The point that changed Agassi's life

[Kevin Patrick]

Q. Your running backhand today drew some attention. You have such great recall. Can you recall the two or three most spectacular shots you've hit?

ANDRE AGASSI: You know, my perspective on a great shot would probably be a lot different than one who's watching 'cause it's always about sort of dealing with your emotions and your concentration and executing what it is you have to do. Sometimes the most routine shot becomes the most difficult in the right pressure situation, you know.

I remember hitting a volley at 4-All, breakpoint, on my shoelaces in the finals of the French Open. I mean, I'd miss that shot nine out of ten times.

Q. Turned the match around?

ANDRE AGASSI: Yeah. I end up holding serve, down two sets to love. Found a way to break, all of a sudden it's two sets to one. My game started to come around. My life has never been the same since. How do you put any sort of shot above that one?

http://www.pacificlifeopen.com/en/players/interviews/interviews/05_agassi10.asp

 

[raftermania]

Well andre any shot taken above the shoelaces would be above it

He is very right, those kind of shots are driven by pure andrenalin and instinct. A shot that give you a lot of time to hit a routine shot can be very detrimental because it gives you time to think about it, which tends to bring your conscious mind into the mix of a match - which is not a good thing! During a rally that is.

 

[BreakPoint]

I remember that shot! I mean everyone, including me, thought Agassi was going to go down in flames in straight sets to Medvedev in that '99 French Open final. Down two sets to love (those first two sets weren't even close, as Agassi was being manhandled by Medvedev), and down break point at 4-all in the third. I thought it was definitely all over for Andre. The way Medvedev was serving, Agassi hadn't even come anywhere close to breaking him up to that point in the match, so if Agassi had been broken in the 9th game, it was pretty much all she wrote for Agassi. Absolutely the most amazing turnaround I've ever witnessed in a Grand Slam final. Somebody up there must have been helping Andre that day. Just didn't want him to strike out in three swings in French finals, I guess. D*mn, I wish I had kept the tape of that match! Somehow it got taped over a couple of months after.