The AA Express

Tennis has long been a hobby of mine (my wife would say 'borderline obsession :smiley: ). I have been a fan of Andre Agassi for almost his entire career, from when he was absolutely smoking forehands and backhands back in 1987, hitting the ball harder than anyone I have ever seen, before or since (and volleys that were even worse than now, if it is possible), to the psychodelic pink and purple spandex, to the pirate look Down Under, to the glistening pate today.

I was a fan when he lost consecutive French Open finals and got smoked by Sampras in the US open in 1990. I was a fan when he lost interest in tennis and gained interest in the Taco Bell buffet. Was still a fan when he magically won Wimbledon in 92 (in, btw, one of the best Wimbledon finals ever, I believe). He re-dedicated himself and went to number one in the world in 1995. Lost interest again after marrying Brooke, and his ranking fell to 141 in the world–yep, I was still a fan.

At the time, all I wished was that he would recover to respectibility again before retiring. I hated to think that one of the last images we would have of Agassi was him losing a challenger final. He won a couple of tournaments in 1998, and although he didn’t do much in the Majors (lack of stamina), I was happy to see him back to a level from which he could retire with dignity.

So suffice it to say that four grand-slam finals in a row in 1999, a career grand slam, ending the year at number one, back-to-back Australian Open wins, and some epic matchs with Patrick Rafter and Pete Sampras (last year’s US Open match was a classic!) have all been way above and beyond my wildest dreams. The group of Michael Chang, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Todd Martin, and Agassi may be the single greatest group from one generation/country ever. Of these, Courier has long-been retired, and Chang hasn’t been a factor in about three years. Todd Martin isn’t really a threat. Sampras has his moments (witness last year’s match vs Agassi), but has only one title in almost two years, and is getting routinely beat by lesser opponents. After so much debate about Pete’s ‘longetivity’, maybe we need to take another look at Andre - all those years the knock on him was that he wasn’t dedicating himself – and here he is, at 32, playing the best tennis of his life, in the best physical shape of his life. He may not be the top seed, but he will probably be the favorite at the three Slams remaining this year.

I would love for him to win a Slam or two this year (another French Open or Wimbledon, just to prove that winning it wasn’t a fluke - although he really has nothing to prove; he has been to every slam final at least twice), end the year at number one - and then retire at the top and spend time with his young son.

BTW - my wife is also an AA fan (something I didn’t know until after I married – she gave me updates of the Andre- Sampras match year while I was at work), and we had a little boy last October - so of course we named Andre. And – also something we hadn’t even thought of - our last name ends in A, so guess what his initials are!