournaments. He built a public charter school in his home town of Las Vegas specifically for at-risk children, and only agreed to put his name on the school when his charity foundation assured him his name would bring in more charity dollars.
He literally grew up in the public eye - like lots of talented people with too much money early on he was a punk as a kid: hiding his insecurity with outlandish clothes and comments; running away from tight matches just when things got interesting. Most young punks end up older punks (Belle, Bonds, Moss, etc.). Agassi somehow got it - he found out what was important, before it was too late. He’s won the admiration and respect of his some of harshest critics, not just for what he does on the tennis court but what he does, and how he does it, off the court.
Read this article in SI about Agassi’s life, then tell me he’s ‘just about hitting a ball’. Some business men make lots of money, and give lots to charity. They’re ‘just pushing papers around a desk’. Why is that any better or worse than ‘just hitting a ball over a net’?
Sports matter because they can inspire us. They are a window into the best (and sometimes, the worst) of the human spirit. Sportsmanship, steady nerves in the face of intense pressure, the desire to succeed, the willingness to push yourself beyond your limits…
If you don’t like sports because you can’t understand or respect the intense efforts and sacrifices the very best make for their sport, then I suspect you probably have never really ever pushed yourself to do anything, be it love, work, or play. And that, to me, sounds like a rather bland, dull existence.
I cried when Andre took his final bow. I love tennis but I won’t cry when, say, Roger Federer retires. Agassi set himself apart with his philanthropy and his gentlmanly conduct off the court. He has gone on record to say that the measure of a man is NOT his success on the playing field but how he conducts himself OFF the court. He was gracious with his fans and a gentleman in the locker room. And then we have his foundation. He and Steffi Graf’s school has helped hundreds of children that society has forgotten about – poor minorities. He has donated HIS time and HIS money to better these kids. Like Bill Gates and Warrent Buffet, he isn’t hurting for cash. So what? That does not minimize his contribution.
As far as the media coverage, Agassi cannot control the news media any more than JonBenet Ramsey can. But I will guarantee you that he will use any free publicity time he has to better the world. Good for him.
FTR, I also cried when Steve Irwin died. I know that environmentalists are divided on him. On the one hand, he tried to educate the public about animals who have been reviled unfairly by society. On the other hand, he loved to manhandle animals and impose himself into their environment. That is contrary to a true conservationist who would rather EVERYONE leave the animals in peace. He also needlessly endangered himself and perhaps sent the message to viewers that picking up venomous snakes and approaching crocodiles (and swimming with stingrays) was okay.
But I thought his enthusiasm was infectious, and his ultimate goal, was noble. So I’ll cut him some slack.
Hmm - you do have a point. I have no idea how we’d even measure this. I guess google is as meaningful (or meaningless) as anything else - ‘John McEnroe’ gets 1.8 million hits. ‘Andre Agassi’ gets almost 8.4 million hits. Take that for what it’s worth
I don’t mind the crying, it’s the “I love you all” bit I can’t stand. Michael Jackson used to do it too - WTF does it mean? You don’t know me!! You can’t love me (although I am totally loveable). You love being adored or the fame or the money, but you don’t love strangers in a crowd - stop saying it.
I’m glad that Agassi found something that he loved passionately enough he excelled at it, a passion so great that he felt a great loss when he had to leave it.
I think that what it means is that Andre is aware that if there weren’t tens of thousands of insane tennis fans willing to pay to go to tournaments, watch them on tv and spend millions on the gear players hawk then Andre would have been just another weekend warrior tennis player who had a 9-5 day job that played club tennis on the weekends. Andre got to spend 21 years doing what he loved because the fans were there to support professoinal tennis.
I will concede that as much as I admire Andre, as much as I love tennis (am watching the US open as I type) I have seen the retirement speech quite enough. They can stop now.
Oddly enough, Google had 14,850,000,000 hits about “you”, but only 5,540,000,000 hits about “me”. In real life, you likely are three times more popular than I.
Yeah, I get this, was being a little mean - I still wish people wouldn’t use “I love you” with such gay abandon. He could have shown his greatfulness in another way.
For the most part I agree with you. Sally Field doing the “you like me, you really like me” speech was just her being a melodramatic hag. Michael Jackson doing it, well that is just plain creepy.
I admit I am biased, when Andre said “you let me stand on your shoulders to reach for my dream” I got all warm and fuzzy and thought it was great.
