In the finals, his victim was Tommy Haas, who is, by the way, having the best year of his career. Poor Haas withstood the barrage of Agassi's aggressive shots for two sets before giving up and looking like a puppet on strings in the third set. The "old man" literally whipped Haas 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.

Since 1999 French Open, tennis fans have been blessed to witness Agassi's greatness. However, the same question keeps creeping up in the heads of those same fans:

Where was this guy when tennis most needed him?

I remember the year 1989. I remember watching the same Agassi lose to Alberto Mancini in the finals of the same Rome tournament. I remember it not all that vividly simply because it was not a great rivalry. It was after all, Mancini's fifteen minutes of fame. My most vivid memory of that year was the finals of U.S. Open. "Firecracker" version of tennis by the name of Boris Becker defeated the "icy and mechanical" version of the same game by the name of Ivan Lendl. It was one of the most memorable rivalries of the late '80s.

Rivalries of this kind were the ultimate answer to what made men's tennis so fascinating to follow every week. Was anyone not mesmerized by the Borg/McEnroe/Connors era? Can anyone really claim to find no joy in watching the cry-baby Johnny Mac duke it out with the emotionless Lendl on the other side of the net in the early '80s? Can anyone not see the chemistry that "boom-boom" Becker and the elegant, yet efficient Stefan Edberg provided in their countless matches in the late '80s?

'70s and '80s were filled with these exciting moments.

Then I remember the U.S. Open final in 1990. Quiet Pistol Pete took on the "bad boy" Agassi in the finals that year. As Sampras prevailed in that duel, I remember thinking "This is it! This will be the rivalry of the nineties! Bring it on, baby!"

Sampras held his end of the bargain all right. He won 12 Grand Slams in the decade, breaking all sorts of records, claiming the No. 1 spot almost exclusively.

Agassi contented with few brief glimpses of his greatness and the topic of "What could have been" grew as the years went by.

For the next two and a half years, Agassi remained in the top 10, winning numerous titles, yet no Grand Slams. He camouflaged his failures in the majors with plenty of hair, the "denim look", and a barrage of ads on all sorts of media.

Oh, and let's not forget Barbara Streisand and the "shaved chest."

Everything was there - except a full commitment to tennis.

Ironically in 1993, what Agassi dreamed of doing on the clay courts of Paris or on the hard courts of New York, he accomplished on the grass courts of Wimbledon - a tournament in which he entered at the last minute, a tournament that he criticized because the dress code did not allow him to wear his rainbow colored outfits. He won his first Grand Slam by beating maybe the best server on grass in history: Goran Ivanisevic.

I remember thinking, "finally!"

I was ready for the Sampras/Agassi rivalry to flourish.

But I was wrong.

Agassi continued to refuse to commit hundred percent to tennis which ultimately frustrated his coach, Nick Bollettieri, causing their split later in 1993. What followed was a year of underachievement during which Agassi started dating actress Brooke Shields, but then did make one correct move: hire Brad Gilbert as his coach.

In the fall of 1994 came the "glimpse part two". Agassi became the first unseeded player in the Open Era to win the U.S. Open, defeating five seeded players en route to his second Grand Slam title. Then came the Australian Open in January 1995 where Agassi on top of his game, showing the whole world that Sampras can be beaten in a Grand Slam final.

And I remember thinking once again, "let the games begin!"

I was wrong.

Again.

What followed was four years of mediocrity. Agassi continued his romance with Shields, tennis never becoming his top priority. Four years during which he had nothing other than an Olympic gold medal to showcase. There were plenty of non-tennis related activities, as usual. In 1997, Agassi married Brooke Shields, and became her companion to numerous award shows where Brooke was honored while he failed miserably in the tennis department.

That same year, the lowest point of his career slapped him in the face when his ranking plummeted to No. 141 and he could not get into the big tournaments. Also came the ultimatum from the always direct and curt Brad Gilbert, "Either re-dedicate yourself, or I can't help you."

Agassi came clean. He bit the dust and played lowly challengers where he had to flip his own scorecard. How the might have fallen...

Not yet.

Shortly thereafter, Agassi filed for divorce from Shields, took on a new, healthy diet routine, and fitness and practice courts became his priority. He slowly made his way back up.

By 1999, Agassi was on fire. He no longer wanted to settle for "glimpses." He wanted the glory, the titles. Again ironically, he displayed his greatness in the only Grand Slam he failed to capture previously, the French Open. Fitter than ever, at the age of 29, the bolding Agassi prevailed.

This time, he was determined never to look back. He confirmed his triumphant return with titles in Australia in 2000 and 2001.

This story for the books did not erase "what could have been," however. Why did tennis fans have to wait so long to enjoy what this talented man from Las Vegas had to offer?

More importantly, did men's tennis have to suffer because of one man's lack of commitment to the game? Whether it was his prerogative or not to live his life as he wishes, the fact remains men's tennis lost its momentum of the '70s and '80s because there were no "rivalries for the ages." Agassi simply happens to be displaying his best at a time when Sampras' skills are diminishing today.

It's been a long time coming, but it's a bit late.

Agassi should have displayed his best during the '90s. He should have kept his end of the bargain after that memorable final in New York back in 1990. It would have been "the" rivalry of the nineties, perhaps the best of the open era.

Agassi owed that to himself. Think of the many Grand Slam titles Agassi would have accumulated. Would he have surpassed Sampras' record of 13 Grand Slam titles? Furthermore, would he have been possibly considered "the best ever?"

Would men's tennis have enjoyed the same spotlight that it did in the previous two decades?

Would Sampras/Agassi rivalry have become the ultimate rivalry in all sports?

We will never know the answers to these questions.

Agassi deserves to live his life as he wishes.

We reserve the right to ask.

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