Reaching serenity by grasping what146;s important

The oldest and baldest star of the Tour was preparing for his 19th consecutive US Open but was asked specifically about the moments preceding the conclusion of No. 18.

I mentioned to Agassi that I had watched him fall two sets behind in his semi-final against Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero while in the company of a man who knew something about such predicaments in advanced tennis age. 8216;8216;It8217;s not the tennis so much at that stage of your career,8217;8217; Jimmy Connors said. 8216;8216;It8217;s your comfort zone. You8217;re down two sets to love and you8217;re asking: 8216;Do I really want to stay out here and do what it takes, or do I really need this?8217;8217;8217;

So I wondered if Agassi had anything like that pass through his mind against Ferrero, or at any time during a Grand Slam tournament victory drought that stands at six. At 34, with a wife, two children, eight Grand Slam victories that cover the four majors, an acclaimed charity foundation and a firm historical standing as one of tennis8217;s greatest players and most appreciated entertainers, does he really need this?

Thus a more probing query, beyond when Agassi plans to stop playing: why is he still playing? His short answer, rifled like a forehand up the line, is simply, 8216;8216;Because I can.8217;8217;

The long version speaks to one of the more remarkable remakings in all of modern sports. 8216;8216;I8217;ve never allowed myself the luxury of going, 8216;Where do I want to be?8217; For me, one part of life affects the other so dramatically. My whole life is not going to be as enjoyable if I don8217;t feel like I will leave everything that I8217;ve got on the court. I8217;ll enjoy myself so much more at home. So I am actually using how good my life is away from tennis as a motivation, and the only way to protect that life is to live up to the standard that I set for myself.8217;8217;

Agassi didn8217;t always know the good life from the best life, and certainly not when he was plummeting like an Olympic diver through the ranking, all the way down to No. 141 on Nov. 10, 1997. Which Las Vegas casino would8217;ve even given odds that Agassi, at that time well into tennis middle age, would come back to win five additional Grand Slam events and set new standards for physical conditioning in the process?

Was it unfair for the tennis critics of the early 19908217;s to lampoon the young Agassi as a Vegas lounge act, to castigate him for not maximising his formidable gifts according to a schedule they set? Just when you think Agassi will expound on the iniquity of the one-size-fits-all human developmental scale, he goes crosscourt in making his erstwhile critics8217; argument his own.

8216;8216;As I look back on it, I don8217;t think the media and the public should have taken a different approach to it,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;I should have been accountable a lot earlier.8217;8217;

For what, specifically, he was asked, and the example that came immediately to mind was how he made himself allergic to the finest tennis tradition, the Wimbledon grass, not playing the tournament from 1988 through 1990. 8216;8216;I didn8217;t want to go to Wimbledon because I wanted time off,8217;8217; he said. 8216;8216;I didn8217;t have the ability to take a step back and look at it through the lens of the people who are being affected by your choices. I was only looking at life through my lens.8217;8217;

That was the Agassi with the streaked blond mane flowing from under his cap, the grunge iconoclast who drew comical platitudes from one celebrity, Barbra Streisand, and married another, Brooke Shields. Even as the Wimbledon champion in 1992, and the United States Open winner two years later, Agassi conceded that he left himself exposed to the accusation that he would forever be more tacky stylist than true sportsman.

On the best day for him and Pete Sampras, we know that Sampras wins and we also acknowledge that Agassi would probably be closer than 14-8 in the Grand Slam count if full-blown maturity had set in sooner. Two years ago, Sampras defeated Agassi in a charged United States Open final, climbed into the stands to embrace his actress wife and rode off into a sunset that only Hollywood could script. Agassi, for his part, was remarried to a camera-shy woman who won 22 Grand Slam singles titles. For the career rivals, character role-play had blurred almost to the point of reversal.

In July, Agassi went to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., on the day of Graf8217;s induction and, while addressing a 50th anniversary crowd that included many of the sport8217;s greatest living players, told his teary-eyed wife, 8216;8216;It has taken my breath away to see how you have quietly laid down your racket to pursue love and motherhood with the same zeal and high standards you have always demanded of yourself.8217;8217;

The unlikeliest of elder statesmen gave tennis an 8216;8216;everything image8217;8217; it won8217;t soon forget. At 34, Andre Agassi showed more heart than ever. More than his projected departure date, isn8217;t that the point?

The New York Times