Agassi gives us one more epic.
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by user DRE-LO
Anyone that watched all of the passion and drama that unfolded in the Agassi/Baghdatis match last night may have to remind themselves a few times that it was only a second-round match.
Only it was the best second-round match of any tennis grand slam event that I've ever witnessed.
With all the news and views on how bad Agassi's back was the morning after his first round match, you would have thought it a foregone conclusion that Agassi was just going to lose in straight sets, call it a career and effectively pass the torch.
When will we learn?
Hasn't Agassi done more than enough to show that he won't go quietly into the night against anyone? Not even against the #8 player in the world who is having a breakout year in his own right.
As much as Agassi did last night to make last night's match unforgetable, it takes two for a battle to become as epic as it was. Baghdatis could have easily given the match up after going down 4-0 in the 4th set. But with a slew of forehand winners and at times cheesy dropshots that had Agassi scrambling, Baghdatis fought back to make this a 5-set match.
And as Baghdatis broke Agassi to begin the 5th set, you can feel the nervousness of the crowd including Steffi Graf as it seemed apparent that age and father time was catching up to Agassi at an inopportune time.
And then we were proven wrong again as Agassi broke Baghdatis back.
For near four hours last night, we were reminded once again of the purity of tennis and sports in general. The beauty of two opponents in battle busting their collective backsides in pursuit of something more than just a simple victory and major prize money.
In a culture that seemingly has nothing but dollar signs in their eyes when it comes to sports or anything for that matter, we need to be constantly reminded of the days when it wasn't about the number of endorsement deals or the amount of money for guaranteed contracts. Agassi constantly reminds us of this not just by his play on the court but by his humbleness while accepting victory.
This is one of the many reasons that I {and i'm sure many others} will be shedding more than a few tears when Agassi takes his final bow. Hopefully it will be with the US Open trophy so he can go out in Elway-like fashion. But no matter when it is, I will simply stare at the screen and say:
Thank you, Andre.
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/usopen06/news/story?id=2568332
Date
Fri 09/01/06, 8:11 am EST
