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| Monday, November 11 Agassi makes Hewitt work harder By Greg Garber ESPN.com |
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When we last saw Andre Agassi he was graciously toasting the U.S. Open victory of his longtime rival Pete Sampras.
Against most odds, Sampras had fought his way through the fierce two-week, seven-match draw and, at the advanced age of 31, won his 14th Grand Slam singles title. Lost in that poignant moment was Agassi, who very nearly leveled the match in the fourth set. For while Sampras is resting comfortably in Los Angeles and contemplating the birth of his first child with Bridgette Wilson, Agassi has been pounding away from the baseline in places like Madrid and Paris. He is the No. 2-ranked player going into the year-end championship, the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, and he has an opportunity to do something no man -- including Sampras -- has ever done. At the age of 32, Agassi could finish the season as the world's top-ranked man. It is, to be sure, the longest of shots. Agassi trails Lleyton Hewitt by 88 points in the ATP's Race of Champions, but he knows that it is technically possible because Hewitt himself pulled a similarly improbable rabbit from his hat a year ago. He went into Sydney a year ago trailing Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten by 48 points. But when Kuerten inexplicably went 0-3 in round-robin play and Hewitt won all five of his matches he became the first Australian to win the year-end championship. Two years ago, it was Kuerten trailing trailing Marat Safin by 75 points. But when Safin was eliminated in the semifinals and Kuerten won the tournament, he finished as the world's No. 1 player. By winning all five matches at the year-end tournament, a player can collect a total of 150 points. The first three matches come in a round-robin format, with the two top players advancing to the semifinals. "There's a number of different things to accomplish in the game," Agassi said after winning the Tennis Masters Series-Madrid a few weeks ago. "I'd put winning Grand Slams at the top, but finishing No. 1 is the symbol of a lot of work, so it would mean something to me." Ivan Lendl finished the year at No. 1 at the age of 29, something Agassi did in 1999, but no one has ever done it in his 30s. At 20, Hewitt last year became the youngest player to end the season in the top spot when he won the Masters Cup in Sydney. After suffering a bout of chicken pox in January and missing the Australian Open, Hewitt reduced his schedule and has played fewer matches than last year. But as Agassi has closed the gap between No. 1 and No. 2 -- his defeat of Hewitt in the U.S. Open semifinals was a pivotal moment -- Hewitt has been scrambling.
When a viral infection he picked up in Tokyo knocked the him out of the Madrid tournament, one week later Hewitt hastily accepted a wild card into the Stockholm tournament, an event not on his original calendar. When Agassi won by walkover in Madrid over Jiri Novak, he climbed to within 43 points of Hewitt's lead. Both athletes played the following week in Paris and kept pace with each other by winning their first three matches. But when Agassi lost to Carlos Moya in the quarterfinals, the door was opened for Hewitt, who went all the way to the final. Despite a straight-sets loss there to Safin, Hewitt built his lead to 88 points. That Agassi is in the hunt at all, age aside, is a remarkable turn of events. When a nine-year-old wrist injury surfaced in January at the Australian Open and forced him to withdraw, it was a bleak beginning to the season. Agassi eventually missed three Masters tournaments, which cost him the chance to collect several 100-point winner's totals. The Agassi-Hewitt matchup also features a delicious subtext concerning their coaches, former Australian players Darren Cahill and Jason Stoltenberg. Cahill, who guided Hewitt toward the top, parted ways with him late last year and signed on with Agassi this past March. Stoltenberg has been coaching Hewitt since January. That the men's tennis season is coming down to the final eight-man event is not a great surprise. In contrast to the women's side, where Serena Williams won three of the four Grand Slam singles titles, the men's arena is extremely competitive. Consider that there were eight different finalists in the four Grand Slam events:
And here's the funny thing: Three of those finalists won't be appearing in Shanghai. After Hewitt and Agassi, the six others that will tee it up in Shanghai: Safin, Ferrero, Moya, Roger Federer, Jiri Novak and Costa. Safin's season underlines the quirky nature of the season. He is third in the rankings, but until two weeks ago he hadn't won a single tournament this year. The Russian made the Aussie final, lost to Federer in the final at Hamburg and was ousted by Ferrero in the semifinals at Roland Garros. Finally, in his last chance, Safin took out Hewitt in Paris. Those consistent efforts were good enough to send him to the year-end event, where anything can happen -- and usually does. At the age of 20 years and 10 months, Hewitt broke the record of Jimmy Connors, who was 22 years and three months, to become the youngest player to finish No. 1 in the 28-year history of the ATP. This year Hewitt, at the ripe old age of 21, could make it two top finishes under the bar that Connors set in 1974. "If I wasn't playing for No. 1, I would probably have stayed at home and prepared for the Australian circuit next year," Hewitt admitted after the Paris final. "But I've had other things on my mind. I had to come here and get some runs on the board. I was able to do that, which obviously gives me a bit more confidence for Shanghai. I've got to try and keep it going for another week and a half." Greg Garber is a senior writer at ESPN.com. |
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