Los Angeles said goodbye to a legend on Friday. Fans at the
Countrywide Classic gave Andre Agassi a standing ovation as he
walked off the court after falling to Fernando Gonzalez 6-4, 3-6,
7-5.
Agassi, a winner of 60 ATP titles and a four-time winner of the
tournament at UCLA, has made his plans to retire after the U.S.
Open widely known, making the match against Gonzalez his last in
Los Angeles.
“It’s a long time that you’ve done this, a
long time you’ve done it here,” fifth-seeded Agassi
said.
“It’s not just a game you’re leaving, it’s the
people you shared this experience with. Part of that process (was)
coming here. I’ll miss it, I’ll miss it
dearly.”
No. 3 seed Gonzalez, who grew up watching Agassi play, admitted
some mixed emotions about the win. “If I was outside the
court I (would) want Andre to win, but I have to play, and win my
match.”
Gonzalez was in the drivers seat early in the match by
unleashing powerful crosscourt winners throughout the first
set.
Down 5-4 in the first, Agassi had a chance to tie it up with
Gonzalez serving at 15-40. The Chilean battled back and ultimately
closed out the set with another crosscourt forehand that Agassi
could not handle.
“Today it seemed like every time I stretched him to the
forehand on a good ball he got over there and absolutely murdered
it,” Agassi said.
The tides turned in the middle of the second set when Agassi
came back from 40-0 to break Gonzalez’s serve and take the
4-2 lead, eventually tying up the match.
Agassi had a chance to pull ahead late in the final set but
couldn’t execute. Tied at four games apiece, Gonzalez was
down 15-40, giving Agassi the opportunity to serve for the match if
he could close out the game.
He could not. Gonzalez fought back and forced Agassi to serve to
stay alive.
Down 5-4, Agassi fell behind 0-40. He then battled back from
triple match point to tie up the set, earning a standing ovation
from the crowd. However, Gonzalez proved to be too much in the end,
taking the next two games to win the match.
“I hung in there,” Agassi said. “I thought
maybe I had a little momentum there but I just wasn’t getting
enough looks on the points.”
After the match, Agassi did his usual bow to the four sides of
the stadium and walked off a Los Angeles tennis court for the last
time as a professional.
Southern California has been a special place for Agassi. The pro
grew up in Las Vegas and would often take road trips to Los Angeles
to play matches, long before he began playing in the city
professionally.
However, with more tennis left to play, Agassi has a lot
distracting him from nostalgia.
“It’s still tennis to me right now,” Agassi
said. “It was hard to think about not being back in L.A. when
I was dealing with Fernando’s forehand today. I get the
luxury of having a lot of distractions on the other side of the
net.”
RODDICK WITHDRAWS: No. 1 seed Andy Roddick
withdrew from the Countrywide Classic today due to a left side
muscle strain that he sustained in his Thursday night victory over
Scott Oudsema. “During the next couple of days we will focus
on treatment to reduce the pain and inflammation,” Doug
Spreen, Andy Roddick’s athletic trainer, told ar.com.
“Overall, we just want to make Andy as comfortable as
possible and we will evaluate the strain on a daily
basis.”
Because of Roddick’s absence, No. 8 Dmitry Tursunov
received a walkover through the quarterfinals and will face
Gonzalez in the semifinals.