An End Of An Era - Thanks Andre For Everything

I grew up having a variety of idols that I'm sure are shared by many people of my generation. My first idol was my older brother. From there I added the superstars of the world like so many other kids. Jordan was a huge influence on so many of us growing up in that era of late 80s, early 90s. Now a days kids lookup to Tiger or maybe Puljos... But my lifelong hero and role model has always been Andre Agassi. For the past 21+ years, I have followed the ups and downs of such a visible icon in the tennis world. I've always tried to model my game (or what little game I have) in the tennis world around Agassi's. I can only hope to live my life in a caring and outwardly giving towards others way that Agassi has become.

Today begins the US Open in New York City. Agassi is playing in his 21st straight, and also final, US Open beginning tonight with Andrei Pavel. Agassi is 7 wins away from his 9th Grand Slam Title (3rd at the Open), but being an unseeded player with little success in 2006 due to multiple injuries, he is more of a longshot to make it to the 2nd week of the Open. After an incredible run in 2005 to the finals (losing to the champion of the "new" generation, Roger Federer), Agassi will have to again bring out only his best stuff of his career in order to go out on top. But then again, Andre doesn't have to win his final career match to go out on top in the minds of anyone.

Article by ESPN.com that shares "Agassi by the numbers"
An array of photos of Agassi over the years

Agassi has been called the best returner to ever play tennis. He has been labeled as having the cleanest groundstrokes in the history of the game. At 36 years old and still competing at the highest levels (in 2005) in a sport dominated by "kids" under the age of 26, he is in better shape than most of his opponents whom are half his age. He spends more time working with a personal trainer than with his tennis coach (he can bench 350 pounds even at 36 years old!!). His game has evolved over the years - being the returner most feared on the tour to the king of efficiency on his serve, keeping his points short and making his younger opponents run across the court in order to tire them out. His charisma and charm for the audience makes him the crowd favorite around the world. Even playing in London or Melbourne, he is sometimes favored even over the local talents.

My favorite moments of Agassi's career:

* Jimmy Connors was making a historic run in 1988 (at the age of 36) to the quarterfinals.... only to get his butt whooped by Andre in 3 sets. Andre would beat him again in 1989 in 5 sets.
* His Wimbledon championship in 1992 (his first Grand Slam title after being 0-3 before that)... back in the long hair days.
* First US Open title in 1994 when he was unseeded (like this year???)
* French Open win in 1999 after being 2 sets down to Medvedev. He was also 0-2 in French Open finals on a surface that does NOT favor his game. This is the only Tournament to elude Sampras and currently Federer.
* US Open 2004 Quarterfinal loss against Federer. He gave him a 5 set match that I will always remember as the match that Agassi had won till the final set was moved to the following day when the winds were incredibly tough.
* US Open 2005 when he defeated James Blake in 5 sets after being down 0-2. I watched this match till 1am or so to cheer Agassi on to victory. He then went on to beat Ginepri in the semis in another 5 set match (he won 3 in a row).

More than those matches - Agassi has created a Foundation that has over $50 million in assets. Andre himself pays for the office space and the salaries of it's officers so any donations can go straight to the Foundation. I saw a statistic once that pointed out that Agassi donates more money per year than any other athlete out there. He continues to give himself to the Las Vegas community where he is from, and has always made himself available to children and fans across the world.

This week (and hopefully the next) will be the final times we will see his trademarked humbled smile and his fully appreciative wave to the fans (he waves and then bows to each of the four corners of the stadium), the last time to watch him get three tennis balls from the ball boy/girl, only to bounce one back behind him... ON EVERY SERVE! The final time we can observe the transformation from a wild and flashy kid on the court to an older and much wiser role model for tennis fans all over.

His only goal in life is simple: To be better today than yesterday. How powerful is that?

Andre, thanks for the memories and the years of having someone to cheer for and to model after. You've inspired and helped so many people and I wish you the best this week and next in your final tournament!