Andre Agassi is trying not to let emotions get the better of him as he plays his 14th — and final — Wimbledon.
”I don’t need this championship to give me any more than it’s given me,” the 36-year-old former champion said after a four-set opening-round victory on Tuesday. ”It’s already given me so much.”
Agassi won the first of his eight Grand Slam titles at the All England Club in 1992, surprising the established grass-court order by beating the serve-and-volleyers with his baseline game.
Troubled by chronic back problems, Agassi announced last weekend he will retire from the game after the US Open in September.
Always a crowd favourite at Wimbledon, he drew an even longer and louder ovation than usual before and after his 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 win over Boris Pashanski of Serbia. The win would normally barely have caused a ripple, but this one took on special meaning for Agassi and the fans.
”You expect to be overwhelmed with the whole situation anyhow, regardless of just how warmly you’re embraced,” he said. ”But then to feel that sort of support, it just meant the world to me. I just wanted to do ’em proud. So I got a little nervous about trying too hard early, overhit a lot. Took me a while to settle down.”
Agassi appeared to have some trouble with his back late in the fourth set, but didn’t want to talk about the state of his health. Getting through several tough matches on grass won’t be easy.
”I’ve had years where I have felt better,” he said. ”Sort of don’t want to harp on any of the negatives. This is a challenge for me in more ways than I probably ever communicate about.”
Meantime, Agassi said he looks forward to life in retirement with his wife, former seven-time Wimbledon champion Steffi Graf, and their two children. Agassi wore a necklace on Tuesday with the words ”Daddy Rocks,” made with the help of four-year-old son, Jaden Gil.
”I wait with great anticipation to embrace that part of my life,” Agassi said.’
”Certain parts of my heart and mind will feel a sense of freedom in my life. I’ll feel good about being able to breathe a little deeper initially. But I won’t do well bored, so that’s not an option for me.”
Agassi gets Wednesday off, but others come back for a second straight day of play — including the featured second-round match between three-time defending champion Roger Federer and Tim Henman.
Federer, bidding to become the third player in the Open era to win four straight titles, looked at the top of his game when he swept France’s Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
It was Federer’s 42nd straight win on grass, surpassing the Open era mark he shared with Bjorn Borg. The Swede won 41 straight from 1976 to 1981.
Federer’s streak includes three titles at Wimbledon and four at the warmup tournament in Halle, Germany. He said he considers Borg’s achievement more impressive because all of his wins came at Wimbledon. Borg won five straight Wimbledons before losing in the 1981 final to John McEnroe.
”Wimbledon stays Wimbledon after all,” Federer said. ”The five Wimbledons and six finals is something almost beyond possibility for any player. For me, he [Borg] stays a hero.”
Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semifinalist, overcame Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. The British star is unseeded for the first time in 10 years because of a drop in his ranking, but remains — along with 19-year-old Andy Murray — the hopes for a first homegrown male champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
Henman leads Federer 6-4 in career matches, including a four-set win in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2001.
”It feels really good to be playing a match here at Wimbledon with really very limited, very little pressure and expectation,” Henman said with a smile. ”I just want to go out there and let it happen.”
Wednesday’s schedule also features Venus Williams’ opening defence of her women’s title on Centre Court against Bethanie Mattek. The 2004 champion, Maria Sharapova, was paired against Anna Smashnova.
Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne — who all won in straight sets on Tuesday — were also scheduled for second-round matches.
On the men’s side, two-time runner-up Andy Roddick and 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt never got on court on Tuesday, and were due back to face Janko Tipsarevic and Filippo Volandri, respectively. – Sapa-AP