article by Nicholas Pucci
Now that he can afford the luxury of enjoying a well-deserved, yet highly remunerated, retirement as a great ex-tennis player, admiring the trophies put on the showcase and boasting a curriculum that is the envy of many, Andrè Agassi can only remember with pride and even a hint of inevitable nostalgia what his exploits were at Wimbledon in 1992. Because that success, unexpected perhaps, was the watershed for a career that, albeit still young however, he was already weighing himself down on a few too many curses. For example, the one linked to the Grand Slam tournaments.
Let’s start from the beginning of the story, or when the “kid in Las Vegas“, irreverent, rebellious and alternative with that thick and long mane, the Mondrian-style T-shirts and denim shorts with which he appears on the pitch, faces the planet tennis with the stigmata of predestined to success. Born in 1970, already in 1988, barely of age, he is semifinalist at Roland-Garros (where he loses in five sets to Mats Wilander, who will then take the Parisian trio) and at the US Open (beaten in four sets by Ivan Lendl), suggesting That the Majors will be his favorite hunting ground, in addition to a fair amount of loot from minor tournaments.
But if in 1989 he replies the semifinal in Flushing Meadows, forced to surrender again to Lendl and always in four sets, here in the following two years, as favorite, plays and loses three finals, the sensational one at Roland-Garros in 1990 against the Ecuadorian Andres Gomezto the only great success in his career, certainly disdainful that of the same year at the US Open against Pete Samprasthe other great prospect in the making of American tennis, and no less unexpected the one still at Roland-Garros in 1991 against Jin Courier, the third product of the Nick Bollettieri Academy. If you then add that in 1992, at the Porte d’Auteuil, he succumbs again against Courier, here is when Agassi shows up at Wimbledon a few weeks later he does have a few pebbles in his shoe to take off, but London grass doesn’t really seem the most suitable to grant him the honor of revenge. And instead…
… and instead, on those same lawns where he made his debut as a child in 1987, immediately losing in three sets against Henri Leconte, 6-2 6-1 6-2, and then reappearing in 1991 as the fifth seed, climbing to the quarterfinals and then giving up, despite playing the favourite, with big hitter David Wheaton in five sets, dressed all in white Agassi places the high note that the London bookmakers considered very improbable. Even with odds of 25 to 1.
Jim Courier, who in the meantime gave an encore in Paris and is the undisputed number 1 in the world, is credited with the top seedalthough it is not at ease on green surfaces, and precedes a battery of ex-winners in the list of favourites all’All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Clubthat is to say Stefan Edberg (number 2, in 1988 and 1990), Michael Stich (number 3, title holder) e Boris Becker (number 4, triumphant in 1985, 1986 and 1989), or future rulerssuch as the same Pete Samprasnumber 5 of the seeding and which in the near future will total seven victories between 1993 and 2000, e Goran Ivanisevic (number 8, who will eventually lift the wild card trophy in 2001). Here, just like samples they are the most authoritative candidates for the final victorywith Andreino, number 12 of the seeding, who in his heart, sometimes tormented but certainly not lacking in a massive dose of self-esteem, really hopes to break the bank.
Agassi actually comes into play showing significant improvements in his ability to play on grass, as usual relentless in retaliation and not disdaining forward sortieseliminating in four sets the Russian Andrei Chesnokov, 5-7 6-1 7-5 7-5, and the Argentine Eduardo Masso, 4-6 6-1 6-3 6-3, before grinding in three quick sets a difficult customer such as his compatriot Derrick Rostagno, 6-3 7-6 7-5, and the wiry German of Romanian origins Christian Saceanu, 7-6 6-1 7-6, earning a place in the quarterfinals in order to at least replicate the previous year’s result. At this stage of the competition Edberg, Stich, Becker, Sampras and Ivanisevic are punctualbut not Courier, ousted in the third round by the Russian Andrej Olhovsky, who then gives the green light to the “vecchioJohn McEnroe. And when the best eight collide with each other, four challenges between the titans come out of it.
The upper part of the draw is undoubtedly more unprotected, with McEnroe, not included in the top seeds, who uses his experience and class against the Frenchman Guy Forgetseeded number 9, to prevail in three sets, 6-2 7-6 6-3, but it is Agassi himself who places the first convincing high note, mastering, in two days thanks to the rain, Becker’s audacity in five sets, 4-6 6-2 6-2 4-6 6-3, now yes by applying with authority for a place in the final. Why then the old McEnroe’s dream of returning to acting as a protagonist fades away against Andreino’s baseline trips that in three sets without history, 6-4 6-2 6-3, guarantee a place in the final.
In the lower part of the scoreboard Sampras interrupts Stich’s series, 6-3 6-2 6-4denying him the chance of confirmation, while Ivanisevic, with serves, gets the better of Edberg in five sets, 6-7 7-5 6-1 3-6 6-3, to then do the same with Sampras, 6-7 7-6 6-4 6- 2, appearing at the decisive act, on July 5, 1992, with the favors of the forecast. Because the good Goran, a year younger than Agassi, seems predestined for that title on grass from the day he first set foot among the Doherty Gates.
The match between Agassi and Ivanisevic is the usual kaleidoscope of emotions as only a Wimbledon final can offer, with the Croatian reaching out in the first set at the end of an interminable tie-break, 10-8, to then certify the proud and classy reaction of the American who scores his second and third sets with the score 6-4. The fourth game goes by quickly, 6-1 Ivanisevic, and it is logical that both the two contenders play for the title in the last set. Here the rule of services is followed until 5-4, when Ivanisevic goes down 0-30 scoring two bloody double faults. Agassi is two points away from glory, but the Serbian equalizes the score. Andre sticks it straight again: “Win this point, or I will haunt you forever, Andrè. Don’t expect him to double fault. He throws the ball, I serve on the backhand. I make a jump, I hit with all my strength, but I’m so contracted that the direct ball on his back is anything but fast. For some reason, he misses an easy volley. His ball stops in the net, and as if by magic, after 22 years and 22 million shots fired, I am a Grand Slam winner“.
Game, set, match Agassi, who rejoices like Björn Borg, on her knees with her arms stretched towards the sky without being able to hold back the tears. Ivanisevic, for whom 37 aces were not enough, sportingly embraces his opponent, while the audience of Centre Court he is delirious. Number 1, André, finally the Slam curse is broken.
I like:
“Like” Loading…