For Agassi, a Tearful Goodbye
Tennis Legend Retires After Third-Round Loss at the U.S. Open

By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 4, 2006

NEW YORK, Sept. 3 -- Andre Agassi said goodbye to tennis at the U.S. Open on Sunday afternoon, retiring, as promised, after his 21st consecutive tournament appearance ended with a heart-rending loss.

While there have been careers that ended with more glory, few have ended with greater love.

Racked with excruciating pain from a chronic back condition, the 36-year-old Agassi stood stick-straight at times, barely able to bend or stretch, as unheralded German qualifier Benjamin Becker blasted 27 aces past him en route to a 7-5, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 7-5 victory. Agassi had his moments -- winning the second-set tiebreaker, saving four break points in the third game -- but there were too many shots he just couldn't get to.

The loss left Agassi with no trophy to hoist -- nothing tangible except a courtside chair to ease his aching body into and a sweaty towel to dab his tears as a capacity crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium showered him with deafening applause and cheers.

Agassi finally rose and returned to center court, where he bowed and blew kisses to the grandstands, as has become his custom, and choked back emotion as he addressed the crowd.

"The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard didn't say is what it is I have found," Agassi said, his lower lip quivering. "You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. . . . You have willed me to succeed sometimes even in my lowest moments. . . . You have given me your shoulders to stand on, to reach for my dreams -- dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you, and I will take you, and the memory of you, with me for the rest of my life."

No one had been more invested in Agassi's success than his father, so determined to rear a champion that he hung a tennis ball above his son's crib to teach him focus. But Mike Agassi didn't want his son to compete in Sunday's third-round match after witnessing the horrible physical toll that his previous two matches had exacted.

Agassi needed a cortisone injection (his third since March) simply to move without withering pain on Tuesday, the day after a four-set victory over Andrei Pavel in the first round. After vanquishing Marcos Baghdatis in a five-set marathon Thursday, Agassi's back seized up entirely. Unable to take any more cortisone, a steroid with anti-inflammatory properties, he underwent three more injections of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory -- on Friday, Saturday and again before Sunday's match.

Asked afterward why he hadn't retired after his victory over Baghdatis, hailed as one of the most thrilling in U.S. Open history, Agassi said: "If I wanted to quit, I would have done that a long time ago. I didn't come here to quit."

Agassi retires from tennis with 60 titles, more than $30 million in career earnings and elite status as one of only five men to have won all four major titles: Wimbledon, the French Open, Australian Open and U.S. Open. He leaves a huge deficit of charisma behind.

No player revolutionized the sport more than Agassi, who erupted onto the scene as a cocky 16-year-old with a shaggy mane of blond hair, Day-Glo outfits, bold tactics and brash personality. But image gave way to substance as Agassi weathered personal and professional heartache and triumph before fans' eyes. The tabloids fed on his Hollywood marriage and divorce with actress Brooke Shields, while the tennis world wagged its finger as his No. 1 ranking plunged to 141st.

Agassi kept his eye fixed on the ball and reclaimed his place atop the sport, finding personal stability with his second wife, fellow tennis star Steffi Graf, and starting a charity for disadvantaged children that will be his second legacy.

As Agassi fought back tears after Sunday's loss, his longtime trainer, Gil Reyes, looking on from a box with Graf and her two children with Agassi, fought back the urge to run down to the court and hug him.

"But I guess he earned a good cry," Reyes said. "He earned every bit of the joy and tears he had today."

Agassi announced in June that he would retire after this U.S. Open, and he approached the event as a chance to paint one last image on the court. Hoisting the trophy was never the goal; trying with all his heart was.

"I didn't want it to be tainted with a lack of desire or preparation," Agassi said. "For me, it was never about winning and stopping. It was always about getting the most out of myself for as long as possible." But from the moment he strode onto court, it was clear Agassi had little left to give.

Becker came out blazing, undaunted by Agassi's résumé and the chance to face his childhood idol on the biggest stage he'd ever seen.

The two traded blistering groundstrokes and booming serves through the first few games, with neither able to build a lead. But Agassi's fluid movement quickly disappeared, and he retreated farther from the baseline to face Becker's big serve.

Rallies were an obvious struggle, with Agassi groaning in pain over the drop shots he tried vainly to retrieve. For stretches, it felt like watching a thoroughbred racehorse break down before your eyes, only in slow motion.

Said CBS commentator John McEnroe, a four-time U.S. Open champion, as an uneasy silence fell over the stadium: "It's as if they don't even want to push him too much. It's like everyone collectively is worried about him." Agassi leveled the match by winning the second set in a tiebreaker. But there was no skip in his step afterward; each step he took was as if walking on hot coals.

"We're behind you, Andre!" one fan screamed.

With his range of motion shrinking, Agassi resorted to desperate tactics -- gambling big on his serves in hopes of keeping the points short. And while he couldn't push off for an explosive first step, he retained enough muscle memory to fire occasional winners even while rooted to the baseline.

Becker, whose biggest previous achievement had been winning an NCAA title for Baylor, started struggling as well, unaccustomed to the rigor of best-of-five set matches. He also was getting booed each time he flicked a drop shot, which the crowd viewed as heartless given Agassi's constraints.

Becker explained later that he hit the shot out of instinct rather than a lack of respect. He was uneasy being perceived as a bad guy, just as he was uneasy following Agassi into the locker room, where every player rose and applauded the fallen champion.

Given the individual nature of tennis, in which one player's victories come at another's expense, that tribute meant as much to Agassi as anything.

"It will be that applause -- the applause from the fans, the applause from my peers," Agassi said, asked what he would remember most about his career. "That was the greatest memory I've ever had -- memories I'll keep with me forever."