Top Spin Blog » Agassi

Sampras-Agassi Hit for Haiti Feud

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:56:23 +0000

The old rivals turned ugly when Agassi mocked Sampras’ alleged stinginess Friday night in the charity match. Pete could have come back hard by miming a deep inhalation of crystal meth. Pete wasn’t about to take a sleazy shot, but it would have taken the smile off Andre’s face. Pete will always have the last laugh, though, with his 20-14 record over Andre, including dominance of him in Grand Slams and a win in their last match up.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

What Will the New Decade Hold for American Tennis?

Joe Samuel Starnes — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:48:32 +0000

From Pete Sampras’ win in the 1990 U.S. Open to Andre Agassi’s win in New York in 1999, American men won 21 of the 40 Grand Slams of the decade. The following ten-year stretch started strong, with Sampras, Aggasi and Andy Roddick combining for six more through September 2003. However, since Roddick’s U.S. Open win seven years ago, only Andy has come close, but has not been able to seal one of the big four trophies. He’ll have more chances, but he turns 28 this year, and the game keeps getting tougher. I expect him to win one more before he retires, either in London or New York.

The two Americans on the rise are John Isner and Sam Querrey, and Isner is fresh off a hot streak with his first ATP win in Auckland and then a run to the fourth round of Australia where he held a set point against No. 5 seed Andy Murray, although he lost it and all three sets. In the offing, America’s top young players, including Ryan Harrison, Devin Britton, and Jordan Cox, could be the future of American tennis. But it’s way too early to tell.

Can Fish Turnaround the Spanish Beatdown of American Players? The matches between Spanish players and Americans at Wimbledon have...
USTA’s 10 and Under Tennis Nothing New If you’ve watched 15 minutes of the U.S. Open by...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Cramps, Cypriots and Agassi-Book Connections at the Australian Open

Joe Samuel Starnes — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:59:20 +0000

A very entertaining match last night/today in Melbourne: An inspired and later cramping Marcos Baghdatis came back from two sets down to beat David Ferrer, cheered on by a singing band of flag-waving compatriots from his home country of Cyprus. Baghdatis struggled through the final game, fighting a cramp in his left leg, and hopped and skipped and even sat down on the court between points, but was able to pull himself together for some stunning shotmaking to close out the fifth set 6-1.

I love seeing these middle of summer day matches, fans with their shirts off and in shorts, while here we are cold and stuck in a winter night. I also like learning about the many diasporas in Australia — I would never have thought much about Cypriots living in Australia if not for the game of tennis. You just don’t learn things like that from football.

I watched the DirectTV feed of the match, announced by Barry McKay and Jeff Tarango, a pair that has been narrating many matches on one of the five extra channels carrying tennis. The coverage is refreshing — no commercials! — and also great to hear a different perspective than McEnroe, Cahill, Carillo, and, the worst of all, the unbearable glibness of Gimelstob.

I was struck by the connections to Agassi’s memoir Open that this match afforded. Agassi’s first scene focuses on his win over Baghdatis in the 2006 U.S. Open, and reports that later they held hands in the training room while watching replays. Soon after, he writes about an early junior tournament when at the age of 10 he was cheated out of the match by none other than Jeff Tarango. Later, in the pros, when Agassi would beat Tarango, he never forget the match, thinking to himself, F-U Jeff, F-U.

I love the first week of the Australian Open, the hot-weather matches, the tennis night-dreams it permits, and all the stories it brings to mind. One of these years I’m going to figure out a way to make the trip.

Mac Styslinger: Junior Off on the Right Foot In a Torn Shoe Mac Styslinger, a native of Mountain Brook, Ala., a suburb...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.