Salute to Andre !

Allow me to join what all other tennis afficinados are doing of late, appreciating, saluting, recalling the memories which Andre Agassi left for us in the wake of his retirement after losing (eventually his last match) to german Benjamin Becker in US Open 3rd Round. 21 years of service to tennis with countless, literally, highlight reel fodder for us to savour. I ll confess it here, the fact that he was sampras was ultimate rival, till pete's retirement i never ONCE had any sympathy or liking for his man, despite sampras's respect for this man and the friendship they shared off the court. But, i guess i was a slow bloomer, kindda agassi type.

Actually, upon close inspection, agassi was anything but a slow bloomer. Joined pro tour in `86, he won SIX TOURNAMENTS in his first full year. Thereafter, agassi was almost always there on the circuit. In one way or the other, he was always in the headlines. His antics, his image, his relationships, his game, his talent, his potential, .. the list is just long. The way he went spiralling south in rankings, the way he climbed back up where he belonged, the conditioning he recieved on his aging body which resulted in 4 grandslams after the age of 29. One can just marvel at this supremely gifted athelete's satmina and his faith in his own abilities. Right down till the end, as recent as 2nd round match at US Open, he defeated 8th seeded Marcos Baghdatis, who ironically, was dubbed the new Agassi when he reached Aussie open final earlier this year, and what a match he played against agassi. 3 hours 50 minutes, 5 set affair - with out of this world shotmaking, the intense drama, nighttime crowd . I mean, it had just about everything one could imagine.
One can just keep on writing about agassi, for he gave SO much to the game and so much off the court. His tennis foundation for at-the-risk children in Las Vegas shows his philanthropic side too.

In short, i can keep writing my memories i have related to Agassi (obviously, almost all of them are from sampras/agassi matches) and i think i ll take this moment to bow and salute the last of Great American champion for serving up a brilliant career. All the best for future !