Commentary May 30, 2005

Sports Commentary



B & G Imagination Junction




A Farewell To The Image? ………………



If you are a fan of tennis you probably are not a fan of this column as the sport has rarely been mentioned in this space.

It is not as if tennis is on my list of sports that I love to hate the most because I, actually, do like the game.

Yet, there is a gap between like and love that has kept me from being an ardent follower of the serve and volley set. I have not completely ignored what happens on the court but, frankly, have treated tennis as a father with way too many children might treat the offspring somewhere in the middle.

The last time that I gave considerable space to the male side of the sport was a discussion of who is the greatest player of all time is upon the retirement of one of the candidates, Pete Sampras—I voted for his opponent in the debate, Rod Laver.
Often, in regards to both individual and team sports, I have written how champions are best made by worthy adversaries—seemingly, without an arch rival, lasting fame is harder to achieve without at least one foe to push the eventual champ.

Laver had Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors had Ivan Ledl-Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, Billie Jean King had Margaret Court and then there were the Chris Evert versus Martina Navratolova duels of yesteryear.

If Sampras is even worthy of discussion then who were his rivals? For a while it appeared as if fellow Californian, Michael Chang, would be the man but his star faded as mysteriously and swiftly as did that of golfer David Duval.

Yet, Sampras did have his rival and it was a rival directly out of central casting as not only was this a player that could push Sampras to the athletic limit but also was a personality the polar opposite from the quiet and unassuming Pete.

Pete Sampras was only a truly great tennis champion that should have been enough. Yet, his accomplishments were first not taken seriously but later underscored by Andre Agassi.

Sampras was vanilla while the young Agassi was all the known colors, in the rainbow, with a few new ones tossed in. Sampras played a game of incredible precision combined with power while Agassi, though hardly weak, was flair.

Pete would not think of donning anything but the white garb of the traditional tennis player—with Agassi one never knew what he would wear…..or not wear.

After victories Sampras would politely shake the hands of the vanquished and the referee and quietly slip away while Agassi would rip off his shirt and toss it to his squealing female fans before the handshakes.

Sampras was Rush Limbaugh and Mozart while Agassi was Howard Stern and Motley Crew. Sampras married his childhood sweetheart while Agassi married actress Brooke Shields.

With Agassi it was all about the image.

Andre was a marvelous tennis talent of appreciable accomplishment with eight major tournament championships so it would be grossly unfair to say that he lacked the substance to match his style.

Yet, on the courts, he was always just a step or two behind Pete.

Both Agassi and Sampras came along as teenagers into the big time just as McEnroe’s career was wrapping up. So, along with Chang, Andre and Pete became the future of men’s tennis in the late 1980s.
Agassi got all the publicity and most of the endorsements while Sampras just won matches.

Agassi’s critics said that the American, born in Italy, would easily be the better player and perhaps the equal of the great Laver if he had a bit less style to raise the substance.

In fact, Agassi was a young man that had it all but did not have what Sampras had among his peers and true tennis fans, respect.

By the late 1990s it seemed to be crashing down on Andre—though always a threat he went through the realization that image is not everything.

He was losing more often and continued to lose to Sampras in particular, slipping in the world rankings, and going through a divorce—all before the age of thirty.

It was time for the image to go through one more major overhaul.
The hair went from long and flowing to none at all and the outfits though not vanilla were less gaudy. More importantly he worked harder on his tennis, took much better care of himself and remarried to a woman who understood absolutely everything about the pressures of tennis fame.

Just as Agassi was never thought a bad boy and even Brooke is thought a delightful lady they were not the best of matches—Former women’s champion, Steffi Graf, seems to have been the finest of tonics for Agassi.

As the century turned so did Agassi’s fortunes on the court—with a new family, a reworked image and dedication the now more mature Andre showed some of that so long expected promise. Though Sampras still could beat him Agassi was now sharing Sampras respect.

Ironically, the two rivals from different approaches to life have always got on with each other well—they were hardly close buds but were and are still friends.

Sampras music stopped two years ago but Agassi has played on. Andre is now thirty-five years old that is ancient for a professional tennis player. Yet, until the last year, Agassi still was still winning and being the Andre we all thought that he could be.

Then came the back.

For quite a while Agassi has had an inflamed sciatic nerve. Earlier this year he received a cortisone shot but it has not really helped.

Yet, Agassi has played through the pain and fighting father time.

Tuesday, at the French Open in Paris, Agassi lost a five set match in the first round to the number ninety-five ranked player in the world, Finland’s Jarkko Niemien.

Agassi was wincing with each movement yet, actually, was ahead two sets to one. The pain was so fierce, at that point, that he considered forfeiting though in the lead. He won just one game in the final two sets.

Now the question becomes retirement—Andre does not know yet. For now, he will rest the back and hope that he will be fit for the next major event, Wimbledon in July.

In his comeback, of the past few years, Agassi has accomplished what seemed elusive when he was a young man. He has showed that he really is not just an image but also a man of substance. As with so many of us, we need the lessons of life to be experienced.

If I were he, that I definitely am not, I would play Wimbledon if all right but then make a grand exit at the US Open in August. If reality ever fits the image Flushing Meadow and Andre Agassi are one and that should serve as his farewell.

I did not like the young Andre as I thought, as others, that he was more full of himself than of talent.

Yet, the older and wiser Andre has got from me what he has sought from many much more important than I.

Pete is still the best ever or, at least, until we count up what Holland’s Roger Federer accomplishes. Yet, Andre Agassi has cemented his spot among the best.

In the end, does not that make for the best of images?
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