Emotional Agassi Talking Retirement After French Exit
Posted on May 25, 2004
An emotional Andre Agassi welled up with tears while answering questions Monday after his shocking first-round exit to a No. 271-ranked qualifier at the French Open."It's hard to say," said Agassi, his eyes welling up, asked whether he would return to Roland Garros in 2005 as a 35-year-old. "You want to come back, but you just don't know."
Agassi was dismissed in straight sets 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 by 23-year-old French qualifier Jerome Haehnel, playing in his first grand slam event. It was the first first-round exit for Agassi in six years since he was ousted by Marat Safin in his opener in 1998, the year before he won his lone Roland Garros title.
The match was a repeat of Agassi's only pre-French claycourt outing at St. Poelten, with the former No. 1 looking unsure with his footing, movement and ability to confidently pull the trigger on his signature forehand.
"I probably got what I deserved," Agassi said. "You always want enough matches. But I'm not at that stage in my career where I have a lot of options. I have to choose carefully and hope a few things fall my way to find everything I need to have a chance of winning."
With his preparation it was apparent that Agassi never believed, at the age of 34, he had enough in the tank to grind out seven best-of-five matches for another French victory, but that his real hope was Wimbledon where his return of serve and the quick points work to his advantage. Now the aging legend of American tennis will have plenty of practice time on the grass.
Other seeded players making exits on the first day of play at Roland Garros were (16)Fernando Gonzalez (l. to Germany's Mayer in four, after announcing himself a favorite for the title), and (18)Mark Philippoussis (l. to Luis "Me So" Horna).
Seeded players into the second round were (2)Andy Roddick (d. T.Martin), (3)Guillermo Coria (d. Davydenko), (5)Carlos Moya (d. van Lottum in four), (9)Tim Henman (d. Saulnier coming back from 0-2 sets down), (13)Paradorn Srichaphan (d. Berdych in four for a rare dirt win), (17)Tommy Robredo (d. Spanish countryman A.Martin), (21)Andrei Pavel (d. O.Hernandez, who retired in the second set with injury), (22)Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Levy), (27)Vince Spadea (d. (Q)Serra 9-7 in the fifth), (30)Mariano Zabaleta (d. (Q)Robert), and (31)Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. Ulihrach, who retired in the second set with injury). Suspended by darkness was Frenchman (32)Arnaud Clement leading countryman Fabrice Santoro 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3, 5-5.
Un-seeds into the second round were four Frenchmen in Nicolas Escude (d. Arthurs), (WC)Michael Llodra (d. Popp in four), Olivier Mutis (d. Ginepri), (Q)Julien Jeanpierre (d. Beck), five Spaniards in Fernando Vicente (d. (Q)Gicquel in four), qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (d. (WC)Reid in four), Galo Blanco (d. countryman Portas in four), Fernando Verdasco (d. Rusedski 7-6(7), 6-0, 6-0, nice tank Grinning Greg), and veteran Alex Corretja (d. Gambill in four), Germany's Lars Burgsmuller (d. (WC)Mahut in four), Argentine teen qualifier Juan Monaco (d. Bogomolov, Jr. in four), Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (d. Sargsian in four), Russian Mikhail Youzhny (d. Van Scheppingen), Belarussian qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov (d. Stepanek 11-9 in the fifth), Georgia's Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze (d. J.Johansson), and "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter (d. (Q)Mello in four). Suspended by darkness was (11)Nicolas Massu leading qualifier Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 1-6, 4-6.
On court today for the men are (10)Grosjean vs. K.Kim, (4)Ferrero vs. Haas, (7)Schuettler vs. Malisse, (12)Hewitt vs. Di Pascuale, (14)Novak vs. Dupuis, (28)Kuerten vs. Almagro, Enqvist vs. Carlsen, Soderling vs. (LL)H.T.-Lee, Kiefer vs. Ascione, A.Costa vs. Saretta, (1)Federer vs. Vliegen, (8)Nalbandian vs. Gasquet, (19)Verkerk vs. Boutter, (20)Safin vs. Calleri, (24)Bjorkman vs. Dent, Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. W.Ferreira, Ljubicic vs. Arazi, Canas vs. Gaudio, Elsner vs. Peya, and Pless vs. (Q)Falla.
On the women's side only two low-rent seeds were lost in (24)Jelena Dokic (l. to the Ukraine's Tatiana Perebiynis), and (27)Eleni Daniilidou (l. to Germany's Marlene Weingartner).
Seeded players into the second round were (1)Justine Henin-Hardenne (d. (WC)Testud), (3)Amelie Mauresmo (d. Cervanova), (5)Lindsay Davenport (d. (WC)Pichet), (8)Nadia Petrova (d. Castano), (9)Elena Dementieva (d. Jugic-Salkic in three), (10)Vera Zvonareva (d. (Q)Kucova), (14)Paola Suarez (d. Sequera), (15)Silvia Farina Elia (d. Jankovic in three), (18)Maria Sharapova (d. Barbara "Didn't Use the" Schwartz), (19)Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi (d. Pennetta), (21)Magdalena Maleeva (d. Barna), (28)Lisa Raymond (d. Kurhajcova 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 after trailing 0-6, 0-5), (31)Emilie Loit (d. Kleinova), and (32)Dinara Safina (d. (Q)Schruff in three).
Un-seeds into the second round were Italy's Tathiana Garbin (d. Conchita "Not That Conchita" Martinez Granados), Ukrainian qualifier Yuliana Fedak (d. Santangelo), American qualifier Marissa Irvin (d. countrywoman Snyder), Russian Vera Douchevina (d. Obata in three), five Spaniards in Arantxa "Not That Arantxa" Parra Santonja (d. Vakulenko), Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Craybas), Magui "Don't Call Me Maggie" Serna (d. Morigami in three), Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. Mamic), and Marta Marrero (d. (WC)Wheeler 9-7 in the third), Americans Meghann Shaughnessy (d. countrywoman Reeves) and Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad (d. Diaz-Oliva), China's Jie Zheng (d. Randriantefy in three) Italians Rita "Ain't It" Grande (d. Nagyova) and Maria Elena Camerin (d. Amy "Down Goes" Frazier), and Aussie Nicole Pratt (d. Pisnik). Suspended by darkness was Klara "Kouky" Koukalova leading France's Tatiana Golovin 7-6(4), 5-5.
Taking to the court Tuesday in Paris are (30)Pierce vs. Schaul, (2)Serena vs. Benesova, (12)Sugiyama vs. Bartoli, (WC)Navratilova vs. Dulko, Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova vs. Asagoe, (17)Schiavone vs. Cohen-Aloro, (25)Bovina vs. Vinci, (29)Mandula vs. McCain, (11)Kuznetsova vs. Bacheva, (23)Zuluaga vs. Sucha, (4)Venus vs. Tanasugarn, (7)Capriati vs. Beygelzimer, (26)Dechy vs. Foretz in an all-French, (6)Myskina vs. Molik, Melina "Our Favorite Element" Czink vs. Ruano Pascual, Callens vs. Strycova, Kostanic vs. Pin, Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova vs. Beltrame, Groenefeld vs. Stosur, and Srebotnik vs. Black.
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Coach Peter Lundgren says taking on Marat Safin has its own unique ups and downs: "His personality is very different to that of Roger's (Federer) but he's great. He listens to what I tell him. I really like him very much. Sometimes I wish he would be a bit more motivated. Because he has so much talent...It's mainly about getting him motivated. As you have said, Marat has so much raw talent, his potential is limitless. But he sometimes finds it hard to have fun on court and tends to get bored. Then he simply doesn't feel like playing." Safin is the third No. 1 player the chunky Lundgren has coached after Marcelo Rios and Federer...In addition to Andre Agassi, Greg Rusedski is another player looking to get a head start on grasscourt practice after an opening round loss at Roland Garros (where he tanked the last two sets of his match 0-and-0): "I'll probably go home tomorrow and then just get ready to start up on the grass. Look forward to a surface where I can play some attacking tennis. Clay, you have to mix it up, have a little bit of luck of the draw, have a few things go your way. This year with the weather and the balls, it's very, very difficult for me."...Lindsay Davenport says she has no problem with not being a favorite at the French: "I think always throughout my career, it's been like that. Even when I was at the very top and winning a few Slams, they were always still wondering like when the Williams would come through or Martina (Hingis). I really feel at an advantage because I've always been in that position. I always feel like the players never underestimate me by any means. Whatever the media wants to do, that's fine."...Guillermo Coria says Andre Agassi avoided him on the practice courts after his experience last year: "Last year we had trained together, and before the draw I trained with him, and I realized that I could beat him. I found out about his weaknesses. This year he didn't want to repeat the experience. He wanted to wait for the draw."...Hey Amelie Mauresmo and Jennifer Capriati, before mouthing off to the press about Martina Navratilova "penalizing young French women players" by taking a wildcard at Roland Garros, how about pausing to think about the greater good of the sport, about the international audience tuning in to see the former No. 1 legend rather than some no-name French 14-year-old?...Russian women went 6-0 on Day One at the French...ESPN commentator MaliVai Washington says "(Roger) Federer has won two of the past three past Grand Slams and comes into the French Open as the hands-down favorite." Umm, ever notice he is erratic on clay and had a sub-par claycourt season save for the Hamburg win? More Mal-out-on-a-limb: "(Juan Carlos) Ferrero won the title here last year, I immediately picked him to win the French Open 2004." That's a lot of insight, don't strain yourself...Goran Ivanisevic told a Croatian newspaper he plans to retire after playing one last time at Wimbledon: "I've been thinking about it for the last two years," Ivanisevic said in an interview published Monday by Sportske Novosti. "It's not easy to admit, but time trickles by, and one day you have to draw the line and say, 'Enough.' Wimbledon is something else. Two worlds: Wimbledon and the rest. It's the biggest for any player. There is no better way to bow out. Hopefully, I'll play on Centre Court and win a few rounds."...After her opening-round win yesterday in Paris, Justine Henin-Hardenne is 26-2 on the year...Agassi-killer Jerome Haehnel knew the American was coming off a bad spot into his first round match at the French Open: "He lost two weeks ago, to a guy like me in St. Poelten," Haehnel said cheerily in his post-match conference. "Bad player."...From SI.com's Jon Wertheim's Tuesday column: "Following Andre Agassi's shocking, first-round defeat in the French Open at the hands of a qualifier Jerome Haehnel, SI.com's Kristin Green Morse spoke with Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim about the former No. 1 player's mindset." Why set up the fake Q&A with a quasi-intern? Just write what you want to say, it's OK. Esteemed writer S.L. Price followed with the same lame self-Q&A French story on Monday in a disturbing trend...Andy Roddick and Tim Henman both battled through stomach viruses in their first round matches Monday...Todd Martin was pissed off yesterday with his junior Andy Roddick getting testy during Martin's questioning of the chair umpire during a point: "I knew he didn't argue the validity or the accuracy of whether the ball was in or out, but I felt like he thought that I bent the rules in order to win that point," Martin said. "It seemed to me he forgot who was on the other side of the net." We'd put the cash on TM in that fight, A-Rod's breadstick arms wouldn't cut it... American Chanda Rubin pulled out of the French Open on Monday with a knee injury, and Dutchman Sjeng Schalken pulled out of his first-round match against Sweden's Robin Soderling with a viral infection...Jennifer Capriati on hiring Heinz Gunthardt, the former coach of Steffi Graf: "We really don't talk about things he did with her (Graf) because we're just two totally different players. I don't wake up at 6 in the morning to go practice, that's for sure." How about 3 in the morning hitting the 'fridge?...Hey everyone, we say just CALM DOWN: Andre said almost two months ago he was blowing off the claycourt season, is the French loss really that surprising? The Boss welled up because he thought he could waltz into Roland Garros and wins a few rounds on experience alone. If Andre bails during the grasscourt season, THEN you can ready the US Open-style send-off...Where are the ESPN fashion consultants on the highlights show, with Mary Carillo's bad turtleneck and Suzy Kolber's green-shirt-on-blue-jacket ensemble? Who is your fashion consultant this year, Serena?