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Andre Agassi

, A True Champion

 
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> Andre Agassi, A True Champion
vivekpm
post Sep 11 2005, 11:38 PM
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QUOTE(YaarMere @ Sep 11 2005, 11:34 PM)
QUOTE(vivekpm @ Sep 11 2005, 06:59 PM)
QUOTE(YaarMere @ Sep 11 2005, 11:23 PM)
WOW! did he (AG) lose the US open? Downer!!

Federer is just poetry in motion, the sport will always remember his name let me tell you.
*



Not yet YM. Still couple of hours for the match to start I guess. Just wished it was a little early. It will be very late here and tomorrow is Monday sad1.gif

And yes, Federer will surpass many in years to come. But just for a day, I wish Agassi could surpass him...

Cheers,
*



The final is 2day? No way, did not know that. Sweet then, hope he wins.

So wot was Zaira on abt then she said: beating Andre up so badly--?
*



Probably she was referring to what i wrote in my previous post about Federer beating Agassi in their last seven encounters...

V i V e K ...

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YaarMere
post Sep 12 2005, 05:16 AM
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Ah well guyz, it just wasnt meant to be I guess. Mind you the sport has been kind to him down the years, he cant have to many complaints.

Wots next 4 him? Workin in TV?

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vivekpm
post Sep 12 2005, 11:30 AM
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QUOTE(YaarMere @ Sep 12 2005, 05:16 AM)
Ah well guyz, it just wasnt meant to be I guess. Mind you the sport has been kind to him down the years, he cant have to many complaints.

Wots next 4 him? Workin in TV?
*



I guess he will still be around for some time. He is a tough guy. Sunday's final was not a one-sided affair and this should motivate him. Agassi played well to win second set and he almost did it in third set too. Guess he is still good for other players (apart from Federer that is).

Post-match he admitted though that he is unsure what he will be doing month from now.

Cheers,

V i V e K ...

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unni
post Sep 13 2005, 09:06 AM
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From the NEW YORK TIMES web edition:

Sports of The Times

In the Annals of Tennis, the Father Figure Is Big

By GEORGE VECSEY
Published: September 11, 2005


WHEN Andre Agassi was an infant, his father hung a makeshift mobile of tennis balls over his crib. One of the child's earliest sights, therefore, was fuzzy little spheroids, waiting to be swatted.

Thirty-five years later, that stimulus continues to pay off. Agassi, the wise old gnome of tennis, advanced to the final of the United States Open yesterday with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Robby Ginepri, who first hit balls with his father at age 5 - a little late for tennis prodigies, of course.

Right afterward, Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt, whose fathers introduced them to tennis, met in the second semifinal, with Federer dismantling Hewitt, 6-3, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-3, with his staggering mix of consistency and artistry.

Last night, Kim Clijsters and Mary Pierce, with polar opposite paternal histories, met for the women's championship, with the supple Clijsters winning her first Grand Slam tournament, 6-3, 6-1.

Everybody knows about Jim Pierce, the tennis father beyond stereotype, who was stopped only by court order from badgering his daughter.

But there is another side to tennis fathers: this Open has been graced not only by James Blake's run to the quarterfinals, but also by his tribute to his father, Thomas, who died 14 months ago.

Then there is Leo Clijsters, who played about 40 times for the Belgian national soccer team and has been a mentor for his daughter, who is known as the nicest person on the women's tour.

Last night, Clijsters won the largest prize in the history of women's tennis: a 100 percent bonus that raised her earnings to $2.2 million for these two weeks' work.

Clijsters learned, early on, to respect money, from her mother, Els, a former star gymnast (who probably contributed the frightening hamstring-challenging splits her daughter is able to perform) and her father, now a soccer coach in Belgium.

"It's an expensive sport," the daughter said Friday, recalling her parents saying, "If you enjoy it, we're happy to pay for it, but give yourself 100 percent out there."

Her father had six knee operations from soccer, she said, adding that his resiliency prepared her for her own wrist injury a year ago. Last night, Clijsters thanked her mother and family members in her seats, but also thanked her father, who was in Belgium, watching.

Pierce and her father are now reconciled, mostly from a distance, and she is a reconstructed 30-year-old who speaks often of her religious faith.

She managed to annoy her semifinal opponent, Elena Dementieva, by coming up with not one but two claimed injuries on Friday, thereby gaining a 12-minute break with the trainer immediately after Dementieva won the first set.

Another combative father was Mike Agassi, who boxed for the Iranian Olympic team and resettled in Las Vegas, where he was a captain in one of the prominent gambling dens. Andre Agassi's early clueless, popinjay image might indeed have been a reaction to his father's demands.

"My father will be on his deathbed," Agassi has said, "and he'll teach a parrot to say, 'Andre, work on your serve,' and then he'll die a happy man."

Agassi has also told how he was shipped off to Nick Bollettieri's tennis barracks in Florida at age 13: "My father saw this story on Nick on '60 Minutes' where it showed him making these little kids cry and everything, and thought that was the place for me."

Now a father of two, Agassi melted yesterday when he met up with his 23-month-old daughter, Jaz Elle, in the runway after his victory. (He and his wife, Steffi Graf - herself the product of a domineering father - have participated in a commercial depicting them picking up their son, Jaden Gil, not quite 4, from a tennis drill.)

"I'll never have more pressure on me than I have when I clip my little girl's fingernails," Agassi said.

Agassi's opponent yesterday, Ginepri, was introduced to tennis in Marietta, Ga., by his father, Rene, who was born in Luxembourg. And Hewitt and Federer - as opposite as, say, Australia and Switzerland - were each encouraged to play tennis by their fathers.

Hewitt's father, Glynn, played some professional rules football, but Lleyton was destined to grow to only 170 pounds and 5 feet 11 inches, so he played tennis.

Federer's father, Robert, a chemical salesman, used to bring his son to a tennis club outside Basel, Switzerland, but his main contribution was as a silent chauffeur. Hard as it is to believe, the courtly young champion once threw major tantrums on the court. On drives home from tournaments, Robert would not speak to Roger, letting the boy stew in his misery.

As the son matured, Robert Federer gave him plenty of space, missing his first two Wimbledon championships because he was watching the family house, or the family cat, depending on who is telling the story. This year the father went to Wimbledon for the third straight title.

"It was nice to have Dad there," Federer said. "He is very enthusiastic and hyper when he watches me."

Tennis is theoretically the loneliest sport. But most players are in the psychological shadows of the parents who first handed them a racket - or hung a tennis mobile over their crib. The reward is when a grateful daughter like Clijsters goes on national television and says thank you.

If you stop trying to make sense of it all, you'll be less confused. Reality is an illusion.
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catch22
post Sep 15 2005, 04:05 PM
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Excellent Article. It goes to show that those on the sidelines too care for their loved ones & are a contributing factor to their success.

"The moment we want to believe something, we suddenly see all the arguments for it, and become blind to the arguments against it."
"Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman, but believing what he read made him mad. "
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