In the end, it was a qualifier that got him. It wasn't the walk into sunset that he probably, was looking for. The signs had been portending this, the whole year. He had been limited to a few appearances this season due to sciatica. The old shell outside had not been able to match steps with the sprightly youngster that inhabited its interiors. Going into the last major of the year, he had a negative win-loss record. Many bemoaned the fact that he had lost a golden opportunity to call it a day, the year earlier, when he surprised one and all, with a golden run to the ultimate round. "He should have given up, then....", they shook their heads in dejection, as he trudged on to the net for his final walk off a tennis court.
But giving up has always been an alien concept for Andre Agassi. Few can stake claim to a career graph marked by as many crests and troughs as this American immigrant of Persian ancestry. Of his talent, none had any doubts, since he burst out of Nick Bollettieri's tennis factory at the age of 16; of his temperament and dedication, gadzillions. Over the course of his career, Agassi would not set the tennis world on fire, as his teenage coach had once predicted. 8 majors is the kind of achievements that only the very best can ever hope for, but Agassi was better than many of the very best. He is the only man in the open era to have achieved the distinction of winning all the major slams - a feat unrivalled by even the likes of Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras or Ivan Lendl - all titans in their own right.
Andre Agassi literally lived his life through the medium of tennis - it is here that the golden pony-tailed, convention defying Bohemian Agassi would generate hysterical adulation as he trudged on to the field in his purple shorts, blowing kisses to his legion of female fans. He embraced the anti-establishment rebel image completely - wearing colourful dresses at Wimbledon, pushing its strict sartorial boundaries, boasting cheeseburger diets and even endorsing the Canon "Rebel" camera. In fact, he refused to play in the Australian Open for the first 8 years of his pro career and also skipped Wimbledon from 88 to 90. Success would not elude him for long - the 1992 Wimbledon triumph over the eternal pretender to the Wimbledon throne - Goran Ivanisevic - portending many more in the years to come. Indeed, the win in the U.S. Open in 1994 and his debut triumph in the Australian Open in 1995 seemed to put him in the hallowed echelons of tennis history.
But then perhaps, geniuses have a proclivity for self-destruction. A mismatched marriage to Brooke Shields, flamboyant pursuits in modelling, collecting Porsches etc also contributed to his distraction from tennis and his fortunes were further imperiled by unfortunate injuries. His ranking plunged to the 150s and even his die-hard fans were speculating what to write on his sporting cenotaph.
Agassi, however, thought otherwise. He rolled up his sleeves and started from scratch again - I still remember the surprise in the voices of the seasoned tennis commentators as they narrated his efforts in the Challenger series. Andre Agassi playing in the Challenger circuit - that is where you have players like Harsh Mankad, Danai Udomchoke and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan slug out (if you don't know their names, that is just the point !!). His head shaved, the ear-studs gone, Andre Agassi had re-dedicated his life to tennis and by 1999, one year after that comeback, he had defeated Medvedev in an epic 5-setter to win the French Open and become a member of that elite group to have won all the Slams. He would become World No. 1 - a remarkable comeback by any standards. He would go on to win one more Slam in 2003, maintain a consistent top-10 ranking till 2005, make that memorable run to the 2005 U.S. Open final, re-occupy the No. 1 slot in between to become the oldest player ever to have held that position and consistently defy the pundits by chasing down balls of opponents 15 years younger at times.
He was not the best player of his generation - Pete Sampras had taken care of that. He was not the best behaved - he once spat on a line umpire and in the early part of his career, often took ugly pot-shots against the likes of Sampras. But if there ever is a poll on who was the greatest superstar of tennis in his days, you know whose name will be there on the top.
