[jenglisbe]

In seeing recent matches (i.e. last few years), there is nothing too flashy about his play (it can get boring and "ugly," really) and there is nothing flashy about his on-court personality either. So why is he so popular? Are people living in memories of long hair and neon clothing??

 

[babydoll]

I really don't like him as much as I used too.

Retire!

 

[Hyde']

because he's very kind

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

cos when he was a teenager he used to play in jeans and flashy clothes (thats where his popularity started)
he was a rebel.

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

Perhaps it was his transformation from "rough around the edges, rebellious, spoiled brat" to "reformed, usually well behaved brat"

Any Andre fans want to fill in the gap?

Off court I like him and all - it's hard to hate a man who creates a school for poor kids

 

[Scotso]

kind?

lmao

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

Agassi is repeatedly mentioned as being the nicest to fans, voted as one of the nicest players by the ball kids, he made a school somewhat out of his own pockets for poor kids where he grew up, he's been involved in other charity events - *most* places he goes and has worked he is highly regarded.

 

[Scotso]

That's not kind, that's public relations. Hitler was one of the best at it.

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

LOL

*tries to picture Andre with a Hitler mustache*

 

[wraith]

Since you insist on writing off everything good the man does apart from tennis, do you have any information to provide that he isn't kind?

I encountered a poster on another board who told a personal anecdote that never reached any media attention. He or she knew a young tennis fan who had a terminal illness, and had the idea to make a quilt for them with squares signed by various tennis players. He or she contacted somebody at the ATP or WTA tour, and an official request was put out to the Williams sisters, Sampras, Agassi, and some others. Exactly one player sent back the square with a signed message: one Mr. Andre Agassi.

 

[Scotso]

I know that Agassi can be a nice guy, but he can turn really mean as well.

If you watched his Wimbledon match last year, you'd know what I'm talking about.

Or watching him mock Karol Kucera at the US Open one year.

 

[per4ever]

Scotso..we know you don't like him Is there anyone in this world who's never been mean??

Andre is a great guy, always nice, smiling and with lots of respect for his opponents (too many for Pete 'though). His tennis is just amazing to watch, the way he can send his opponent from side to side, close to the lines when he's at his best.

 

[walee]

We're taught to be respectful to the senior citizen

 

[J. Corwin]

He's cool.

 

[Sjengster]

Maybe it's because after sixteen years on tour, he's still able to come out and be the overwhelming favourite against 95% of players on tour and play like it too.

I can't say he's ever been my favourite player, but at the moment I'd say he's playing the best tennis of anyone out there; Hewitt, however, is probably competing the best out there, which is why these two are monopolising the game at the moment.

It's interesting reading above about those times when he has behaved poorly on court, ie Wimbledon '01 and others, because that's always been a feature of his career - unlike Sampras it's been so up and down, with brilliant phases around 94/95 and of course 99, and a huge drop in form in between.

During the aforementioned Kucera match, he was only just recovering from his '97 slump, and it seems that old Karol has been around many times to cause him problems - look at the way he knocked Agassi out as defending champion at the French in 2000, admittedly with the help of Andre's ankle injury.

Another reason for his appeal is that he's still the most easily recognisable player image-wise and people can relate to him because he's been around so long; you can bet they were watching him play ten years ago and like the fact that he's still there to entertain them after so many years.

 

[Experimentee]

Because his game is so exciting to watch, the way he takes the ball so early and dominates every point. He's very charitable and kind off court, like people have already said, and hes very intelligent and insightful in his press conferences. He always has a nice word to say about everyone. It says a lot that over a long 16 year career theres only two incidents that Andre haters can think of where he supposedly behaved poorly on court.

 

[Sjengster]

"It says a lot that over a long 16 year career theres only two incidents that Andre haters can think of where he supposedly behaved poorly on court."

Well, to be absolutely honest there are a lot more out there that people don't know about, particularly during his darker years in the late 90s and early in his career.

He certainly seemed to have a ready quip to hand for every opponent. Witness the 96 Atlanta Olympics where, having defeated Wayne Ferreira in the semis in the one match where Ferreira actually managed to grab a set, he was told that the South African had commented he was surprised Agassi wasn't defaulted for his behaviour during the match.

"That's about the only way he would have beaten me," he responded dryly.

I'm not trying to label him as some kind of on-court delinquent, but people have spoken about how he needs to maintain an intense on-court focus and when that gets distracted by anything, for instance the Clinton arrival and the line-judge controversy at Roland Garros and Wimbledon '01, his behaviour and his play become highly erratic.

The most recent, obvious example was the controversy in TMS Paris in the Moya quarter-final, where the umpire overruled an Agassi ace and called it a fault and got a "No f**king way!" from Agassi as a result.

It's a very rare occurrence, but it's one of the reasons why he's never been able to maintain the same consistency as Sampras (the other one being, of course, that he doesn't have the handy tactic of smacking an ace every other point and has to rely more on his brain and groundstrokes).