Rob McLean - Agassi double-faults his legacy
We have had Andre Agassi overload, but one thing is for sure - he won't be invited to be the saviour of tennis in the US. The bottom line is the multi-millionaire had a book to promote and nothing to lose.
His tennis career is over and the juicy comments had the desired effect: blanket coverage in all the newspapers and more revenue. He will probably come out unscathed when it comes to his lucrative endorsements.
Kate Moss, the model, showed that there is life after or on drugs if you have friends in high places such as Stella McCartney, the designer of tennis clothes. The contracts just keep pouring in.
'Just say no', obviously didn't work for Andre but the way he was kitted out in the 1980s he looked like he must have been on something. A brief fling with diva Barbra Streisand could not have helped his state of mind. She called him a 'Zen Buddha' then put him in a trance and got free Centre Court tickets. Agassi took crystal meth but find me a tennis professional who hasn't dabbled.
The above reproach Tim Henman would have been forgiven if he had taken a few stimulants after his Wimbledon semi-final nightmare with Goran Ivanisevic, a 500-1 outsider, in 2001.
Similarly, anyone would turn to drugs if they had Agassi's father. He is one of a long line of parents from hell who are so prevalent throughout the game and live vicariously through their offspring.
The list is well-documentated (search tennis fathers from hell) and it all starts with the patrion saint of obsessive parents, the reclusive Mike Agassi. Agassi's father hung balls over his son's cot to try to improve his boy's co-ordination. Agassi admits in his autobiography that he couldn't stand his father, who at one stage made him hit 2,500 balls a day. He then turned up at events and swore at officials and also at his son when he missed shots.
For those familiar with some British tennis clubs, this is nothing new. In contrast, the slightly eccentric Richard Williams, the father of Serena and Venus, is a model of decorum. Clearly the only thing his daughters, 28 and 29 respectively, get high on is the thrill of being on a court, as shown by yet another final. Serena, now world No 1 again, having recently been deposed by Dinara Safina for a couple of weeks, won the season-ending WTA Tour Championships in Doha with a straight sets win.
Final word to a cartoonist over the weekend: Umpire: ''Game set and meth to Agassi''.
MUCH OLDER BRIT WATCH: Andy Murray returns to action in Valencia this week, but who cares when we have some of the best golden oldies. A 75-year-old Aberdeen player, who gives hope to comparative spring chickens like myself, is heading to Australia for this month's ITF World Super-Seniors tournament. Grandfather Jimmy Wood's list of veteran singles and doubles titles at SW19 runs into double figures, and he is still going strong. "When I don't enjoy it I will give it up,'' he says. ''I will probably drop dead on the tennis court." Jimmy, PLEASE win the title first!
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Date published :
03 Nov 2009 - 11:32:16
