A little lost…
Over the weekend, I purchased Andre Agassi’s autobiography, “Open”. I sort of did the unusual… I started reading it from the middle of the book in the book store and before I knew it, I had already read four chapters – so I figured I might as well buy the dang thing and start from the beginning.
It’s been a very fascinating read – maybe more so for me as I’m a late fan to the sport of tennis (I only REALLY started playing the sport when I was in college ’cause my roommate needed a partner to play with). But even back then, I always admired Agassi’s game… It’s really funny because usually, I’m put off by a type of “personality” like Agassi’s… all flash, all ME, all showboaty… I am much more likely to gravitate towards guys who are more “workman-like” in their approach to their sport.
For instance, my favorite baseball player was Mark Lemke.. a small second baseman for the Atlanta Braves during their championship run during the 1990’s. He was the workman grunt on a team of, essentially, superstars. With football, I liked Daryl “Moose” Johnson because, again, he was the workman grunt of the Dallas Cowboys and helped pave the way for Emmitt Smith yet he never stood up and complained about not getting any attention. I like Jason Whitten for all the same reasons – although you can clearly classify Whitten as a Superstar. But to me, Whitten is very much like Derek Jeter in the sense that he’s not about all the fanfare and accolades (although I’m sure they both enjoy the accolades they do get). But at least outwardly, they both seem to enjoy the “team first” type of attitude. I think that might be one of the reasons Cal Ripken Jr. was so beloved as well.
So really, in the tennis world, it makes much more sense for me to be a Sampras fan. Certainly, it seems logical that I would be but that isn’t the case at all. I was ALWAYS a Agassi fan. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was because he the great returner that he was… I hated guys who did nothing but shoot aces in a match like they were actually afraid to PLAY the other guy. I know that’s the wrong way to look at it from a tennis perspective. but that always seemed to be the case with me. Guys who hit aces were afraid to actually play their opponent… which doesn’t make any sense when applied to other sports. Pitchers throw fastballs not because they’re afraid of the batting hitting the ball – they throw fastballs to make it AS DIFFICULT AS POSSIBLE for guys to hit the ball. But yet, in tennis, I still felt it was a chicken way out to try and hit aces all the time. PLAY THE DARN GAME!
But Agassi MADE big servers play the game. Sure, they would hit their fair share of aces against him but more often than not, if they weren’t on their game, his return game forced them to do something they didn;t want to actually do – play the game of tennis.
At least, that’s the way I saw it in my mind. And I admired that piece of skill that seemed to be uniquely his. I never knew his degenerative back was something genetic – I thought it was just the ravages of 20+ years of grueling matches taking their toll – ala Larry Bird’s back the final years of his basketball career. That just makes me more amazed at his playing career all the more.
I haven’t finished reading the book yet but as I said from the beginning, it’s been a fascinating read.
-Chris
