In short, 35-year-old Andre Agassi came back from a 2-set deficit to beat wildcard cinderella-story James Blake in an all-American quarterfinal that was nothing short of epic.
Blake dominated Agassi in the first two sets, literally running him off the court and keeping him on the defensive. Agassi never looked comfortable while Blake looked unstoppable, at one point winning 15 of 18 points. It looked like the overhyped match would be a great disappointment. As Blake went up a break in the third, I (and I assume most everyone watching) considered Agassi done.
But then... a small turn of events changed the course of the match. Agassi broke back, picked up some momentum and claimed the third set. At this point I was just happy for him to have gotten a set to stay in the match; no one wanted this to be a straight-setter. But Blake couldn't recover; he looked down and his serve failed him in the fourth set as Agassi seemed to pick up energy and remarkably force a fifth set.
I was already in disbelief over the fact that Agassi came back from two sets down, so by the time the fifth went to a tiebreak, my heart was racing, palms sweaty-- the whole deal.
From a fan standpoint, the match was a rollercoaster as I was never sure who I was rooting for. I was happy for Blake and would have been thrilled to see him continue his great year, but then again there's Agassi, the last great remaining player of yesteryear whose future grand slams are numbered.
As soon as Agassi hit that last winner to win the match, though, I knew I was rooting for him all along. I screeched, got the goosebumps, and my eyes started filling up with tears. God, I'm such a sap, but what can I say, I'm a sucker for these great emotional stories.
In the end, I think it was fitting that after one of the most memorable U.S. Open matches ever, the old guy--the legend--pulled it out in the end.
Truly amazing.
Now let's just hope he can continue his streak and win another Open to top off his long and distinguished career!
(Wishful thinking? Perhaps. But I don't care! After tonight's match anything is possible.)
2 comments:
so reminiscent of the 2002 sampras-agassi final. i root for agassi over boring grease boy (federer) or rat-face (hewitt) in the finals.
and i just have to say, dementieva sucks, but davenport sucks more for losing to someone who serves like she's playing in a 12-and-under juniors match. this is the pros, sweetheart. GET YOUR FUCKING SERVE IN YOU ASS!
i vote for clijsters over sharapova in the finals (and she should throw it in rat-face's...er, um...face!)
thank you
just wanted to clarify that i meant "GET YOUR FUCKING SERVE IN, YOU ASS!"
not "get your fucking serve in YOUR ass"
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