Agassi Approaches the Final Legg of His Career

Five-Time Champ To Bid D.C. Farewell

Andre Agassi burst on the scene with a rock star's flamboyance before maturing into a family man, humanitarian and one of the game's greats. (1991 Photo By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)

After two decades as a professional tennis player, Andre Agassi has grown to value the unrelenting, repetitive rhythm of the sport's calendar, which tends to bring him back to the same spot on the globe at the same time each year.

"Every week is an opportunity to take stock of your life because you haven't been there in a year," says Agassi, 36, explaining the appeal. "Every week, in a sense, is similar to other people's New Year's."

Without consulting his datebook, for example, Agassi knows that the first week of August brings Washington's Legg Mason Tennis Classic. While most Washingtonians of means will be fleeing the withering heat and humidity, Agassi will be alighting this week for his 17th appearance in the annual hard-court tournament that serves as a key step in his preparation for the U.S. Open.

It will also be Agassi's last appearance, following his announcement on the eve of Wimbledon that he plans to retire after this year's U.S. Open. While tennis fans and tournament promoters have been fending off pangs of remorse since, Agassi is steering clear of nostalgia for now, focused squarely on preparing for one final assault on Flushing Meadows, N.Y., where he claimed two of his eight major titles.

Given his chronic back injury, Agassi's preparation these days involves as much rest as it does workouts. Periodic cortisone injections keep the discomfort at bay, and in the interim Agassi has grown accustomed to trading two good days for two or three bad, marshalling his strength and flexibility as if precious, dwindling resources.

But he's still capable of brilliance on the court that puts younger rivals to shame. Those are the moments that renew him, when he's able to strike the ball cleanly, move well enough to retrieve what his opponents dish out and prevail with brains over brawn.

Even when he's playing to the best of his ability, as he did in reaching the quarterfinals of last week's hard-court event in Los Angeles, Agassi insists he doesn't entertain second thoughts about retiring.

"I'd rather people have that conversation -- saying, 'He shouldn't stop!' -- than the alternative of playing through a time where it's as painful for everyone else as it is for me ," Agassi said. "It's a good situation to be in if my game is meriting that sort of concern [over the wisdom of retirement]. I feel comfortable with my decision. While I love playing, it does come with a big cost -- not just for me, but for those closest to me. My family." He and his wife, Steffi Graf, have two children, Jaden, 4, and Jaz Elle, 2.

Agassi arrives in Washington with the most impressive résumé of any active player on tour. He's among only five men to have won all four Grand Slam events. He claimed Olympic gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games. And he owns 60 career titles, five of them earned at Washington's Legg Mason.

Agassi's loyalty to the tournament is unparalleled, due in part to the fact that his best friend and business manager, Perry Rogers, is a Georgetown graduate. The surface and conditions also play to his strengths.

A Las Vegas native, Agassi grew up on hard courts and trusts the bounce of the ball on them. He also moves best on hard courts, which don't require the deep knee-bending of grass or the sliding of clay. Still, Agassi's mobility isn't what it once was, so his success depends largely on structuring points for ultimate efficiency. If he can win a point with an ace or service return, perfect. Failing that, a quick combination of line-skimming groundstrokes works nicely.

"If I'm doing what I do well, I tend to make my opponent work a little harder than I do," Agassi says. "When you raise the stakes, you also create a very small advantage for yourself."