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.
4 comments:
Agassi was always my favourite right from his flashy days - when he was the "rebel". I missed yesterday's match. It would have been nice to have watched it. Somehow, it never occured to me that he would lose the match. I just recall - James Blake paid tribute to Agassi in this US Open. He wore a bright orange flashy outfit and a bandana in his last match. I would surely miss Agassi.
I saw the great man bow out of tennis yesterday. His match against Bagdatis was classic.
There is an interesting note on Becker's autobiography. Agassi had 11-5 (not sure) record against Becker. After retirement, Becker jokingly asked Andre on how he managed beat him so many times. Andre's reply was "Simple! I just used to watch out for your tongue. The direction it stuck out was invariably the way you were gonna serve". I'm sure Becker must have been flabbergasted. idhaithaan annikkE 'yaakaavaaraayinum naa kaakka'-nu Thiruvalluvar sonnaar pOla irukku;-)
I remember a couple of classic Becker vs Agassi games in 1995. Becker won the Wimbledon in 4 sets and Agassi won by a similar margin at the Flushing meadows.
As you rightly said, Andre is a story of grit, class and perseverance. After all he is the only "all grand slam winner" our generation has seen.
-- Ram
p.s: Interestingly it was a B.Becker who drew curtains on the great Andre;-)
hey dude
agassi as b-school case study?! strange but not throw-away either. His fighting spirit and persevarance is worth a laud!
There is little element of doubt that Agassi is a player par excellence - an epitome of grit and determination. And "The Hindu" so rightly captured Agassi's last moment on the flushing meadows- tears rolling down his cheeks. A salutation to the great player and the equally great newspaper.
Agassi's case reminds me of the debate on quality versus performance. Is innate ability more important or is the performance and application of the skills and ability more relevant. Agassi, though is a superior player in terms of quality, has won accolades through sheer performance, unlike Becker who is a genius- the quality stuff.
Managers of today or always like the cat on the wall when it comes to decision making in terms of recruitment. a choice between the maveric and mercurial genius and the persevering acheiver
aravind vasu
iim-b
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