tank the match instead of fake injury

[adil1972]

why did agassi tank his 1996 AO semifinal against chang, instead of pulling out the match with fake injury

the reason for tanking was that agassi didnt wanted to play boris becker in the final

as both of them hated each other

 

[Mazz Retic]

People are complex.

 

[adil1972]

People are complex.

no doubt

 

[big ted]

where agassi's game and mind was, i dont think he would have won anyway..
if you look at his AO matches before that he was actually lucky to get that far.
he lost to chang easily later at the USO too.
1996 was the beginning of his downward spiral after sampras beat him down at the USO the year before..

 

[ultron1969]

He was afraid. Bottom line. Lost a ton of respect for him when I read that.

 

[chrisb]

why did agassi tank his 1996 AO semifinal against chang, instead of pulling out the match with fake injury

the reason for tanking was that agassi didnt wanted to play boris becker in the final

as both of them hated each other

Or he was sick of playing Tennis at that point and wanted to show everyone how much?

 

[Waspsting]

the reason for tanking was that agassi didnt wanted to play boris becker in the final as both of them hated each other

I'd think that would motivate him even more to win, rather than to avoid the match altogether?

Given his ability to read Becker's serve and his thorough domination of Becker, one would think Agassi would have fancied a Boris final? Especially since Becker hadn't won a slam in 5 years

Or he was sick of playing Tennis at that point and wanted to show everyone how much?

And he waited til the semi-final to do it?

People are complex.

One or two might even be stupid

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The "I hated him, so I tanked the semi to avoid him in the final" story... doesn't add up to me