It wasn't a Tier I event or anything, but you had to be impressed by the way Agassi crushed nemesis Francisco Clavet and the ever-befuddling Greg Rusedski on the way to his 50th career title.
Perhaps we media-types overplayed the extent of the wrist injury that kept him out of Melbourne, all the better to set the stage for yet another triumphant comeback. Is there a sport besides tennis where returns from injury are so vividly in the spotlight? Perhaps it's the individual aspect ... and the fact that this sport is a bit harder on the body than golf.
Regardless, Agassi turns 32 at the end of next month, and he's still plugging away, looking as physically fit as anyone out there. And if recent history is any indication, this is his time of year. He won the title in Indian Wells last year, and will have to get through a fantastic field this week to defend it. Then comes the Nasdaq-100 (neé Ericsson) Open, which Agassi also won a year ago.
Three titles in a row is too much to ask, but we're happy to see Agassi still competing at an elite level when he's well past the standard tennis retirement age.
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| A-Rod's disappointment |
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Andy Roddick was apparently in pretty bad shape Sunday when the time came for him to face off with Davide Sanguinetti in the Delray Beach final. A persistent virus had Roddick vomiting during changeovers and ended up contributing to his final loss to the suddenly unbeatable Sanguinetti. Roddick's not the type of guy to pull out of a final unless he has an injury which could be aggravated by continuing to play, so he wasn't about to bail. Especially considering Delray is more or less the hometown tournament for the Boca Raton native. Roddick did, however, pull out of this week's event in Indian Wells, figuring it wouldn't be wise to fly cross-country for what would have been a tough few days of play. Better to stay at home and get healthy for a run in Key Biscayne. |
| Back where it belongs? |
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It looks like the year-end WTA Championships might be headed back to New York sooner rather than later. WTA player council member Lisa Raymond told tennisreporters.net last week that bringing the tournament back to this side of the pond from Germany was under discussion. The Championships were always well-attended at Madison Square Garden, and many were disappointed when they were moved to Munich for last season. The events of Sept. 11 may have helped put a damper on the event, along with the absence of Monica Seles, who refuses to play in Germany since she was stabbed at a tournament there in 1993. It's nothing against Munich, but the WTA tried to fix something that wasn't broken by taking the Championships out of New York. The event is a showcase for the WTA, and with the top of the rankings dominated by Americans, they'd get a lot more for their marketing dollar if it was back in the Big Apple.
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Men with 50 career titles in the Open Era, now that Agassi has joined the club. They are: Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg, Guillermo Vilas, Ilie Nastase and Agassi. |
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| ACE
Davide Sanguinetti -- Talk about finding your groove. The Italian veteran entered 2002 with zero singles titles in about nine years on tour. Now, he has become the first player to win two ATP titles this season.
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DOUBLE FAULT
Jennifer Capriati -- She apparently has her reasons, but skipping the top-tier Indian Wells event just isn't good for the game. |
ACE
Maria Sharapova -- She's young, she's attractive and she's Russian. That means she's saddled with the automatic comparisons with you-know-who. But the 14-year-old won her opener in Indian Wells against Brie Rippner before getting smacked by Seles 6-0, 6-2 in the second round. |
DOUBLE FAULT
Superbreaker -- The 10-point third-set tiebreaker being used to decide men's doubles is exciting and all that, but it's not in the spirit of tennis. Tennis is best two out of three or three out of five sets. Leave it alone. |
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Stop the presses! Marat Safin has parted ways with another coach. Mats Wilander is the latest to get the ax from the Australian Open finalist. Safin said Wilander had too many time commitments between his family and senior tour play to give him his undivided attention. Who's next?
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Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten says he's still hoping to make it back from recent hip surgery in time to make it to Roland Garros this year. Magnus Norman had a similar procedure with the same doctor, and it kept him out five months, so the end of May might be pushing it for Kuerten. But we'll see.
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The Indian Express has been derailed again. National heroes Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi have decided to split up for the second time in two years. The two-time French Open champions haven't had very good results so far this year. Both are in Indian Wells with new partners -- Paes with Jan-Michael Gambill and Bhupathi with John Laffnie de Jager.
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Barry Bonds dropped in at the Franklin Templeton Classic in Scottsdale, where his Giants are currently at spring training. The home run king had a chat with Agassi and had him sign a tennis ball for his 3-year-old daughter, Aisha.
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Nice to see Aaron Krickstein back out on the senior circuit. The old pro, most recently seen as a caddy for his niece last summer, lost to McEnroe in the Nuveen Champions final Sunday in Naples, Fla. Krickstein had beaten McEnroe earlier in the week during round-robin play.
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Athens, Ga., is officially home to college tennis' best teams, at least for the week. The Georgia men and women are No. 1 in the country in the latest ITA rankings, marking the first time in school history both programs have held the top spot at the same time. Stanford, naturally, has done it before -- most recently last spring.
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"[Fifty wins] mean a lot now. Before the match, I was really thinking about my opponent. But it hits you, how long you've been out here, how many times you have the privilege of standing there on the last day holding the trophy. It's very important."
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| Agassi on his milestone title in Arizona |
| "Do whatever you feel comes naturally."
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| Magnus Norman, to supermodel Victoria Silverstedt after she offered to either wrap herself in a Swedish flag or just paint her body blue and yellow while watching one of his matches. |
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| This week - ATP Tour |
| The field in Indian Wells is absolutely stacked, a fantastic draw. Everyone but Roddick is there, and it promises to produce some fantastic matches. We're talking Rusedski vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero and Lleyton Hewitt vs. Carlos Moya in the first round. |
| This week - WTA Tour |
| Things get cranked up in a serious way at Indian Wells, with Martina Hingis, Justine Henin and Monica Seles serving as favorites. |
| Next week - ATP Tour |
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It's week one of the two-week festivities at the Nasdaq-100 Open, the "fifth Grand Slam." |
| Next week - WTA Tour |
| Heading to Key Biscayne for the big event.
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