Farwell permeates day's action

By Kamakshi Tandon

It was bound to end in tears.

When Agassi announced that the US Open would be the last tournament of his career, the stage was set for a weepy farewell. It arrived today in the form of a 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 loss to unheralded Benjamin Becker, with an ace from Becker putting the final period on Agassi’s epic career.

Agassi’s voice was shaking with emotion as he took the microphone to make last speech as a professional tennis player. “You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach my dreams,” he told the crowd. “Dreams I could never have reached without you.

“Over the last 21 years, I have found you and I will take you and memory of you with me for the rest of my life.”

After giving the speech he said he’s been preparing ever since he began playing the Open, he gathered his racquets and walked gingerly of the court and out of sight of the applauding crowd. The cheers may have been the loudest ever heard on Arthur Ashe stadium.

The emotional goodbye was the overarching event of the day, intertwined with catalytic tiebreaks from the rest of the day’s key contests. It began from the moment he stepped on the court to begin his 11 a.m. match and continued to reverberate well past his departure from the grounds short after 4:00 p.m.

While Agassi was losing in the first set, Lindsay Davenport was also struggling, first going down a set and 3-1 and then saving two match points before pulling out the match 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) against Katarina Srebotnik. Some big forehands in the tiebreak gave Davenport a 6-3 lead, but she missed the next two points before Srebotnik finally sent a backhand long to end the contest.

“It was just one of those days where I didn't feel like I was hitting the ball all that cleanly,” said Davenport afterwards, admitting that she had wondered if this would be her last US Open match. She was bolstered by the crowd, which gave her a standing ovation as she fought her way back. “They were so great out there,” she said. “My sister was so excited that she got to cheer loud finally in a match.”

As Davenport was raising her arms in jubilation, Agassi was entering a tiebreak of his own. Earlier, he appeared to have turned things around quickly in the second set by breaking Becker in the first game and fighting off eight deuces to go up 2-0. But Becker broke back to love four games later, and to 6-6 the two went. Like Davenport, Agassi went up 6-3 in the tiebreak, but unlike Davenport, wasted only one chance before wrapping it up to even the match.

“He's inspiring, just everything he's going through to be out here for everybody,” said Davenport.

The stoic Becker came back strongly in the third, going up 3-0. Though Agassi recovered to 3-2 against his increasingly sluggish opponent, Becker’s initial lead proved too large for Agassi to make up.

Neither player was challenged on serve in the fourth set until the second-last game, when Becker suddenly found some unexpected form and captured the break with his 81st winner of the match. Then three quick points, an ace, and it was all over.

Agassi, who had taken the unprecedented step of getting a mid-tournament cortisone shot after his win over Pavel on Monday night, also received anti-inflammatory shots on Friday and earlier this morning. “This is the last window to the whole series of windows throughout my career,” he said. “I just feel like the color on the last one can affect how you see the rest of them. I didn’t want it to be tainted with a lack of desire or preparation.

“I’m going to wake up tomorrow and start with not caring how I feel [physically]. That’s going to feel great.”

His last event will be defined not by this Sunday afternoon loss but the two memorable encounters under the lights that preceded it – a tough four-set win over Andrei Pavel and a rollercoaster five-setter against Marcos Baghdatis. “Those two matches were worth a difficult year,” said Agassi. “I’m glad I did it.”

When Agassi entered the locker room, his fellow players gave him a rousing round of applause, echoing the one he received at the player meeting last week. Becker crept in a few minutes later. “It was kind of awkward walking in there,” said Becker, smiling.

Marat Safin, who was then entering a fifth-set tiebreak against David Nalbandian, shut his ears to the buzz and emerged a 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 7-6(6) winner. “Because you already have enough of your own problems, you’re so concentrated, you don’t really pay attention to that,” he said.

Safin had been screaming and tossing his racquet even while winning the first two sets, and there was plenty of head-shaking when he sat down in his chair after the fourth set. The two enigmatic players played a typically peculiar tiebreak, starting with a double fault each. The Russian blew a 5-1 before redeeming himself on matchpoint – scrambling desperately, he hit a remarkable forehand lunge and Nalbandian hit a dropshot attempt into the net.

He now advances to a third-round match with Olivier Rochus, who has won both their meetings this year.

As Safin walked off, Agassi walked into a jam-packed interview room for his post-match press conference. It was long, wide-ranging, sometimes poignant, and sometimes eyebrow-raising – a fitting finale for a player who has held court almost as much as he has played on court.

At the very moment reporters were standing to give Agassi a standing ovation, Andy Roddick was losing the first set in – what else? – a tiebreak. After giving away an early mini-break, Verdasco attacked the net on the last two points and won 7-5.Roddick admitted he had been unsettled by Agassi’s departure. “He’s been such a mentor so to see him out there and almost crying, getting ready for this match, it was tough,” said Roddick.

Verdasco also took the fourth set 7-6, but there would be no tiebreak in the fifth set for Roddick, who ran out the match 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2. He progresses to the fourth round, where waiting for him, there will now be no Agassi.