Aggassi / Baghdatis

[jonolau]

The 21 years of constant grinding are taking its toll. But his spirit was not broken and it was very insprirational to see him play the way he did last night.

 

[beernutz]

Sorry Malakas, I was responding to Beernutz.

I think the paralells are interesting. I do like Bags. His smile lights up a place. He seems to wear his emotions on his sleeve. I think that can be a good and a bad thing though.

Any thoughts on the amount of errors. I think they were forced. Agassi was just pounding shots at him relentlessly. Working the court like a surgeon.

Why are you responding to me? I was defending you with the wiki entry. Geez, try to help out a fellow SEC'er and see what happens.

 

[Feña14]

I hear he was hurting alot after his first match aswell but the injection got him through. I don't think it can save him this time.

 

[dmvprof]

Why are you responding to me? I was defending you with the wiki entry. Geez, try to help out a fellow SEC'er and see what happens.

DOH, I'm confused....sorry Beernuts

 

[ATXtennisaddict]

what exactly do cortizone do?

 

[jonolau]

Pain is a sign that a part of the body is injured, and masking the pain with cortisone gives a false sense of security. Continuing will only put more strain on the injured area and could even make it irreparable.

 

[malakas]

Allez Baghassi!! That was something special.

Lots of parallels, for sure.
One is half Lebanese and half Greek-Cypriot, the other is half Armenian-Iranian and half "Americano", the fathers, the academies, the dyed hair, the thick black eyebrows, the charisma, the big smiles, taking the ball early....Marcos went to France, Andre has a Frech name. Coincidence?

Oh, why do people get all bent out of shape with the gray areas, geographically and culturally? What's the big deal?

Is it Religion? Is it politics.......or is it food?
Marcos is Orthodox, I know Dre's Christian (assuming his dad is Armenyan Orthodox Christian -- one of the oldest Christian church bodies in the world).
I think Greek food has as much in common with middle eastern food as it does with continental or Italian food.

Well, it's the Mediterranean. Crossroads of civilization for several centuries. Why all the stress and the pigeon-holing? We all brothers and sisters.

Eh.. there's nothing wrong ,if you know something to try to explain to others,is it?

About gray areas,it's not so much the Middle East but..more the misunderstanding many people have about Cyprus ..and I can't blame them..(a recent Massa F1 victory coming to mind..:roll: )

Greek cuisine,has the basic elements of the mediterranean cuisine..olive oil,lot of fishes,a lot of pasta,fruits,pulse,feta..light tastes..perfect companions with our wines..;D

But,also it has been influenced much by the Turkish cuisine therefore the Syrian/Middle eastern cuisine.
So,you have a lot of meat (souvlaki,kebab) ,recipes with a lot of spices(especially cinamon) that are more hard for the stomach than the mediterean cuisine..Also,wonderful sweets D) the most typical of it the baklava...!!!

Well..I am not a chef..lol..infact..I burn most foods I cook..:-| but..this is my experience as.. an eager taste..hunter ..to another,no? ;P

 

[Matt_Williamson]

Pain is a sign that a part of the body is injured, and masking the pain with cortisone gives a false sense of security. Continuing will only put more strain on the injured area and could even make it irreparable.

Hahaha... cortisone is a steroid, which is a cholesterol based hormone released by a specific gland in the body. The purpose of cortisone is to attack inflammation which induces algesiac effects to a traumatized area. If done properly and accepted by the body, a cortisone shot should last anywhere from permenant to 1 month.

 

[Kaptain Karl]

what happened? i fell asleep at 5-5 in the 5th

Good one, Plunger!

And, Slice...! "Baghassi" is brilliant (in case you others missed it).

- KK

 

[dora_75]

Hahaha... cortisone is a steroid, which is a cholesterol based hormone released by a specific gland in the body. The purpose of cortisone is to attack inflammation which induces algesiac effects to a traumatized area. If done properly and accepted by the body, a cortisone shot should last anywhere from permenant to 1 month.

True, true

 

[swedechris]

everybody hurts..

when playing long hard matches.. so agassi is human . good that he still fights like it a matter of life or death . credit to him .
i play hard .. i am not agassi thats a given.. but i get cramps at night and my back locks out from time to time too..

 

[jonolau]

Even Baghdatis was cramping up and I can imagine the pain both were going through. It was a spectacular match and highly entertaining.

 

[andrew_b]

It looked to me like Agassi was starting to cramp up even during the post-match interview with Johnnie Mac - JM kept asking him questions and he kept getting more and more fidgety, moving his weight around onto different leg muscles. I could almost feel Agassi thinking "John, this is fun, but enough already". And he did look like he was fighting off cramps when he hit the balls into the stands and as he walked off the court.

But long matches do that. Who could forget Pete going "bleccchh" on the court and then winning? I don't think that was a publicity stunt, or to try and gain favor with the crowds. Such insinuations are, to me, offensive to the player that Agassi is.

I hope it's just cramps/dehydration and not his back. If it's the former, he should recover reletively quickly.


play well,
Andrew

 

[austro]

Hey nutbrain. Cyprus is considered in the Middle east. Look at a map.

From wiki...

Don't trust everything you read. Wiki is wrong on that although i t does concede that it's categorization is highly arbitrary. What a stupid argument to have to have! Honestly, only with Americans...

 

[slice bh compliment]

Good one, Plunger!

And, Slice...! "Baghassi" is brilliant (in case you others missed it).

- KK

Yeah, I was laughing at PlungerMan's timing, too!

Thanks for the props on 'Baghassi'!

 

[beernutz]

Don't trust everything you read. Wiki is wrong on that although i t does concede that it's categorization is highly arbitrary. What a stupid argument to have to have! Honestly, only with Americans...

What was that advice you were so liberally handing out earlier? Oh yeah, "When too sure, doubt yourself." Share that with the Dalai Lama, jack ass.

 

[guygee]

Pain is a sign that a part of the body is injured, and masking the pain with cortisone gives a false sense of security. Continuing will only put more strain on the injured area and could even make it irreparable.

Andre is defininitely injured, and the damage is likely permanent. He is retiring because he knows this, as he knows that attempting to compete any further beyond his farewell tournament will only cause further permanent damage. He is suffering sciatica caused by degenerative disc disease in his back. My own belief is that this is a natural consequence of the open-stance forehand and the incredible stress this stroke places on the hips and back over time. Unfortunately I think we will be seeing more of this type of injury at the pro level in the coming years. Like Lendl, we will not be seeing Agassi on the seniors tour after he retires.

 

[ACE of Hearts]

Yep, thats the sad part, maybe staying long wasnt smart but Andre gave tennis all he got.He wouldnt change a thing he did.

 

[BumperJeep]

No, I disagree, there is nothing that Aggasi and Baghdatis has to say to each other, becaues they both know that that was one of the best matches in the history of the sport.

 

[UO19]

That was an awesome match and for once, I actually am not annoyed at USA for repeating this match as oppose to the one with Pavel.

 

[slice bh compliment]

That was an awesome match and for once, I actually am not annoyed at USA for repeating this match as oppose to the one with Pavel.

Never worry, never fear. Hurricane Ernesto will soon be here. They may just pull out more footage of the Pavel match after all.

 

[Matt_Williamson]

Andre is defininitely injured, and the damage is likely permanent. He is retiring because he knows this, as he knows that attempting to compete any further beyond his farewell tournament will only cause further permanent damage. He is suffering sciatica caused by degenerative disc disease in his back. My own belief is that this is a natural consequence of the open-stance forehand and the incredible stress this stroke places on the hips and back over time. Unfortunately I think we will be seeing more of this type of injury at the pro level in the coming years. Like Lendl, we will not be seeing Agassi on the seniors tour after he retires.

That is pretty good critical thinking. I disagree, respectfully. Andre has a treadmill for side-to-side movement training which facilitates lateral movement, basically an inverted treadmill. Open stance, 20 years on tour, and intense training will likely do it for just anybody.

 

[scotus]

Has Andre ever talked about how he got the sciatica?

I would guess that it is more likely from weight/strength training than from tennis.

I got my sciatica from doing a one-legged squat called "Pistol".

I am pretty serious about strength training, and I think Andre is more hardcore than I am, and most serious lifters have suffered injuries during training more than once in their life (and that is even with a good trainer by their side).

 

[pound cat]

Has Andre ever talked about how he got the sciatica?

I would guess that it is more likely from weight/strength training than from tennis.

I got my sciatica from doing a one-legged squat called "Pistol".

I am pretty serious about strength training, and I think Andre is more hardcore than I am, and most serious lifters have suffered injuries during training more than once in their life (and that is even with a good trainer by their side).

I got sciatica from lifting a bookcase the wrong way & was away from work for 2 months. You can get it bending over the wrong way, getting out of bed.

 

[guygee]

That is pretty good critical thinking. I disagree, respectfully. Andre has a treadmill for side-to-side movement training which facilitates lateral movement, basically an inverted treadmill. Open stance, 20 years on tour, and intense training will likely do it for just anybody.

Your points are well-taken. 20+ years on the tour is going to be very hard on anyone who plays tennis with any resemblance to Andre's physical baseline style. I would hope that a training regime is designed to strengthen the weaker parts of a particular players body for the long term and not just to enhance short-term on-court performance, but certainly overtraining could have contributed to the injury. I had not heard of the "inverted treadmill" training, very interesting.

 

[guygee]

(Repeat post deleted)