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Pressure? Agassi won't turn a hair
Posted: Saturday July 03, 1999 04:59 PM
By David Smith LONDON (SportLive.net) -- The record books say that Pete Sampras has been Wimbledon champion five times, but how many of those wins are as memorable as Andre Agassi's sole defiant gesture of success? Agassi beat Boris Becker and John McEnroe on his way to lifting both the crown and the crowd in 1992 with a blend of brilliance and charisma. It proved a last stand of rebellion by the baseliner before the empire of Sampras, winner in five of the next six years. As the Nineties wore on, so Agassi's importance dwindled, to the extent he found himself accepting wild cards to events on the Challenger Tour. But after the Lazarus-like comeback which gathered up last month's French Open, he now stands on the brink of making his renaissance complete. Agassi is one step away from returning to the Wimbledon final, the scene of his first Grand Slam title those seven years ago, and from overthrowing Sampras as world No1. He knows it will be possibly the most arduous passage yet of his bid to rescale the mountain, against Pat Rafter, the No2 seed and double US Open champion, but having experienced and escaped from tennis' equivalent of skid row, Agassi is not a man to take things too seriously this time round.
Never mind ponytails, there was nothing more distracting on Court Two on Friday than Agassi's shaven head glistening in the blazing sun - not until the white knight began wielding his racket like a blade with the power to fell trees and the accuracy to sever a wisp of hair. Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten's often bemused expression rapidly became haunted as ground strokes flew past him with remorseless pace and precision. At one point he walked to the back of the court - no 'Graveyard of Champions' on this day - and reached to feel the backcloth as if to stay in touch with reality. From the moment 11th seed Kuerten dropped his first service game it was clear his own baseline game was shrivelling in the heat just as Agassi's appeared to expand irresistibly. The clinical 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 scoreline was registered in just over 90 minutes and acclaimed by a crowd seemingly transplanted from a football ground. Kuerten's faithful barmy army of yellow-shirted supporters had made their presence felt, but if Agassi could smell the coffee he showed no signs of being distracted. "I didn't hear anybody, I was focused," the No4 seed said, and as it happened the cries of "Guga!" were soon to be drowned out by the roars of "Andre!". Kuerten belongs to Brazil but Agassi, it seems, belongs to all of Wimbledon. He reflected: " When I came along the crowds were saying the same about John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, and it took a while before they put up with me, but once they did it was OK and we had a few good years. "They do have an appreciation for us, a relationship. You build a lot of memories together out there, year after year, in these tournaments and especially the big ones. Leave your heart and soul out there, and disappointment and achievements, and, 14 years later, people know you pretty well." Not merely known but now loved too, for the redeemed Agassi now talks and plays like a man with a sense of proportion and a sense of humour. Asked by one Brazilian journalist for his memories of playing in that country, he said: "I remember a lot of women in dental floss bathing suits just sitting in the crowd. It was very distracting!" No dental floss bathing suits to take from those majestic ground strokes on Saturday, presumably. Only a pony tail. Contents provided courtesy of SportLive.net
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