Agassi feels the love
WIMBLEDON, England – Surely Andre Agassi knew, when he announced this would be his final Wimbledon and that his ride into the sunset would set off from the U.S. Open, that the next three months would be one long nostalgic goodbye party.
Yet he still wasn’t ready for the first outpouring of love and it left him Tuesday emotionally overwhelmed by a Centre Court audience that couldn’t have given a warmer embrace to Winston Churchill.
“It just sort of added to my nerves,” Agassi admitted after stumbling, righting himself and blazing through young Serbian Boris Pashanski 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 for his first Wimbledon victory since 2003.
“I mean, you expect to be overwhelmed with the whole situation anyhow. But then to feel that sort of support, it just meant the world to me. I just wanted to do them proud. I got a little nervous about trying too hard early – overhit a lot. Took me a while to settle down.”
For most of this match, he looked vintage – the pigeon-toed Charlie Brown walk, the hurry-up serve, the savage ball striking from the baseline. At times he looked a bit stiff, as he has in some of his practice sessions.
As he sat at an interview table, one didn’t have a sense of whether he was feeling better than he normally has after matches this year or slowly dying from the couple of hours on court.
He hadn’t quite decided what sort of therapy to take, if any, for his chronically bad back. “It varies. Sometimes it’s just putting my feet up and having a big meal,” he cracked. “Other times, it’s getting my back loosened up so it doesn’t tighten up on me and come back worse the next day.”
It was a grand day for tennis at the All England Club and, though they didn’t catch up completely on the nearly complete rain washout of Day 1, the tournament is largely back on schedule.
Referee Andrew Jarrett ambitiously scheduled 96 matches, had to postpone 18, and left a few suspended because of darkness around 9 p.m.
Every significant player who went on court finished, however, including No. 1 Roger Federer, who whisked through Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 with surprising ease. Eight other top men’s seeds – No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 4 David Nalbandian, No. 7 Mario Ancic, No. 8 James Blake of Tampa, No. 10 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 11 Tommy Robredo, No. 13 Tomas Berdych and No. 14 Radek Stepanek – also advanced.
There was one upset. In a battle of Swedes, old pro Jonas Bjorkman, though largely a doubles player now, defeated No. 12 Thomas Johansson in four sets.
In the women’s tournament, No. 2 Kim Clijsters and No. 3 Justine Henin-Hardenne, the great Belgian stars, advanced to the second round with No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 8 Patty Schnyder, No. 10 Nicole Vaidisova, No. 12 Martina Hingis and No. 15 Daniela Hantuchova.
There was a single upset, though it won’t play enormously outside of Germany. Thirteenth-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld was beaten in three sets by 18-year-old Bulgarian Tzvetana Pironkova 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Nine Americans played and five won. Vince Spadea went out to Fernando Verdasco of Spain, but Jamea Jackson defeated qualifier Kirsten Flipkens in split sets, and will next play Hantuchova.
It was an historic day with Federer winning his record 42nd consecutive grass-court match. It was a day of routs with Henin-Hardenne, for many the favorite here, rushing quickly through Meng Yuan of China 6-0, 6-1.