Andre Agassi interview: I raised the stakes – but Djokovic is off the scale

05:02 04/12/2013
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  • When Andre Agassi played his last match on Tour almost six years ago at the US Open, the tennis world wondered whether a player with such personality and charisma would ever grace the professional circuit once again.

    No one dressed like Agassi, looked like Agassi nor acted on the court the way the Las Vegas-native did. He brought flavour to the sport and his unusual antics were particularly refreshing in comparison to the rather conventional Pete Sampras – his main rival throughout most of his career. But denim shorts and flamboyant hair aside, Agassi’s baseline game and incredible return of serve were amongst the main things that made the American resonate amongst avid fans worldwide.

    Even though he’s been out of the game since 2006, he is still in the top-ten list of career return games won. He gave us 20 years of tennis across the 80s, 90s and 2000s, but the 42-year-old retired before facing a man who is now giving a whole new meaning to the return of serve and baseline game – Novak Djokovic.

    Djoker in the pack

    In a recent interview with Agassi, the former world No1 refers to Djokovic as “the precedent-setting standard for the return”. The eight-time Grand Slam champion marveled at the Serbian’s ability to duel with Rafael Nadal for six hours to win the Australian Open last January and explains why Djokovic’s return game has eclipsed his own.

    “I stepped on the court and I raised the stakes, that was my asset. I treated a three-out-of-five match like a sprint, it was a staring contest, one of us was going to blink first and one of us was going to run out of steam,” said Agassi. “And now you see those guys playing with that sense of urgency for six hours it’s pretty remarkable, specifically as it relates to the return of serve.

    “When I saw [Lleyton] Hewitt come around who I thought had just one of the really great returns. Didn’t quite hurt you a lot off the first serve return but man he got his racquet on every ball and he was hard to ace, and if you gave him a target by moving forward you almost had no chance.

    “I was a risky returner, I took educated guesses, I didn’t have a shuffle move to cover defensively, I kind of came at the ball with an angle of attack and figured you’re going to ace me a lot but if I get my racquet on it, I’m going to hurt you.

    “And now I see a guy like Djokovic who really is a kind of me and Hewitt put together. He can do whatever he wants on the return at any time. His defensive skills are remarkable, the amount of balls he can get his racquet on.

    “The ability he has to hurt you even from that defensive position is I think unparalleled in our sport from a returning perspective and then he also has the ability to step inside the court and really make you pay, if you get nervous at all hitting a second serve on a crucial point. I look at him as the precedent-setting standard for the return.”

    Rafa among the greatest

    Djokovic was not the only subject of Agassi’s praise during the interview and while he’s tipped Nadal as the favourite for the French Open this month, his infatuation by the Spaniard does not stop at his clay-court exploits, but the American sees him as a valid argument in the greatest-of-all-time conversation.

    Federer may have won the most Majors with his mind-blowing 16 titles, and Rod Laver may have accomplished the calendar year Grand Slam, twice, but to Agassi, Nadal is a worthy contender with Djokovic looking to get into the mix.

    “I look at Nadal as a real argument to the best of all-time,” he said. “I think he’s accomplished it all. He’s done it at a time where one would say that Federer would be the other greatest of all-time. Nadal’s actually done it through his prime, he’s managed to win everything, he’s managed to do a couple of things Federer hasn’t done.

    “He has a 2:1 or at least close to it win record over him. There’s just arguments that you can make for Fed and Nadal for being the greatest of all-time. And then you look around the bend with a bit of a crystal ball and it would be easy to see Djokovic reestablishing what it even means to be the best of all-time.

    “This is a big year, a year that can certainly put Djokovic in that dialogue but again looking at what Nadal has accomplished, given all the Slams, given Davis Cup, given the gold medal, given his history in all the other big tournaments in our sport. And given that I just have a great deal of respect of how he goes about his business it’s pretty remarkable.”

    Rivalries

    Having enjoyed a rich era of tennis talent himself, Agassi’s contemporaries included an impressive all-American line-up in the form of Sampras, Michael Chang and Jim Courier, all whom which he enjoyed a healthy competition against but that rivalry with his compatriots did not come without its disadvantages, and Agassi says he has some regrets: “Competing against the best in the world, one of my great regrets is in Davis Cup.

    “Our experience on the Davis Cup team – despite maybe one year when John McEnroe was a part of it and we managed to pull through – we were highly competitive and we didn’t have that sense of camaraderie that you see in many of these other countries.

    “But they pushed me to get better, they exposed where I needed to be better. Pete by far and away led the pack on that, he was the one we were always chasing. I never seemed to be able to get to him in the biggest of situations.”

     

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