Often, I get e-mails from readers or comments from my friends, regarding my articles. Albeit mostly positive, I am sometimes criticized for viewing the tennis world in a two-dimensional manner and too cerebral. They tell me my articles should be more emotional, less analytical.
Well, my friends and readers, today is your day! This one is straight from the heart. Forget about the numbers, stats, and rankings. This one is all about emotions, if you will!
Here is what I want: I want Agassi to win the U.S. Open. In fact, if Agassi does not win the U.S. Open, I may experience an emotional letdown for a few days.
I grew up watching legendary rivalries that included names like Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, and Boris Becker. Then I grew older and tennis lost some of its popularity. Rivalries and colorful personalities seemed far and few between.
Now the state of men's tennis looks healthy once again with the likes of Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, and a few other young hotshots.
However, squeezed between the era of the legends I mentioned in the previous paragraph and the young "new balls" of the ATP such as Roddick and company, was a decade during which men's tennis struggled to keep ratings, lost a good number of fans, and risked losing many more if it was not for the one rivalry that kept the interest going: Agassi vs. Pete Sampras.
If it was not for these two guys, who knows if there would be any TV coverage other than Grand Slams, or if tennis would not become a third or fourth-tier sport in the United States, or if there would ever be a Tennis Channel on TV. If you doubt what I say, just ask Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Robby Ginepri, and all today's rising American about who they idolized as a growing junior tennis player. I am willing to bet at least one of these two superstars' names will be a part of each one's answer.
Sampras is already considered as the best ever by many. Almost all tennis fans will put him in their top-three. He won a record 14 Grand Slams. He is a legend, a part of tennis history.
Agassi, despite a less number of Grand Slams, has done a few things even better than Sampras, such as winning all four Grand Slams, and the Olympic Gold Medal. He is probably in the top-10 of all-time in many tennis followers' list.
There is a small difference however, an emotional one. Pete received his dues at the U.S. Open 2002 by winning his 14th Grand Slam, and going out on top. And lo and behold, he did it at the expense of Andre.
Andre, at 34, does not have many Grand Slams left anymore in him. But he could still have one more. This should be the one.
Right here in New York!
Right now!
I don't care how he does it, I don't care about statistics, I don't care how lucky a draw he gets, and I don't care at whose expense he does it. I want Andre to triumph once again.
And that, my dear friends and readers, is "straight from the heart!"
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