[NY Times] Agassi Is Back to Being Great U.S. Hope

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By LIZ ROBBINS Published: September 1, 2005 An American tennis idol, former United States Open champion and star of a memorable American Express commercial walked off the court and signed oversized balls for adoring young fans yesterday. The attention had shifted back to Andre Agassi, not Andy Roddick. Agassi was the highest-seeded American left in the men's draw of the Open at No.7 a day after a demoralized Roddick dashed from the grounds of the National Tennis Center after his first-round loss. Through 20 years of personal, professional and promotional changes, Agassi has been the one constant at this tournament. At 35, with a shiny pate and a lithe frame, he is in better shape than he was a decade ago, his longtime conditioning coach, Gil Reyes, said yesterday. Despite the troublesome sciatic nerve in his lower back, which upset the first half of this season, Agassi won one title this summer and reached the final in Montreal. He is turning back retirement thoughts with one mantra. "I just keep working, just keep working," Agassi said, on the move yesterday after his practice session to prepare for a tricky second-round match today against Ivo Karlovic of Croatia. Agassi's priorities might have shifted, but his focus has not. While the American Express campaign seemed to have foretold the fourth-seeded Roddick's exit - "Have You Seen Andy's Mojo?" - Agassi's commercial image is far more subdued and far more reflective of his life. If image is everything, as his camera ads in the early 1990's suggested, then consider this: Agassi and his wife, Steffi Graf, now drive a minivan in a commercial for a financial services company. Agassi really does drive a minivan. "Which he got a lot of flak from the office for," his brother, Phillip, said yesterday. "When he was like 18 and 19, he had a Lamborghini, Corvettes," Phillip Agassi said with a laugh. "At one time, he owned three or four Porsches. It was really kind of ostentatious and sick. A minivan works great for him." He and Graf have a son, Jaden, who turns 4 in October, and a daughter, Jaz, who turns 2 in October. "Andre and Stefanie are really humble," Phillip said. "You couldn't find either one of their trophies in their house, not one picture, not one poster. He's got photos with Clinton, Shaq, but the ones that are up on the wall are the ones that are family and close friends." Two years ago, Agassi was featured in an American Express commercial in which he bought a ball-hopper so he could pick up children's toys. Yesterday, he said he was not shocked by Roddick's defeat. "Not too much separates so many of us," Agassi said about Gilles Muller's three-set upset. Agassi beat Muller, a left-hander from Luxembourg, to capture the Los Angeles title in July. That was the first tournament he played after losing in the first round of the French Open in Paris, where he endured severe sciatic pain. It was then that Agassi rededicated himself to strength training. "After Paris, he said: 'We're going to get this right. I'm not finished,' " Reyes recalled. "I told him, 'O.K., here's what we're going to change, here's what we can no longer do, some of the lifts, and here's what you're going to have to do.' " For two months, Agassi and Reyes, who have worked together for more than 16 years, spent hours in the gym every day. "We upped his training time, going over two hours nonstop in the weight room," Reyes said. "Every single training session was game day." Darren Cahill, Agassi's coach, saw the results. "Gil and Andre have done some great work over the last 15 years, and the last training camp was one of the best," he said. "Andre has worked extremely hard. And it doesn't get any easier at his age. He's got to train harder than he trained 10 years ago to maintain the level he wants to maintain." Agassi has also taken cortisone shots, including one after his Mercedes Cup title in Los Angeles, to ease the pain. He said Monday that he was feeling well again. Today's match will once again test Agassi's ability to adapt. He is playing Karlovic for the first time. Karlovic, 26, is the tallest player on the men's tour at 6 feet 10 inches. "I don't think there's anybody on the tour that enjoys playing Karlovic," the 5-11 Agassi said after his straight-set victory over Razvan Sabau of Romania on Monday night. "A guy like that is really awkward. It's an odd trajectory that the ball's coming down from. It's not even so much the pace; it's the trajectory as well." If Agassi advances, he could wind up meeting Rafael Nadal, 19, in the quarterfinals. Agassi lost to Nadal in the Montreal final on Aug. 14. These days, Nadal, with his capri pants and muscle shirt, has become the new fashion renegade. With eight major championships - the last being the Australian Open in 2003 - Agassi is more icon than iconoclast. After minivans, what can be next? Try Barry Manilow. Agassi and Reyes said they were inspired by Manilow's lyrics in "I Made It Through the Rain," a song about triumph and being an example. "Paying back the sport as much as I can is a great motivation for me," Agassi said. "It starts with the people. And just respect for the game. If I can still do this by just punching in the clock and going to work and finding a way to stay committed to what it is I do, then I believe I'm obligated to do that. "It's all going to come to an end at one time or another. Until that point, I want to be committed to this and see it through." -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 203.203.34.44