Tennis world number one Andre Agassi earns his place as a great with his sixth major title, writes Stephen Bierley
Such has been the remarkable turn of events in Andre Agassi’s life over the past eight months – four consecutive grand slam finals, with victories in Paris, New York and now Melbourne – that men’s tennis has suddenly become a world of certainty, one of continuous process, with virtually pre-ordained results.
Prior to Agassi’s stunning and protracted return to form in the French Open in May, the various slam titles, apart from Wimbledon where Pete Sampras has been close to omnipotent for the past seven years, had been shared around. Not now.
Agassi has become the celestial tennis machine, rising from the ashes of his own self-conflagration two years ago, when both his marriage to Brooke Shields and his tennis career failed, to earn recognition as one of his sport’s true greats.
John McEnroe, who will be his Davis Cup captain this week in Harare, where the United States play Zimbabwe, aka the Black brothers, has referred to Agassi’s incredible comeback as “almost shocking”.
Shocking in two ways, perhaps. First because it dramatically underlines all of Agassi’s wasted years, second because of the comparative ease with which he has been able to brush all the other top players aside, Sampras excepted. “Pete has a way of interfering with my career.”
Men’s tennis was kidding itself that it had discovered another bunch of star players, such as Australia’s Pat Rafter, Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Carlos Moya of Spain, Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil and the Netherlands’s Richard Krajicek, all grand slam winners during the past four years. But none of them compares with Agassi in terms of talent or, most markedly, charisma.
Long may it last, although surely it cannot go on much longer, with Agassi turning 30 at the end of April. However, his coach Brad Gilbert believes the man from Las Vegas can continue at this level “for another two or three years”.
Agassi refused to be drawn into any discussion about his tennis longevity, just as he brushed aside the fact that, in his acceptance speech, he made no specific reference to Steffi Graf, who watched all his matches sandwiched between Gilbert and Agassi’s fitness trainer Gil Reyes. “Our relationship is private,” he said pointedly.
Clearly, as long as he can maintain his current level of fitness he will remain competitive, and he is extraordinarily fit.
Kafelnikov, no slouch himself, admitted after his 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 defeat that he would need to raise his fitness another level.
“You saw how I matched Andre in the first set, but after that he got stronger and stronger. It is amazing how he can recover and then continue to raise his game in every set.”
It was not a great final, but it was certainly brutal. When the Russian, ranked number two in the world behind Agassi, twice broke the American’s serve for a 4-0 lead there was an uneasy hush in the Rod Laver arena which, unusually for the past fortnight, was bathed in sunshine.
Kafelnikov, last year’s champion, was serving deep and hard to the Agassi backhand, forcing him to stretch uncomfortably, and his groundstrokes seared the lines. Just for a moment it seemed that the younger man might be about to strong-arm Agassi aside.
Kafelnikov often struggles with his forehand on surfaces where the ball keeps low, but on the hard courts in Australia the bounce is generally high and the Russian was pounding out the winners.
Agassi steadied, brought the first-set score back to 4-3 but then had his serve broken for a third time, allowing Kafelnikov to close out the opening set in a little more than half an hour.
It was at this point that the Russian should perhaps have attempted to vary his attack, although he was doubtless discouraged when his first move to the net saw Agassi pass him easily. By now the American was finding his rhythm and enjoying the physical nature of the exchanges.
Gradually Kafelnikov wilted, his uncertainty increased by Agassi’s clever use of the drop shot. So the match followed the same pattern as last year’s US Open semi-final, when the Russian won the first set and then lost in four.
“Nothing in my life compares to the last eight months,” said Agassi. “Winning in Paris alone gave me more than I could have ever asked for. But I can assure you that if I fall off the face of the earth again I won’t be coming back.”