The End is Near

It's interesting to realize that you're actually getting older, but one thing that sucks is that you have to see the sports heroes of your youth get older, too. My initial bouts of this came when I saw Barry Larkin play his last couple seasons with the Reds. I had seen Eric Davis' career end prematurely, but that came from cancer and his reckless playing style in center field. So that didn't really get me. But watching Barry Larkin was when I figured that life was changing. I saw Larkin his a ground ball deep into hole, and I just assumed that he'd run it out like he always does. Instead, he was just thrown out. And that was when I realized that things would be different.

Earlier today Andre Agassi made his last appearance on Centre Court in at Wimbledon. He lost in straight sets to one of the best young players in the world, Rafael Nadal. A quick aside on Nadal - look at his arms. He's pretty built for a tennis player, but if you look at his left arm, is sort of scary how much bigger it is than his right arm.

Rafael Nadal, with a freakishly large left arm. We'll let you add your own punchline.

Back in the day, you'd see the same thing with Pete Sampras. It's sort of funny. But, back to the point.

American men's tennis was dominant, starting back in 1989, when Michael Chang came out of nowhere to win the French Open, taking down Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg, two of the top 5 players of that time. In 1990, Pete Sampras came through with the U.S. Open, and Jim Courier was actually the dominant player in the world from 1991 to 1993, taking down 2 French and 2 Aussie Opens, and was #1 for most of 1992 and 1993. And of course, during all this, Andre Agassi was probably wasting some of his potential, and actually was the last of the U.S. group to win a slam, taking down Wimbeldon in 1992. These guys combined for 27 major championships in their careers. It was an exciting time for American tennis.

I was playing some tennis during this time. I did some of the group lessons, tennis camps, club leagues, and the school team. I wasn't a great player - I was reasonably skilled and pretty strong, but was never fit enough to play to my talent. I could have been a decent player, but I wasn't willing to work to get into shape and make it happen.

Really, before that, my favorite players were Boris Becker. Big serve, followed it up with the big net game. But as the new generation of Americans came through the ranks of pro tennis, I tried to model my game after theirs. The Jim Courier inside-out forehand. The Pete Sampras one-handed backhand. I tried to recover and move like Michael Chang. My serve was still Boris Becker, though. But oddly enough, I never really like Agassi when I was a player. One of my favorite moments was at Wimbledon in 1996 when Sampras beat Becker, who passed the keys to Centre Court to Sampras. Of the Americans, I think that my favorite player was Jim Courier. I was the most in awe of Pete Sampras, and I admired Michael Chang the most. Really, I was pretty neutral towards Andre during this time, though I did enjoy his gold medal in the '96 Olympics. Really, I think that I was too similar to Andre in the sense that neither of us worked at it hard enough. And familiary breeds contempt.

I didn't appreciate Agassi until career caught a second wind in 1998-99, when he won 3 out of 4 slams, with the only thing preventing the "Andre Slam" being Pete Sampras winning Wimbledon. He came back to the sport as an older player, but was in the best shape of his life. And he played like he meant it.

And really, this is what made me come to respect, and even like Andre. He came back, when his talent wasn't what carried him. It was his fitness and his willingness to work. And for me, I think that I admire hard work more than I admire talent (though, I think that if I were to look at myself, I probably end up relying on talent more than I do on my work ethic). But while Andre was working on his fitness, so was I.

After I put on my freshman 15... well, okay, 30, I decided to do somehting about it. I started working out, playing more sports, and getting myself into better shape. And over the next couple years, I was actually pretty athletic. And I understood what it took to make yourself fit, if you aren't blessed with it naturally. And I appreciated Andre Agassi more. But, eventually, time catches up with everyone. Andre slowed down, and even though his fitness was solid, his reaction time and his reflexes were just a step slower. But I'm hoping to mimc Agassi's rise from the ashes in 1998. He came off injury in 1997, at the age of 27, and was in the best shape of his life. I've mentioned my journey back from my knee issues over the last 2 years or so. I turn 28 next month. So, for the first time, I really want to be like Andre.

I don't know where American tennis goes from here. We have a couple top 10 guys. But Andy Roddick has hit a bit of a career slump over the last couple years, and had the misfortune of running into Roger Federer at his finest. James Blake has some game, but I don't know if he has a big enough weapon to really take on Federer or Nadal. I don't think that anyone else out there right now has the potential to win a major. Of course, I can't remember the last time I played tennis. So maybe it's not as important anymore.

-Chairman