everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Friday, September 09, 2005
Not retired yet
Being a tennis player and fan, I've always loved the grand slams. I used to watch more tennis in years past, but now I pretty much limit it to the grand slams. And while Wimbledon, with all of its tradition, is the most celebrated, my favorite has always been the U.S. Open.
Perhaps one of the reasons is that I always get to see more of it. The French and Wimbledon don't play at night, so their matches are over by early afternoon here. Even if they did, they'd still likely be over before I got home from work. The Austrailian is usually on late at night due to the greater time difference, so I don't watch much of that. But the U.S. Open is always on primetime on USA Network for 2 weeks (as well as on CBS daytime on the weekends), so I get to see a lot of tennis in early September.
There always seems to be one special match that stands out every year. One of the all time greats was a night match between then 39-year-old Jimmy Connors and Aaron Krickstein in 1991. They bring it up every year during the Open, even 14 years later.
I thought I'd already seen the best match this year, in the 5-set match between Davide Sanguinetti & Paradorn Srichaphan, in which the final 3 sets went to tiebreaks before Sanguinetti finally won. It was another classic night match at the U.S. Open. But it only took a few days to top it.
They've mentioned the Connors-Krickstein more than usual this year because of Andre Agassi. Agassi, at age 35, could be the first man at 35 or over to reach the semis since Connors amazing run in 1991. Agassi has, at times in recent years, looked as if he didn't really have much left. After a first round loss at the French earlier this year, and then missing Wimbledon entirely due to injury, it seemed it might be time to retire. But after Wednesday night, tennis fans are glad he hasn't just yet.
Blake has been playing great (including upsetting #2 seed and French Open champ Raphael Nadal) and he came out on fire Wednesday night. He was making Agassi look like he was wearing lead shoes, hitting winners past him left and right to take a two set lead, and then breaking him to lead in the third. It was about 10:30pm, and I was about to go to bed, because it looked like it was over.
Fortunately, I didn't. Agassi turned it around, with the crowd cheering him on, and won the 3rd and 4th sets. But then Blake broke him in the final set, and it looked like Blake's momentum - which had disappeared midway through the 3rd set - had returned, as he took a 5-3 lead. But it still wasn't over. Agassi stormed back again and pushed it to a tiebreak. Then, shortly after midnight (central), Agassi jumped on a Blake second serve and hit a winner down the line to win the match.
Andre may not win it all in his 20th U.S. Open - we'll see tomorrow and Sunday - but if this is his last run in New York, it will certainly be a memorable one. And I suspect from now on when they mention the Connors-Krickstein match, they'll be mentioning Agassi-Blake right along with it.
Perhaps one of the reasons is that I always get to see more of it. The French and Wimbledon don't play at night, so their matches are over by early afternoon here. Even if they did, they'd still likely be over before I got home from work. The Austrailian is usually on late at night due to the greater time difference, so I don't watch much of that. But the U.S. Open is always on primetime on USA Network for 2 weeks (as well as on CBS daytime on the weekends), so I get to see a lot of tennis in early September.
There always seems to be one special match that stands out every year. One of the all time greats was a night match between then 39-year-old Jimmy Connors and Aaron Krickstein in 1991. They bring it up every year during the Open, even 14 years later.
I thought I'd already seen the best match this year, in the 5-set match between Davide Sanguinetti & Paradorn Srichaphan, in which the final 3 sets went to tiebreaks before Sanguinetti finally won. It was another classic night match at the U.S. Open. But it only took a few days to top it.
They've mentioned the Connors-Krickstein more than usual this year because of Andre Agassi. Agassi, at age 35, could be the first man at 35 or over to reach the semis since Connors amazing run in 1991. Agassi has, at times in recent years, looked as if he didn't really have much left. After a first round loss at the French earlier this year, and then missing Wimbledon entirely due to injury, it seemed it might be time to retire. But after Wednesday night, tennis fans are glad he hasn't just yet.
Blake has been playing great (including upsetting #2 seed and French Open champ Raphael Nadal) and he came out on fire Wednesday night. He was making Agassi look like he was wearing lead shoes, hitting winners past him left and right to take a two set lead, and then breaking him to lead in the third. It was about 10:30pm, and I was about to go to bed, because it looked like it was over.
Fortunately, I didn't. Agassi turned it around, with the crowd cheering him on, and won the 3rd and 4th sets. But then Blake broke him in the final set, and it looked like Blake's momentum - which had disappeared midway through the 3rd set - had returned, as he took a 5-3 lead. But it still wasn't over. Agassi stormed back again and pushed it to a tiebreak. Then, shortly after midnight (central), Agassi jumped on a Blake second serve and hit a winner down the line to win the match.
Andre may not win it all in his 20th U.S. Open - we'll see tomorrow and Sunday - but if this is his last run in New York, it will certainly be a memorable one. And I suspect from now on when they mention the Connors-Krickstein match, they'll be mentioning Agassi-Blake right along with it.
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