Farewell tour not over yet
On the 20th anniversary of his first match at the U.S. Open, Andre Agassi beat Andrei Pavel 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (6), 6-2. Bonnie DeSimone writes that emotion of the evening rejuvenated the 36-year-old American.
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NEW YORK -- Twenty-one is a lucky number in Andre Agassi's hometown of Las Vegas, the combination for a winning blackjack hand. Yet going into the opening match of his 21st U.S. Open, Agassi's chances of summoning his old card-shark skills seemed slim.
Agassi last played nearly a month ago, losing to a no-name in the second round in Washington, D.C. Since then, his fragile and creaking back had forced him from two straight tournaments and made his sentimental last journey to Flushing Meadows look more and more like the mere fulfillment of an obligation.
No dice.
The 36-year-old Agassi looked dynamic and was determined not to end his lyrical career on a minor key, prevailing in an epic three-and-a-half-hour first-round duel against Romania's Andrei Pavel, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 7-6 (6), 6-2 on Monday night.
For his labors, Agassi will advance to the second round against a player expected to pose a much sterner challenge: eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, the charismatic 21-year-old Cypriot who reached the Australian Open final and the Wimbledon semifinals this season. The two have never played before.
"I practiced with him once," Agassi said. "Such a talent. One of those guys you'd pay to go watch. He does a lot of good things out there. Moves well. Can really slap the forehand. I'll have to play real well. He's playing some of the best tennis this year."
But most of Agassi's postmatch comments concerned the immediate past as opposed to the near future. Just about everything that can happen to a tennis player has befallen or been bestowed on him, but never, he said, had he played a match point with 20,000 fans on their feet in hushed, giddy stillness.
"It was perfect," he said.
Agassi walked out on court clad in a slightly souped-up version of traditional whites, an interesting sartorial statement from a player who once protested restrictive dress codes. Perhaps darker colors would have been too funereal.
As it was, the atmosphere in Arthur Ashe Stadium oscillated between celebration and wake, and Agassi was left to walk the shivering tightrope between concentration and gratitude. He touched on that as he stood in the tunnel before the match, talking on-air to his old friend, television commentator Jim Courier. "I'm going to do my best just to take this in," Agassi said.
Afterward, the player known for his fetishistic preparation admitted he was not fully prepared for the warring feelings that washed over him as the match began.
"I didn't anticipate it to be this difficult emotionally," Agassi said. "Your heart wants to compete and your heart wants to appreciate. Your mind tells you to focus. Your mind tells you, 'Look what you're experiencing.' They both sort of betray you at times.
"You know, I settled down. Got through it. Focused. Felt good. I know that's going to be the toughest one as far as the emotional side of things go. So hopefully I can pick it up from there."
The record crowd of 23,736 maintained a queasy silence that was equal parts reverence and dread through much of the early going. Agassi and Pavel traded service breaks early in the first set, then held until a tiebreak dominated by the 75th-ranked Romanian.
Neither man lost his serve in the second set. Agassi displayed vintage form on the baseline. Pavel knocked back everything Agassi could dish out and tested his older opponent with drop shots and sharply angled crosscourt volleys Agassi usually couldn't reach. At eight points each, Pavel misjudged an Agassi shot he thought would go long and swatted it halfheartedly into the net; Agassi then served out the set, hitting a forehand Pavel whacked long.
That valiant effort looked as if it would be wasted when Pavel sprinted to a 4-0 lead in the third set. But Agassi reeled off five straight games, pumped his fist emphatically after cracking a two-fisted backhand on the run, and finally unleashed the latent boisterousness in the New York crowd.
When Agassi went ahead 5-4, Pavel called the trainer for a dose of antacid. He later said he had a sudden attack of stomach cramps and diarrhea. "I couldn't concentrate like before," he said.
The puffiness under Pavel's eyes seemed to grow darker after that. He managed to force a third tiebreak but fell behind 6-3; then he saved three set points before succumbing to a nifty inside-out forehand crosscourt return that gave Agassi the set and the edge. Agassi never looked threatened in the fourth set and served for the match with tears in his eyes.
Pavel, a 32-year-old who climbed as high as 13th in the world in 2004, had lost to Agassi five out of the previous six times they had played. He knew what kind of challenge he faced Monday night but said he, too, appreciated the extra electricity in the air.
"I was enjoying myself as well," Pavel said. "It's normal that people are cheering a little rougher than usual." No one wanted him to win, he observed, "besides a group of Romanians, my wife and some Romanian press."
"He's the man right now," Pavel said. "I wish him well. I hope he can go all the way because he deserves it. I think he wants it."
Agassi said he was encouraged by the way his body held together through the long, physical match.
"When I was in Wimbledon, it was an hour-fifteen, an hour-thirty, and I was having a hard time standing," he said. "To be out there for that long gives me hope for what I can push myself through right now. But how I recover is a different issue."
If rainy weather doesn't back up the schedule too much, Agassi and Baghdatis should play Thursday in the next stop on Agassi's farewell tour. Despite his difficult season, Agassi batted away the notion that he might have done better to leave the big stage last year after reaching the final again.
"To not compete this year, not try to get myself right, not try to get myself through it, I would feel like I was quitting more than retiring," he said. "As much pain as it's been, it's been worth it for me just to put myself in a position where I can have clarity."
The Agassi match followed a lovefest for another tennis legend, Billie Jean King, whose name was officially affixed to the U.S. National Tennis Center in Monday night's ceremonies.
Past Open winners Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Chris Evert and Venus Williams saluted King before her entrance, but it was diva Diana Ross who introduced her to the fading strains of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."
Relaxed and obviously brimming with contentment, King thanked dozens of people in and outside the sport and bantered with old friends in the crowd as if they were sitting in her living room. She hailed former New York mayor David Dinkins with a chipper "Hi, Sweetness!" and teased Martina Navratilova about her upcoming 50th birthday.
Then King lowered her voice a notch into a more serious range and tried to sum up the symbolism of the name change. "So rarely are women thought of in this way," she said, calling the christening a triumph for "underserved" populations: women, minorities and gays, among others.
"I cannot tell you how important this is for the future," she added.
Agassi paid tribute to King as well. "Some people do a lot and some people represent a lot," he said. "In her case, she gets the highest marks in both categories."
Frequent contributor Bonnie DeSimone is covering the U.S. Open for ESPN.com.
