As he bid a tearful adieu to fans at Flushing Meadows last evening, Andre Agassi brought an end to an era in tennis - atleast to those of us who grew up watching Edberg & Becker first, and then Sampras & Agassi.
You could point to a few years in the life of any sportsman and say - "Man! Those were the years when he was at his peak - he could steam-roll anyone in sight!". With Agassi, there never really was a peak - or there were so many peaks that you really couldn't isolate a few!
When I look back, I never liked Agassi back in the early 90's - his pony tail and flashy behaviour made it easy for me to get away with comments like "He is all show - no substance!", "His serve is fit for the women's game - he lives only on his return". Back then, my favourite was Boris and anyone who could beat him - and that included only Sampras and Agassi - would automatically earn my hatred!
However, Agassi's subsequent career graph has been the stuff you want to remember when you are 60, sitting on a rocker chair and want a nice story to tell your grandchildren - he had the steepest rise through the ATP rankings, the heaviest falls - much like his hairstyle which went all the way from a flowing pony tail to nothing more than a stubble. Everytime people thought he was on the verge of retirement, he cut out a little more of the flashiness, he added a few more tonnes of grit into him and reinvented himself ceaselessly as the supreme-showman-tennis star.
Sportsmen like Steve Waugh, Andre Agassi are business school case study material - they represent the triumph of attitude, character and above all, a deep understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Andre is special - he did all this and still managed to be the darling of the crowds for close to two decades! You should have seen the number of people who shed tears last evening in New York!
I used to think Agassi was lucky - but his career has been a product of such tremendous mental strength, physical training and attitude that I now believe the only slice of luck he had was getting a wife like Steffi Graf.
Thank you Andre - for providing memories and memorable matches, for giving me a dinner table story for my retirement, and most of all, for being a living proof of the triumph of mind over body.
You could point to a few years in the life of any sportsman and say - "Man! Those were the years when he was at his peak - he could steam-roll anyone in sight!". With Agassi, there never really was a peak - or there were so many peaks that you really couldn't isolate a few!
When I look back, I never liked Agassi back in the early 90's - his pony tail and flashy behaviour made it easy for me to get away with comments like "He is all show - no substance!", "His serve is fit for the women's game - he lives only on his return". Back then, my favourite was Boris and anyone who could beat him - and that included only Sampras and Agassi - would automatically earn my hatred!
However, Agassi's subsequent career graph has been the stuff you want to remember when you are 60, sitting on a rocker chair and want a nice story to tell your grandchildren - he had the steepest rise through the ATP rankings, the heaviest falls - much like his hairstyle which went all the way from a flowing pony tail to nothing more than a stubble. Everytime people thought he was on the verge of retirement, he cut out a little more of the flashiness, he added a few more tonnes of grit into him and reinvented himself ceaselessly as the supreme-showman-tennis star.
Sportsmen like Steve Waugh, Andre Agassi are business school case study material - they represent the triumph of attitude, character and above all, a deep understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. Andre is special - he did all this and still managed to be the darling of the crowds for close to two decades! You should have seen the number of people who shed tears last evening in New York!
I used to think Agassi was lucky - but his career has been a product of such tremendous mental strength, physical training and attitude that I now believe the only slice of luck he had was getting a wife like Steffi Graf.
Thank you Andre - for providing memories and memorable matches, for giving me a dinner table story for my retirement, and most of all, for being a living proof of the triumph of mind over body.
