[news] Legendary Agassi Maintains His Optimism

看板Agassi作者ouch (Soma)時間19年前 (2006/01/30 22:18)推噓1(1推 0噓 0→)

留言1則, 1人參與討論串1/1

Legendary Agassi Maintains His Optimism January 18, 2006 By Matthew Cronin Andre Agassi is an eternal optimist and why not, he consistently backs up his claims with results. The 35-year-old man who many thought would retire in 2004 is still kicking on court and in his last major tournament, nearly knocked off the seemingly impenetrable Roger Federer in the final of the US Open. "I tell you what I do take pleasure in is accomplishing things that I question myself," Agassi said. "I've been asked for a long time now, "When are you going to stop? When are you going to stop?" Had I stopped, I wouldn't be here. So for me, it's about pushing yourself and pushing yourself, and I know there comes a time and place when you have to decide that that's it. I don't know when that's going to be, and certainly don't even know what the reasons are going to be for that." The five-time SAP Open champ and Bay Area homeowner's body is certainly war torn, but last year, Agassi somehow managed to play through a bad back and hip that required three cortisone shots. But few athletes pay more close attention to their bodies than Agassi does, and he rarely competes anymore when he's 100 percent. That's why he pulled out of the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai in November with an ankle injury he sustained playing racket ball at home in Las Vegas and also skipped the Australian Open. He's way too smart to try and compete against the big boys when he's hobbled. In order to impose his relentless baseline attack and wear his foe downs, Agassi has to be comfortable and agile. If he's hobbling form sideline to sideline, he gets down on himself. Grant Agassi his improvement in the areas of court stewardship, consistency and with his serve while he's been a 30-something, but he's not as fast as he once was and doesn't whale his groundstrokes like he used to. So good health is a premium. "You always get excited more when you feel like you have more of a chance," he said. " Paris doesn't excite me at all anymore because I just associate it with pain, meaning physical. So you're sort of glad to be a part of it, but you're limited to how much you can really enjoy the experience when you're surviving." With each passing victory, Agassi gains more and more fans, even those whom he plays against on the ATP Tour. The first time that SAP Open entrant James Blake saw Agassi play, he was in fifth grade and Agassi still had a long, frosty hairdo and was wearing pre-washed denim shorts. When he lost a classic five-setter to Agassi in the US Open quarterfinals, Blake confronted a bald legend with a tennis luminary wife, Steffi Graf, and two toddlers, Jaden and Jaz. "He's really a true gentleman, one of the friendliest guys in the locker room," Blake said. "That's something that's impressive when you don't need to do that because you're one of the legends of the sport. You've got everything you can ever dream of, but he still knows how to treat people. And that's something that I really admire. He's helped me with scouting reports, helped me when I go out to Vegas, he hooks me up with hotels. He's just a great guy that will help out young guys with anything, leading by example. He's someone that you can tell your kids to look up to and be proud of it. That's kind of the goal I have as a tennis player and a public figure. He's obviously had a lot more success on the court. But he's also a great human being. I'm proud to be a competitor with him." As head of a very successful charitable foundation, Agassi is pleased when he hears other players praise his character, but what he would really like to accomplish in 2006 is to a consistent threat at every tournament he enters. Winning a record-breaking sixth SAP Open title would surely please him. "It's all a bit surreal," the eight-time Grand Slam titlist said of his success. "I get out there and I try to work. I come off the court and many times in my career I just feel like it's been a dream. It's all surprising to me." http://www.sapopentennis.com/news/news.asp?story_id=151 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 203.203.34.44