His 21st US Open and his last tournament. I've followed him in all his permutations: from the skinny hotdogging, shot-making wunderkind in denim shorts, to beefcake RoboAndre who ground down his opponents' legs, to senior Andre -- the frail last-man-standing of the generation that brought us Sampras, Courier, and Chang.
I'm savoring every minute he has left on court.
UPDATE:
A 36-year-old Andre into the third round! Suck it, Six Meat Buffet, suck it! ;)
UPDATE II:
Slideshow added.
git it, girl. i'm a nastase man meself although i did like lendle but fossils like me who remember jimmy conners would be like dat. more power to him from a citizen of roscoe tanner's hometown.
Posted by: richard at September 1, 2006 08:46 AMI have the tapes of a denim-clad teenage Andre playing Conners at US Open. Jimmy was so mean!
Posted by: Donnah at September 1, 2006 11:17 AMI remember when Jimmy Connors was dating Chris Evert. I remember Rod Laver, John Newcombe and Virginia Wade. I always liked Nastase, he was sort of a beta version of John McEnroe, with less talent of course. All of this was pre-Borg, when the sport was much more interesting.
Having said that, Agassi's last two matches (which I have been sucked into wasting my precious sleep on) have been some of the most entertaining tennis I can remember.
Posted by: Chris at September 1, 2006 01:17 PMBorg! jeez, too much resin in my brain. i kept trying to think "now who else did i respect?" and bingo, there it is. as for Mac, he was like a hemi-demi-semi god but good lord, talk about a crybaby asshole. Then again, if you were warped at a young age like he was.....
Posted by: richard at September 1, 2006 01:56 PMI hope you were watching the match he just won.
I haven't watched tennis in a long time but that was some serious, fast paced, entertainment.
Agassi's last go may be one of the best.
Posted by: Gmac at September 2, 2006 02:28 PMSo I was off a round, what d'ya expect? Accuracy? Surely not.
Sad to see him go, but he's probably due.
Posted by: Preston Taylor Holmes at September 4, 2006 09:59 AM