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What can Agassi still accomplish?
London, June 20: There was a time when Andre Agassi could do without the All England Club, its traditions and, especially, its courts.
London, June 20: There was a time when Andre Agassi
could do without the All England Club, its traditions and,
especially, its courts.
When he was too cool and too technicolour to wear white, when he was unsure whether his gifted returns and baseline strokes would win on grass.
Not these days. Agassi, one of five men with a career grand slam, realises there might not be too many major tournaments in his future, so he focuses his efforts on preparing intensely for each one, Wimbledon included. He'll be ranked no. 1 - at 33, the oldest to lead the ATP tour - and seeded no. 2 behind defending champion Lleyton Hewitt when play begins monday.
"I grab these moments a lot tighter than I used to", Agassi says.
"I don't have a lot of time left, regardless of how long I can stretch it. The question to me is not how long I have. It is where I stand now, and what my goals are - what I am still able to accomplish".
Hey, the guy even went out and played a grass-court tuneup at Queen's Club, reaching the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Andy Roddick.
In the past, Agassi usually skipped such events, coming cold to Wimbledon, where he won the first of his eight grand slam titles in 1992. He also was runner-up in 1999 to seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras, who has withdrawn from every tournament he entered this year and might never play again.
This will be the first Wimbledon since 1988 without Sampras. One without Agassi can't be too far off.
Bureau Report
When he was too cool and too technicolour to wear white, when he was unsure whether his gifted returns and baseline strokes would win on grass.
Not these days. Agassi, one of five men with a career grand slam, realises there might not be too many major tournaments in his future, so he focuses his efforts on preparing intensely for each one, Wimbledon included. He'll be ranked no. 1 - at 33, the oldest to lead the ATP tour - and seeded no. 2 behind defending champion Lleyton Hewitt when play begins monday.
"I grab these moments a lot tighter than I used to", Agassi says.
"I don't have a lot of time left, regardless of how long I can stretch it. The question to me is not how long I have. It is where I stand now, and what my goals are - what I am still able to accomplish".
Hey, the guy even went out and played a grass-court tuneup at Queen's Club, reaching the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Andy Roddick.
In the past, Agassi usually skipped such events, coming cold to Wimbledon, where he won the first of his eight grand slam titles in 1992. He also was runner-up in 1999 to seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras, who has withdrawn from every tournament he entered this year and might never play again.
This will be the first Wimbledon since 1988 without Sampras. One without Agassi can't be too far off.
Bureau Report