Monday, September 04, 2006

Goodbye Andre!

Tennis is different from most other games in respect that its an individual sport. In soccer, players might retire but the club is always there. Hence, whenever a tennis player retires, a void is created which takes some time to fill.

Last night, there were three of us watching Agassi v/s Becker in US Open. Agassi was 2 set down and was playing what would be the last match of his career. The whole stadium, in fact I think every Tennis follower was willing Agassi to win but it was not to be. No more Andre Agassi in action from now on.

First of all, I'll confess that I was never a die-hard Andre Agassi fan. Firstly, it was Pete Sampras
and now its Federer who rules in that respect.

But somehow its hard not to like Andre Agassi. The perennial underdog, firstly against Pete Sampras and then against Federer. The guy who has done it all & won everything in Tennis. A career spanning more than 20 yrs.

Sampras v/s Agassi was the rivalry of the last decade. It was fitting that they played against each other in the 2002 US Open finals after which Pete retired. Just two quotes that capture Agassi like none other

Pete Sampras:
"He's made me a better player. He's brought moments to my career that are like Borg and McEnroe. Those guys needed each other. I've needed Andre over the course of my career. He's pushed me. You know, he's forced me to add things to my game. He's the only guy that was able to do that. He's the best I've played."

Unknown:
"Agassi has known it all, the victories, the decline, the renaissance and victory again. His path through tennis is symbolic of life."

Just a thought from Sid. With the kind of genes that the children of Agassi & Steffi have, who will have a chance in front of them ?

Zidane gone. Agassi gone. There r rumors that next yr even Schumi might retire. Have to look for so many new idols.

Just an ending note. Saw "Lagey raho Munnabhai". Its an exception to the Law of Sequels. Even better than Munnabhai MBBS. We were laughing so loudly that the lady next to us requested us to tone it down so she could hear the dialogues. Munna and Circuit surely make it to Bollywood Hall of Fame. Cant think of any character other than Anand that I loved so much. Hope the series continues forever.

5 comments:

Someone said...
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Someone said...

@Abhinav
Well, it would be good if other ppl read them. But even if they dont, who needs neone else [:D]

GuNs said...

Precisely what I wrote on my post on Bergkamp. All the great sportsmen of our generation seem to have retired in the last 5 years or so and its so weird. Now you pick up any sport football, hockey, tennis, badminton, cricket...all our starts, the people whom we grew up watching are no longer there...suddenly.

-PeAcE
--WiTh
---GuNs

Anonymous said...

its always so important to have an idol....to idolise somebody...and who better than someone who made others better players....agassi really deserves all the kudos..someone who tirelessly went on and kept the faith...so heres to those believe..

Someone said...

@Guns
Its hard finding new idols. Still trying to fill the void created by Zidane

@harsha
Didnt know u blogged. Thanks for visiting. Hope to c u here in the future too.