Stephen Bierley Tennis
It is an axiom of sport, and particularly tennis, that when a great champion dominates the game, most yearn for a change, and that when the game is in an obvious state of flux everybody yearns for a great champion.
For the past 18 months, the only theme running through men’s tennis at the highest level has been its total lack of continuity. Twelve different players have stood toe to toe in the six most recent grand slam finals. Small wonder, perhaps, that Andre Agassi, Mr Unpredictable, won this month’s French Open final at Roland Garros.
Yet such has been the unease within the men’s game, particularly with Pete Sampras pulling out of this year’s Australian Open, and with his closest rivals falling over themselves in a concerted effort not to assume his crown, that Agassi’s win in Paris was greeted with a delight that glossed over his previous three years of quite dismal travels in Europe.
No matter. Agassi’s career has always been startlingly mercurial, from the length of his hair to his commitment to a sport that has made him a multimillionaire. Yet as the old Nike ad said: “Haircuts and hype don’t win tennis matches; big monster backhands do.”
At the outset of his career, when Agassi lost his first three grand slam finals (the French and US Opens in 1990; the French again in 1991) there were those who, while not questioning his undoubted playing ability, certainly doubted his temperament.
And there were many within the tennis establishment, on both sides of the pond, who were more than happy to believe that he was indeed a showman without substance rather than a new superstar. He proved them wrong and, with delicious irony, at Wimbledon, the very heart of the tennis establishment.
Philippe Chatrier, France’s former International Tennis Federation president, had once been moved to say that Agassi’s “outrageous clothes have almost become an insult”, while Agassi himself, having declined to enter Wimbledon for three years from 1988 to 1990, famously remarked: “If they changed the dress code, I would have to consider whether I want to play … it seems those bozos will look for anything to talk about.”
But he was back in 1991, reaching the quarter-finals in an all-white “maternity smock”. However, the strictures concerning his image, his entourage and his lack of commitment continued until the next year when he defeated Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic in a five-set final, having beaten John McEnroe and Boris Becker on the way.
There were further grand slam titles at the 1994 US Open and the 1995 Australian Open when Agassi’s blistering ground strokes, hit on the rise with electrifying pace and angle – the very antithesis of serve and volley – were at their zenith.
But it was shortlived. At ATP Tour level, Agassi retained his ability to thunder through two- or three-set matches, but grand slam fortnights became more and more difficult to sustain.
>From time to time he reinvented himself until his marriage to actress Brooke Shields in 1997 coincided with what appeared to be his final fall from grace as a player, his ranking plummeting to No 141 which, for a man of his ability, was plainly ludicrous.
“Hard work on the weights, cardio and the knife and fork” saw him re-emerge into the world’s top 10 last year, fortified by “Brooke’s inspiration … I think that’s why I married her.”
But he still could not hack it – until he divorced his wife and almost immediately triumphed at Roland Garros. “I would hate to give the impression that the beautiful years I shared with Brooke somehow interfered with my tennis,” Agassi said. But everyone knew it had.
Life and tennis have always been eminently separable for Agassi. Not for him the one- tracked journey of a dedicated champion, the journey of Sampras. “Me, I’ve taken leaves of absence for years at a time. I feel like a spring chicken,” Agassi joked after his French Open victory.
Having won at Roland Garros, Agassi placed himself among the greats of tennis by winning all four grand slam titles, a feat only previously achieved by American Don Budge, Britain’s Fred Perry and the Australians Rod Laver and Roy Emerson.
As for the future, who knows? Few seriously considered, prior to this year, that he would ever win a grand slam title again. It is possible that he just got lucky. Had the rain not intervened in his semi-final with Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty he would in all probability have lost.
One man who has never faltered in his belief in Agassi is his voluble coach, Brad Gilbert. It was Gilbert, critically, who convinced Agassi that he could win his fourth-round match against Spain’s Carlos Moya, the reigning champion. “I told Brad: `Listen, the hay is in the barn. All the information is in, it’s computed, I just need a little space right now.'”
The last men’s player to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back was Sweden’s Bjorn Borg in 1978. “I know I have a lot more tennis in me, and that would be something,” said Agassi, after winning in Paris. As in 1992, when he won Wimbledon, he will enter the tournament with virtually no preparation, having had hip problems after Roland Garros.
At 29, it appears to be asking far too much but those who wrote him off after this year’s Australian Open are understandably cautious now.
“It’s not what lies ahead of you which matters most, it’s what lies within you,” Agassi said last week. Wimbledon awaits, no doubt hoping that what lies within may at least get Agassi through to the second Monday.
ENDS