Well, I didn’t know that we could review Sports Personalities as a product, but anyway since I saw an Andre Agassi review the other day I thought I had come up with my own review which I had written earlier this year. I think Andre Agassi is the greatest tennis player his recent loss at the U.S. Open notwithstanding. Let’s not waste any more time and lets get right into who Andre Agassi is.
Andre Agassi started to influence me 13 years ago when I was just a little kid, who one day had fever and was tucked away in bed watching a tennis match having no idea what the game was all about. The match was between Andre Agassi and Boris Becker. The venue, Roland Garros, Paris and the year 1991. All that I remember about this match is that it was a semi-final and that Agassi went on to win the match. What struck me most and will remain with me forever was Agassi’s appearance, he wore bright cycling shorts, a blue t-shirt and had a long shaggy perm flowing out of his cap. The next time I watched Agassi was a year later at The semi-finals of Wimbledon where he defeated John Mc Enroe to go on to his first Wimbledon final. I was all ready to watch Andre win his first Grand Slam tournament and that too of all places at Wimbledon. However for that to happen he had to get over the tall and lanky Goran Ivanesivic. After five sets of nerve racking tennis, Andre fell to his knees and kissed the turf, tears of joy ran down his face. He had truly arrived. I will cherish that moment forever.
Fast forward to 1999, The Place Roland Garros, Paris. The stage is set for Andre Agassi to create history by becoming only the fifth player in history to win all the four grand slams. Andre is a changed man, the long hair are gone, the denim shorts have been replaced by a more conventional tennis attire and his mind is filled with deja vu, with thoughts of the last time he played here in the final and lost. This might be Andre’s last shot to regain lost glory, after all in Tennis you don’t get many chances at 29. Agassi starts of the match in nightmarish fashion, within the blink of an eye he is two sets down and staring down the barrel, all his dreams and aspirations are about to be dashed. A despondent Brad Gilbert and Agassi’s long time friend and trainer Gill Rey’s look on from the players box. It’s too painful to watch. Even destiny would not be so cruel as to bring Agassi within such close reach of his dreams and then snatch it all away. Just as I ponder over that thought something amazing happens Andre out of nowhere starts hitting winners left, right and center. As if the script to this match was written by a soap opera director, Agassi levels the match at two sets a piece. Just one set stands between Agassi and a permanent place in history among the game’s legends. I prepare for another twist in the tale, but this time around Andre continues his relentless form and finally when Andrei Medvedev hit’s a backhand long, Agassi raises his arms in triumph, he is overcome with emotions as he should be. You certainly can not ask for a more intriguing final. A fan at courtside shouts ’’ The King is Back’’, and so he was and in the most dramatic fashion as well. Since then Agassi has climbed back to the top off Professional Tennis and has won four more Grand Slams after the age of 29 which is a feat I know no one will achieve. I respect Andre for having the courage to fight, to put his pride in his pocket and play at Challenger events, to come back from a broken marriage and a ranking as low as 140, to train on Christmas Eve, to get to the top and stay there, but most of all I respect Andre Agassi, for being The Greatest Tennis Player that ever lived. Period