Day 2: A Tale of Two Andres

He was the worst at times, but became the best over time... and so now begins his final walk down history's path.



Twenty years ago, if someone would have told you that Andre Agassi would be the player and man he is today, you might have thought the person was an insane dreamer viewing the world through rose-colored glasses with extra-think lenses. Back then, the long-haired, denim-clad, neon-glowing, Vegas-born son of a former Iranian Olympic boxer was anything but the model player, citizen and family man he's turned out to be. He had a suspected penchant for tanking matches, a knack for losing the big one and was all about flash, dash and "Image is Everything."



He was the "Zen Master," as Barbra Streisand called him, with an oh-so-'80s fashion sense. "Mister Brooke Shields," with an early-career aversion to Wimbledon's dress code (Wear white? Me?) and the audacity to publicly point out what he viewed as Pete Sampras' resemblance to humanity's simian ancestors.

Who'd ever think that he would finally make his slam breakthrough by winning Wimbledon in 1992, then go on and become the fifth man ever (and the only one whose entire career took place during the Open Era) to complete the career slam by winning all four majors? He always had the talent, but it took some time for him to find the heart and the commitment. But when he did, everything changed. He formed a friendly alliance with Sampras to build the best men's tennis rivalry of the past two decades, and went from one-time brat to maturing statesman by marrying Steffi Graf and becoming a two-time father.

Twenty years ago, you'd never have believed that the respectful 36-year old bald man with the hand-made "Daddy Rocks" necklace (rather than some gold-plated bling) who walked onto Centre Court for his first match at what will be his last Wimbledon was the same Andre Agassi that we thought we knew way back when. The Andre who seemed like the bastard child of "bad" Jimmy Connors and Johnny Mac will soon exit, in many ways, more resembling a showman-like Arthur Ashe for the new millennium... and to further prove the point, Agassi even won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award in '95 for his good works off the court.

We really didn't know Agassi back then. Maybe he didn't really know himself yet, either. Thank goodness for the intervening time that's fostered the transformation, in image and reality, of the man who will walk away from the sport following the U.S. Open. The raucous welcome he received in England today will pale in comparison to the one he'll get in New York City, but it was as authentic as he has become. In the end, he won everybody over.

Occasionally, time, while often an enemy of a world class athlete, can also be their saving grace. That's been the case for Agassi... and we and the sport are all better for it. It's been a wild, sometimes odd, often frustrating, but always entertaining ride. But it's not over yet. Enjoy it while it lasts, for however much longer that is.

Twenty years ago, if you'd said you wished everyone could be like that Andre you'd been worthy of a stick in the eye. But in 2006? Yeah, being like this Andre would be pretty nice indeed... that'd make anyone proud.



love/love... on Day 2, Kveta Peschke defeated Kristina Brandi to become the first official match winner in main draw action at this year's Wimbledon
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love/15... soon afterward, men's #12 seed Thomas Johansson, a semifinalist last year, became the first seeded player to be defeated when he lost to Jonas Bjorkman
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love/30... the first woman's seed to lose? #28 Sofia Arvidsson, to Eva Birnerova
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love/40... obviously, there's no Virginia Wade in the bunch. After having some opening round success in '04 (four winners), the number of British women reaching the 2nd Round dropped to one in '05. Maybe the best chance for an opening round win this year was squandered by Katie O'Brien today, as she blew a 6-2 and a break lead over Tathiana Garbin, losing 6-2/6-7/2-6. No British women has won SW19 since Wade did it in 1977.
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15/40... Justine Henin-Hardenne burst out of the gates early on Day 2, thought not in Barbaro-esque fashion (thankfully). Without any messy aftermath, JHH won her 12th straight match by a bludgeoning 6-0/6-1 score over Meng Yuan. One can be sure that Yuan's loved ones were notified of the tragedy in due time.
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30/40... Jamea Jackson dropped the 1st set to Kirsten Flipkens, but the Georgia Peach stormed back to win 4-6/6-4/6-1, giving Virginie Pichet at least a small vicarious thrill to hold her over until she gets her own shot at payback versus the mini-Waffle.
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Deuce... in typical fashion, Ivo Karlovic had another one of those matches today against Stanislas Wawrinka. When you see a 7-6(5)/3-6/6-2/7-6(8)/11-9 scoreline in a 1st Round match at Wimbledon, you can likely assume that the big Croat was involved. And, as is often the case, he once again came out on the losing side.
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Ad... after swatting away Richard Gasquet in a virtual grass court tennis clinic, is it too soon to say that Roger Federer (tough draw be damned!) might not drop a set at this year's tournament? His win today gave him sole possession of the longest grass winning streak in ATP history -- 42 matches.
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Deuce... if the potential player/coach pairing of Andy Murray and Brad Gilbert becomes a reality, what will Roddick do if he becomes the world's #2 Andy sometime during the next two years?
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Ad... looks like Eastbourne wasn't the learning experience that Backspin's Girl Friday was hoping for. At least, not yet. After choking away a sure QF win over Svetlana Kuznetsova last week, Anna-Lena Groenefeld had a shot to make a quick rebound on the grass courts that might have been friendly to her big game. But, with just two aces against seven double-faults, she didn't get the expected help from her serve and blew a set advantage today, losing in three sets to Tszvetana Pironkova. Yes, that's the same Pironkova who last made big slam news in Melbourne when she upset Venus Williams. You know, while watching the Bulgarian some five months ago, you kind of got the feeling she wasn't the type to go away quietly after one big moment in the spotlight. The gut feeling was correct.
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Deuce... seven qualifiers won 1st Round matches today, four men (Benjamin Becker, Stefano Galvani, Roko Karanusic and Robert Kendrick) and three women (Severine Bremond, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Meilen Tu).
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Ad... the entire men's draw was scheduled, and slightly more than half actually completed their matches. After being forced to delay the traditional Tuesday appearance of the defending women's champion, Venus Williams is expected to make her 2006 SW19 debut on Wednesday.
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Game, "A VERY LITTLE BIT OF KNOWLEDGE APPARENTLY SOMETIMES DOES GO A LONG WAY"... with very little to go on, I still somehow managed to correctly pick seven of the eight World Cup quarterfinalists before play began. (I had Mexico, rather than Argentina.) For what it's worth, my Final Four were Germany, France, Brazil and Portugal. So I can still get three of the four, with Brazil/France meeting in the QF. Hmmm, I wonder if Pierre would allow me to count those picks in the Battle Royale totals?
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All for Day 2. More tomorrow.