Adios Agassi
For me, Andre Agassi is the best tennis personality ever. Please note my words. Sampras and Federer may be better players, but this guy is really the one to learn from.
Andre began his career as the ‘hippie’ of tennis. With his long hair, rockstar ways, brash attitude and coloured clothes, he radicalised the sport, bringing in much colour and attitude in this dry gentleman’s game. He glamourised tennis much before Sharapova and Pirce came, and in a much bigger way. And it wasn’t only a show off. He had the guts to speak and act what he thought. He actually skipped Wimbledon to protest its rules of wearing only white! And to complete the fairy tale Wimbledon was the first Grand lam he won later on!!
As a player, he undoubtedly was the best returner of serve. And had one of the best ground strokes ever. Indeed, what was special about his game was the fact that he could play well on any surface (this is where Sampras and Becker lose out). Ee it grass or hard court (his favourite) or clay, he was always a threat. It’s a well known fact that he is one of the only 5 players in the history of the Open era to have won all four Grand Slams. But what is not publicized is that he is the only player to have won on all four surfaces (during the time the remaining 4 played, there were only 2 surfaces, not 3). Which is what makes him so great. He was good in the sport, while the rest were good on the surface.
He was a tennis player with the biggest of all handicaps – a height only 5’11’’ and a consequently weak serve and less reach to play a serve-n-volley game. And yet he defied all odds to emerge a winner. He is only aberration to Arthur Ashe’s prediction that no man below 6 feet can win Wimbledon. I often imagine what would have been the case had he been 6’2’’ or something! He would have probably defeated Sampras left-handed then.
But what is most admirable about Andre is how he reinvented himself. In between, his form and fitness had slumped to an all time low, with a ranking of 141. But then he matured; he realized that he was letting his talent go down the drain. And he stopped all his trash habits and stuck to a fitness schedule that saw him play at the age of 36 and still win against a 21-year old cramping tired Baghdatis (while his compatriots queued up to retire). From the young freak, he became the grand old man of tennis with effortless ease, with a soberly dressed shaven-headed appearance, responsible behaviour off-field, and a settled family life with who else but Steffi Graf (can’t wait for Jaden Gill to start playing; like people are born with silver spoons in their mouth, he’s born with 2 rackets in his hand!). Always the crowd favourite, his customary flying kisses at the end of each match to acknowledge his supporters shows how much he respects and cares for them.
Another aspect is his off-field charity. His charity trusts in Vegas make him the Bill Gates of sports as such.
Most sportsmen entertain you, some enthrall you with their play, few do it with consistency, and even fewer earn your respect for things beyond their performance on field. Andre managed to do all more and a few more. Indeed, in his youth, he taught us how to live. And now he has taught us how to age.
Adios Andre.
Andre began his career as the ‘hippie’ of tennis. With his long hair, rockstar ways, brash attitude and coloured clothes, he radicalised the sport, bringing in much colour and attitude in this dry gentleman’s game. He glamourised tennis much before Sharapova and Pirce came, and in a much bigger way. And it wasn’t only a show off. He had the guts to speak and act what he thought. He actually skipped Wimbledon to protest its rules of wearing only white! And to complete the fairy tale Wimbledon was the first Grand lam he won later on!!
As a player, he undoubtedly was the best returner of serve. And had one of the best ground strokes ever. Indeed, what was special about his game was the fact that he could play well on any surface (this is where Sampras and Becker lose out). Ee it grass or hard court (his favourite) or clay, he was always a threat. It’s a well known fact that he is one of the only 5 players in the history of the Open era to have won all four Grand Slams. But what is not publicized is that he is the only player to have won on all four surfaces (during the time the remaining 4 played, there were only 2 surfaces, not 3). Which is what makes him so great. He was good in the sport, while the rest were good on the surface.
He was a tennis player with the biggest of all handicaps – a height only 5’11’’ and a consequently weak serve and less reach to play a serve-n-volley game. And yet he defied all odds to emerge a winner. He is only aberration to Arthur Ashe’s prediction that no man below 6 feet can win Wimbledon. I often imagine what would have been the case had he been 6’2’’ or something! He would have probably defeated Sampras left-handed then.
But what is most admirable about Andre is how he reinvented himself. In between, his form and fitness had slumped to an all time low, with a ranking of 141. But then he matured; he realized that he was letting his talent go down the drain. And he stopped all his trash habits and stuck to a fitness schedule that saw him play at the age of 36 and still win against a 21-year old cramping tired Baghdatis (while his compatriots queued up to retire). From the young freak, he became the grand old man of tennis with effortless ease, with a soberly dressed shaven-headed appearance, responsible behaviour off-field, and a settled family life with who else but Steffi Graf (can’t wait for Jaden Gill to start playing; like people are born with silver spoons in their mouth, he’s born with 2 rackets in his hand!). Always the crowd favourite, his customary flying kisses at the end of each match to acknowledge his supporters shows how much he respects and cares for them.
Another aspect is his off-field charity. His charity trusts in Vegas make him the Bill Gates of sports as such.
Most sportsmen entertain you, some enthrall you with their play, few do it with consistency, and even fewer earn your respect for things beyond their performance on field. Andre managed to do all more and a few more. Indeed, in his youth, he taught us how to live. And now he has taught us how to age.
Adios Andre.
posted by Akshay at 1:29 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home