I was privileged to watch another great Andre Agassi match at the U.S. Open last night.  This is his farewell to the Open and to tennis, so I’m trying to make certain I watch every one.   I wrote last year about Agassi’s match with James Blake, which is one of the classics of all time at the Open (and was replayed on USA this past Tuesday night during rain delays) and another great one in the semis against Robby Ginepri. In his first round match this year, Monday night against Andrei Pavel, Agassi won a very hard fought 4 set match which featured some great tennis.

Last night, Agassi’s second round match went the distance. Unseeded, he was facing #9 seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Baghdatis is 21 years old. Agassi is playing his 21st U.S. Open, and is still dealing with a bad back. The match looked to be in Andre’s hands a couple of times. First, he took the first two sets, and it appeard he was well on his way to victory. Then, after Baghdatis won the third set, Agassi went up 4-0 in the fourth and was serving for 5-0. The match was practically over. But Baghdatis broke Agassi and proceeded to win 7 of the next 8 games to force a fifth set.

That’s when I went to bed. That’s right. Insane. But I was too tired to continue and be worth anything today. So, with DVR set, I slept, and then watched the fifth set this morning while getting ready for work.

I watched it quickly - fast-forwarding through much of it, just to have time to see the end. When it appeared that it might be headed to a fifth set tiebreaker, Agassi managed to break Baghdatis in the final game to take the set, winining 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5.

My favorite part of the night (or morning) happened in the post-match interview with Baghdatis. As John McEnroe interviewed him on the court following the match, Baghdatis had many kind words regarding Agassi, including his statement that “I wish him luck not only in this tournament but in his life, because he’s given so much to this sport.” He obviously had a great deal of respect for Agassi and his career, and, despite losing, was extremely gracious as well as complimentary of Agassi.

Andre had similar words for Marcos: “It’s a guy like that that makes it easier to walk away from the game because you see what kind of hands it’s in. He’s just a true professional with a lot of styl e and a lot of charisma and a lot of talent.”

You occasionally see athletes give credit to opponents in such interviews, but many times it seems as though they feel they have to, a sense of duty. It doesn’t always seem sincere. These guys seemed to be quite genuine in their comments about one another, and it was great to see.

I don’t know how far Andre will go, but it’s great to watch him in New York one last time, and it seems that, between last year and this one so far, he’s saved some of his most entertaining matches for the very end. If it indeed ends on Saturday, or early next week, or if he makes it back to the final as he did last year, it will no doubt be enjoyable until the final point. But when it is over, it will also be a sad day for tennis fans like myself. Like others before him - Connors, McEnroe, Sampras - Andre is one of the best that ever played, and tennis will not quite be the same without him.

College Football

College football kicked off last night. It’s great to see it back. I’ve been waiting since April when college basketball ended to have something to watch (besides the occasional tennis grand slam.) Granted, due to the U.S. Open, I only saw about 3 plays of football last night, but tomorrow that will change…

USA loses

I also saw this morning that the USA lost to Greece today in the World Championship semifinals. (I recorded it but haven’t seen any of it yet.) This means no better than third place, which is the same place the 2004 Olympic team found itself - playing for bronze. This team was supposed to be better. Of course, I believe it was. After all, this was their first loss, while the 2004 team lost several games. However, I think this team, despite a better makeup, still suffers from what all American teams will - they have less time to practice and play together than teams from other countries, and the international game is simply a different game from the one that these guys play in the NBA.

I didn’t like the switch to NBA players in the early 90’s for the Olympics and other international play, and I still wonder if we might be better off the way were prior to that - college players and college coaches. I thought the move to a college coach was at least a good idea, but without more time to practice and play as a team, I believe we’re never going to be as dominate as people seem to expect. The players will have to learn to play a different game than what they do nine months out of the year. Hopefully, though, with many of the same players likely to be on the Olympic team in 2 years, and having the same coach, they’ll improve a little by then and learn from their mistakes this time around (jacking up 3’s left and right, for example.)

Mockingbird

I posted recently about the newest Derek Webb disc being available free on September 1st. Well, it’s September first, and you can get it at freederekwebb.com.

Seinfeld list #3

I’m still compiling my final Seinfeld list - my favorite episodes. I’ve narrowed, and ordered, my top 10, but am still narrowing my “honorable mentions”. I hope to post it soon.