The Sports Truth

A correspondent from the Sports Truth recently caught up with Boris Becker in Dallas, Tx., where the three-time Wimbledon winner was visiting on business. Becker gratefully endured an impromptu discussion (and photo session) with our staffer, who proclaimed the big-serving German one of tennis’ all-time greats.

Although he enjoyed a good-natured laugh when our reporter expressed his happiness that Ivan Lendl never won Wimbledon, Becker wouldn’t say if he considered himself among the 10 greatest players in history. But this brush with greatness got the Sports Truth editorial board thinking. Who are the top 10 players of all time? Where would Becker and Lendl rank among them? We set out to answer that.

This experiment proved extraordinarily difficult and more than a little subjective, but here’s the list we came up with. The Sports Truth’s Top 10 Tennis Players of All Time:

10 (tie). John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg. Okay, we realize it’s a cop out to have a four-way tie at #10. But these standouts deserve recognition, albeit a step below the nine we’ve ranked higher. Had they played in different decades, and not taken several titles away from each other, all may have compiled even more exceptional records.

Their record in Grand Slam finals is eerily similar: Becker 6-4; Edberg 6-5; McEnroe 7-4; Wilander 7-4. Of the four, only Wilander won the French Open and failed to win Wimbledon. Few enjoyed the All-England Club stage more than Becker, a seven-time finalist and three-time winner. McEnroe’s heroics (and bad-boy antics) in winning four U.S. Opens from 1979-1984 made him a legend at America’s Grand Slam event. Edberg coolly revolutionized the serve-and-volley style.

9. Jimmy Connors. The outrageous lefty edges out the fearsome foursome above by virtue of winning eight slams, but also due to his longevity. He won his last major in ‘83, but a bunch of Connors’ epic performances came many years later. His back-to-back U.S. Open quarterfinal duels with Andre Agassi in the U.S. Open quarterfinals (’88-’89) marked a true changing of the guard, while his unseeded run to the semis (’91) at age 39 was one of the most amazing stories in U.S. Open history. Connors also played for so long that he won the Open on three surfances: clay, grass and hard courts.

8. Bill Tilden. It’s hard to compare a man who’s been dead 53 years to the players of today, but we’ll award Tilden the #8 spot as a tribute to my grandfather, an avid tennis player who - all the way until his death in 1997 at age 89 - insisted Bill was the greatest ever. The 10 majors he won from 1920-1930 certainly support that claim.

Tilden is quite possibly the most paradoxical figure in sports history: A flamboyantly gay man who almost single-handedly changed the image of tennis from that of an elitist, country club activity to a major sport played by world-class athletes, and a fierce competitor whose regimen consisted of smoking heavily and three enormous meals of steak and potatoes daily.

7. Andre Agassi. The greatest statesman, not to mention returner of serve, that tennis has ever known. After bursting on the scene as a teenager with more style than substance, Agassi went on to become one of only five men’s singles players in history to win all four majors. All told, he won eight Grand Slam titles, finished second in seven others, and had countless near misses. Wilander, a Hall of Fame player himself, has said that no one has done more for tennis than Andre. His influence extends beyond the court as well, with countless millions donated to charitable endeavors.

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We’re no different than any American with a heart: we love Andre Agassi. The talented, drives, ageless, admirable wonder finally said goodbye to the tennis world this week when he lost in the third round of the U.S. Open.

Before exiting the court, however, Agassi gave thousands of fans in the stadium, and millions watching on TV, a final reward for their loyalty. He delivered as genuine a speech as any athlete could ever muster.

So move over, Lou Gehrig, we’ve transcribed the adieu word for word below. It should be required reading for all athletes.

The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn’t say is what it is I have found. Over the last 21 yesar, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court - and also in life.

I have found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moment. And I have found generosity. You have given me your shoulder to stand on, to reach for my dreams. Dreams I could never have reached without you.

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

He did it again. It took five sets, 3 hours 48 minutes, and a ton of physical and mental anguish, but Andre Agassi got it done. In a match he had wrapped up in the third and fourth sets, then appeared to have let slip away in the fifth, Agassi prevailed through sheer will.

He won because he would not let Marcus Baghdatis beat him. Because his body was the less weakened of the two, and because the New York crowd would not allow this legend to go quietly into the morning. Agassi had to prevail in this match somehow. He just had to.

He did, prolonging his career at least two more days, and one more match. The score of Agassi’s epic win over eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis in the second round of the U.S. Open last night reads 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5, although that doesn’t begin to tell the whole story.

Neither does what follows below, but here’s a quick rundown of the sequence of events transpiring at Arthur Ashe Stadium, August 31-September 1…

• Agassi takes the first set, 6-4, aided by a lengthy point in the eighth game in which Baghdatis took a spill and hurt his left wrist.
• Playing his prototypical game, using clean and efficient groundstrokes and just enough first serves Agassi conserves energy and rolls to another 6-4 set. John McEnroe uses both “tight” and “loose” to negatively describe Baghdatis, who is obviously off his game, either playing tentatively or going for way too much.
• Andre has a break point at 3-3 in the third set, prompting McEnroe and his announcing counterpart, Ted Robinson, to discuss how he was about to finish the Cyprus native off in an hour and a half.
• Baghdatis holds serve, then capitalizes on a rare weak service game from Agassi to break for a 5-3 advantage. He serves out the set handily and is right back in this thing. We learn that a person from Cyprus is called a “Cypriot!” Who knew?
• While he overcame whatever mental bloc afflicted him earlier, Baghdatis can’t stop spraying the ball. Clusters of unforced errors land him in an 0-4 hole to start the fourth set, as Agassi fans prematurely celebrate a second time.

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“He’s a punk, you’re a legend!”

It’s hard to believe that in 1988, those words and many more like them were bellowed by a U.S. Open crowd desperate to spur an aging Jimmy Connors on. His opponent in that year’s quarterfinal? None other than Andre Agassi.

In both 1988 and 1989, these legends of different generations clashed in the round of eight. While Agassi took both matches, it certainly wasn’t thanks to the New York fans. Even in the twilight of his career, Connors captivated them as he always did. The long-haired teen upstart in the far court may as well have been invisible. A deafening roar followed every point Connors won.

Fast forward to Monday night, when a 36-year-old Agassi labored through a four-set first-round victory over Andrei Pavel. Having announced that this year’s Open will be has last competitive tournament, the two-time champion carried the entire tennis world on his racket until after midnight.

When Pavel took the first set in a tie-break, the air of a funeral wafted through Arthur Ashe Stadium. But Andre somehow battled back.

He trailed 4-0 in the second set tie-break before slugging his way to a 10-8 victory to square the match. After quickly falling behind 4-0 in the third set, the best returner in tennis history showed why he’s been lauded as such, breaking Pavel twice to force another tie-break, which he won, 8-6.

Only then, after three grueling sets and hours, did his Romanian foe crumble, both physically and mentally. Agassi closed it out, 6-2, flashing an exhausted, exuberant smile. Sure, it was just a first round match, of which he’d won 16 at Flushing Meadows prior to this week. But he clearly savored the moment.

Monday night, Agassi showed us three things:

1. In his 21st consecutive U.S. Open, he’s still in tremendous physical condition, and has plenty of good tennis left in him.
2. Showing the strain of a bad back and the general wear and tear of two decades on tour, he is incapable of stringing together six more wins in the next week and a half, especially since most (if not all) would have to come against better players than Pavel.
3. He’s picked the right time to pack it in.

Very few athletes leave when they’re on top. Most try to hang on way too long. Andre won’t go out the way Pete Sampras did, winning the 2002 U.S. Open final (against Agassi, no less) in what would be his final match. But the Las Vegas native will come pretty close.

Having seen him play at the U.S. Open in both 1990 and 2005 (!), I observed no decline in his level of play. He made the final just last year, pushing Roger Federer as hard as anyone could for four sets. Even as his game declines due to injuries and fatigue in 2006, he’s capable of hanging with the top dogs — just not beating them.

Agassi has given his entire life to tennis and knows better than to tarnish his legacy by not giving way to the next generation of champions and the right time. There’s also nothing left for him to accomplish. As an eight-time Grand Slam winner and one of five players to win all four majors, he’s cemented himself among the sport’s all time greats.

But he’s so much more than that. He has everything, yet is more polite, and displays more humility, than the average man on the street. Agassi has given more back, through his charity work, than just about anyone. He’s a testament to hard work, perseverance and generosity. He’s a terrific ambassador to tennis, to sports, to America, to humanity.

Andre Agassi won’t win the 2006 U.S. Open, but he’s already won our respect and hearts. Don’t expect us to let him go out quietly.