Agassi full match thread.

[nuraman00]

I never saw some of Agassi's major wins, or I don't remember them. The 1992 Wimbledon is the only one I remember. And I remember Agassi's losses more, like to Sampras in 1990; Edberg in 1991, Sampras in 1995, Sampras in 2002.

I'm posting some of what I can find on YouTube.

If any of you see that a match is being re-aired on Tennis Channel, or ESPN (Classic most likely), please update this thread.

1999 US Open Finals


1995 Australian Open Finals


This person says the 2000 Rafter-Agassi Wimbledon match is the greatest Wimbledon match, so why not:

 

[cezero]

the 99 french open win was special

he became only the 2nd man in history to win the career slam, and the first to do it on 3 different surfaces (laver did it all on grass and clay only)

since then, they homogenized the surfaces considerably and string/racquet technology has made it so the likes of nadal could win a career slam.

it was just a very special tournament to watch. hard to find any online videos of it, sorry.

 

[nuraman00]

the 99 french open win was special

he became only the 2nd man in history to win the career slam, and the first to do it on 3 different surfaces (laver did it all on grass and clay only)

since then, they homogenized the surfaces considerably and string/racquet technology has made it so the likes of nadal could win a career slam.

it was just a very special tournament to watch. hard to find any online videos of it, sorry.

Thanks.

Yeah, I'm thinking as next year's French Open rolls around, ESPN Classic and Tennis Channel will probably re-air some of those 1999 FO matches, at least the Finals. I'll try to record it then, as well as the 2001 Clijsters-Capriati Finals. Especially since from ~ 1998 - 2001, I stopped both following, and watching sports, except for one or two Venus or Serena matches in 1999.

 

[nuraman00]

the 99 french open win was special

he became only the 2nd man in history to win the career slam, and the first to do it on 3 different surfaces (laver did it all on grass and clay only)

since then, they homogenized the surfaces considerably and string/racquet technology has made it so the likes of nadal could win a career slam.

it was just a very special tournament to watch. hard to find any online videos of it, sorry.

Yeah, it's great, for me anyway.

Grass is my least favorite surface to watch now.

I actually liked it a lot better when it was lightning fast and a lot of serve/volley went out. The consistently low bounce made it exciting. Those times are gone since they changed the grass (homogenized all surfaces, really), and racquet technology allows for hitting those low balls a lot better. It's like watching slippery hard court tennis now. Not my favorite.

You touched on this topic in the French Open thread, thought I'd repost that here.

Here's what I think. I think there's both pros and cons to the combination of changing of surface speeds (like slowing down grass), and the change in racquet technology.


Pros (about racquet technology):

I like the increased speed which players can hit balls. When rewatching old matches from the early 90s, the broadcasts would show the winner speeds, and they were usually high 60 to high 80s.

Now, winners are hit from 90-114 mph.

I do like how the grass slightly slowed allows for longer rallies. Its not as fun when most points are 3 shots.

It was fun to watch some of those rallies between Djokovic and Murray at Wimbledon in the 2013 Finals, or the Murray-Roddick 2009 Wimbledon match. Roddick actually used some slices to move Murray around and induce errors.

Cons:

There is less net play. It makes me appreciate someone like Mardy Fish more, who is good at the net, and wants to play that way.

Also, while sometimes watching Graf annoyed me, because of how good she was with quick points, I would appreciate her more now. I couldn't have thought then that she would be one of the last of her kind.

In the modern game, other than Venus and Serena, Schiavone and Kuznetsova are also pretty good at the net. But they can't make it their focus like Graf could.


So, I don't know what to do. I like the increased speed that balls can be hit at now, and I like the longer rallies, but not at this much of an expense at the net game.

 

[Fiero425]

I had to wait years to see the '90 USO! I had gone out to play myself figuring I'd miss a set! It was over in less than an hour and a half! Some "nobody" who I only knew his name from his win over Wilander in the 2nd round the year before! Obviously Sampras' serve was on and blew away like dust in the wind, Lendl and McEnroe IIRC! TCC and ESPN have replayed the final and it was like other finals Andre lost like Gomez earlier in the season in Paris final! I found Agassi to be so over-rated, who obviously didn't train or eat right, switched rackets in the middle of a season for $500,000 from DONNAY; dropping Prince! It contributed to the losses some say anyway, including Becker! It was nice that Agassi could be Pete's pigeon to the very end in their last contest; 2002 USO final! What a nice going away present for the old man who had dropped out of the top 20 by then due to no tournament wins in over 2 years; 2000 Wimbledon over Rafter! I feel fortunate that I saw the top GOAT's of a few eras; Laver at the end, Borg, Sampras; now a wealth of talent in Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic! I think each will be remembered for different reasons!

 

[JV35]

Got Brooke's ass. Wore a wig. No1curr.

 

[nuraman00]

I had to wait years to see the '90 USO! I had gone out to play myself figuring I'd miss a set! It was over in less than an hour and a half! Some "nobody" who I only knew his name from his win over Wilander in the 2nd round the year before! Obviously Sampras' serve was on and blew away like dust in the wind, Lendl and McEnroe IIRC! TCC and ESPN have replayed the final and it was like other finals Andre lost like Gomez earlier in the season in Paris final! I found Agassi to be so over-rated, who obviously didn't train or eat right, switched rackets in the middle of a season for $500,000 from DONNAY; dropping Prince! It contributed to the losses some say anyway, including Becker! It was nice that Agassi could be Pete's pigeon to the very end in their last contest; 2002 USO final! What a nice going away present for the old man who had dropped out of the top 20 by then due to no tournament wins in over 2 years; 2000 Wimbledon over Rafter! I feel fortunate that I saw the top GOAT's of a few eras; Laver at the end, Borg, Sampras; now a wealth of talent in Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic! I think each will be remembered for different reasons!

Yeah, I was disappointed with how quick that Finals was in the '90 USO.

 

[nuraman00]

1995 Agassi-Sampras AO has been removed.

 

[nuraman00]

Watched some matches.

* 1999 French Open Finals:

The result was important, but the match was terrible, even though it went 5 sets. Every set was more about a player making mistakes. There were barely any good rallies.

* 2001 Australian Open Finals:

Clement played one decent set.

* 2003 Australian Open Finals:

This match was a little better, even though it was straight sets.

Funny that Schuttler had a speech prepared, and read from it.

During Schuttler's speech, he said he was looking forward to the French Open, because Agassi and Graf were going to play mixed doubles.

Apparently Graf decided later she didn't really want to do it.