- News>
- Tennis
Agassi marks 1000th match with triumph at Stella Atrois Championships
London, June 11: Andre Agassi celebrated his personal millennium on Tuesday (June 10) with victory at the Stella Artois Championships in his 1,000th professional match.
London, June 11: Andre Agassi celebrated his personal millennium on Tuesday (June 10) with victory at the Stella Artois Championships in his 1,000th professional match.
The 33-year-old juggled swirling winds and a lively Peter Luczak of Australia to win 7-6 6-4. It was a fitting milestone win on Queen's Club's grass Centre Court, mirroring the success he enjoyed in his first match 17 years ago.
The 998 matches in between have featured some of the most scintillating tennis, earning Agassi the world number one spot and eight grand slam titles.
On Tuesday, however, the American was just glad to successfully come through his first match on grass this year in his build-up to the Wimbledon championships which start on June 23.
"The first one is always difficult to find your range and find your rhythm and today was exactly that," he said. "I started playing better as the match went on, which is always a good sign, but it was good to get through it."
Agassi's only Wimbledon title was in 1992, and he said that he realises how difficult a tournament it is to win. "I think as you get older, you have the ability to appreciate how few opportunities you have," said Agassi. "You just take a shot at preparation, you take your guesswork, hindsight tends to be the ideal perspective that you don't have the luxury of going into Wimbledon, but I'm ready to go - once the path gets determined, I can put my head down pretty much with the best of them."
Seeded second here and ranked two in the world, Agassi could next face a fellow former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands in the third round. Krajicek plays Jan Vacek on Wednesday (June 11).
One of the young Americans hoping to follow in Agassi's footsteps, third seed Andy Roddick, made light work of his first foray on to grass this season by thrashing Rik De Voest 6-3 6-2 in the second round in just 51 minutes.
The American, a first-round loser at the French Open two weeks ago, feels that he is in with a chance to win his first Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon.
"Well, I think it's always a possibility," said Roddick. "A bunch of guys have won their first slam there. It's a possibility but there's a lot of work to be done; talking is easy, once you get out there, you've still got to put seven matches together and that's definitely a tall task."
Wimbledon defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia was given a bye in the first round at Queen's so he warmed up on Tuesday partnering compatriot Mark Philippoussis to a 6-2 7-5 victory over Americans Jan-Michael Gambill and Graydon Oliver.
Tim Henman's Wimbledon preparations got off to a hesitant start when the British number one squeezed past Davide Sanguinetti 3-6 6-3 7-6.
Four times a Wimbledon semi-finalist, Henman struggled with his serve throughout the match and was fortunate to survive a match point while trailing 6-5 in the third set.
"I think there was a split second when I thought that perhaps Nottingham was going to be an option, but I wanted to try to hang in this tournament a little bit longer," he said, referring to another grass-court event being played next week.
"Fortunately, I was able to do that. It wasn't easy out there, it wasn't the easiest conditions, and ceratinly he was making life difficult for me, but the most important thing for me is that I'm coming back on Thursday."
Bureau Report
Agassi's only Wimbledon title was in 1992, and he said that he realises how difficult a tournament it is to win. "I think as you get older, you have the ability to appreciate how few opportunities you have," said Agassi. "You just take a shot at preparation, you take your guesswork, hindsight tends to be the ideal perspective that you don't have the luxury of going into Wimbledon, but I'm ready to go - once the path gets determined, I can put my head down pretty much with the best of them."
Seeded second here and ranked two in the world, Agassi could next face a fellow former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands in the third round. Krajicek plays Jan Vacek on Wednesday (June 11).
One of the young Americans hoping to follow in Agassi's footsteps, third seed Andy Roddick, made light work of his first foray on to grass this season by thrashing Rik De Voest 6-3 6-2 in the second round in just 51 minutes.
The American, a first-round loser at the French Open two weeks ago, feels that he is in with a chance to win his first Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon.
"Well, I think it's always a possibility," said Roddick. "A bunch of guys have won their first slam there. It's a possibility but there's a lot of work to be done; talking is easy, once you get out there, you've still got to put seven matches together and that's definitely a tall task."
Wimbledon defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia was given a bye in the first round at Queen's so he warmed up on Tuesday partnering compatriot Mark Philippoussis to a 6-2 7-5 victory over Americans Jan-Michael Gambill and Graydon Oliver.
Tim Henman's Wimbledon preparations got off to a hesitant start when the British number one squeezed past Davide Sanguinetti 3-6 6-3 7-6.
Four times a Wimbledon semi-finalist, Henman struggled with his serve throughout the match and was fortunate to survive a match point while trailing 6-5 in the third set.
"I think there was a split second when I thought that perhaps Nottingham was going to be an option, but I wanted to try to hang in this tournament a little bit longer," he said, referring to another grass-court event being played next week.
"Fortunately, I was able to do that. It wasn't easy out there, it wasn't the easiest conditions, and ceratinly he was making life difficult for me, but the most important thing for me is that I'm coming back on Thursday."
Bureau Report