Tennis discussion thread
 

After 21 consecutive years (of U.S. Opens), Andre Agassi will be retiring.

He's currently in the 2nd set against Pavel (On the 'USA' channel in the states).

Hard to believe that aged bald wonder once dominated the courts looking like this:



As an avid tennis player/follower, the community won't be the same without him.

Good luck to him in whatever he does with the rest of his life (perhaps a comeback? *cough* Sampras *cough*)

It'd be cool if he could win his last U.S. Open
Hmmmm...the change in hair styles is worrying, my hair is thick now, I don't want to ever have to worry about going bald....

Hah, I feel the same way.

Update: Agassi has just won his first match over Pavel! Three tie-breakers, what a first round.

So the time goes by. Hair-gods become bald, pretty become ugly, and the good become grudgy. Wonder who will be next? :hmm:

Agassi was leading by 5-4 a moment ago, IIRC.

All he needs to do now is look out for Echizen ;)

Now he can comfortably concentrate on playing together with his wife in the doubles games (forming the most fan-favorite doubles team of all times). If Navratilova is still playing, it might be nice to see the aged rivals from the old times compete again.

Anyways, he has been my favorite player for a long time, both with his attitude towards tennis and people attending his games, and his pertinacious play. He was unlucky to go against Sampras throughout a long-time of his career, and lucky to be able to play during an era without Sampras competing. He has already taken his place among the greatest, I guess that says a lot.

OMG! He's going all 80s on us. Agassi looks almost indistingunishable, no. Reminds me of Richard Dean Anderson.http://cinedestin.privatedns.com/tel...ananderson.jpg

He was a great tennis professional, I hope he enjoys his life time off of tennis.

Really? I didn't know that. Well, good luck to Agassi in this year's US Open.

He's Out
 

Well, it looks like that's it.

Auf wiedersehen Mr. Agassi and thanks for all the fish.

What? Why are the dolphins leaving?

Guess, Agassi lost to the ghost hidden within his opponent's surname...

By the way when I googled Agassi and Becker, that came as the first result: "Third-seeded Andre Agassi led unseeded Boris Becker, 6-7 (4-7) 6-4, 2-0, yesterday when rain halted play in the final of the Salem Open in Hong Kong", another unseeded Becker, another rain interruption, interesting coincidences...

Easily one of the greatest tennis players of his generation. While Sampras has more titles (including Grand Slams) than Agassi, Agassi did what Sampras couldn't by winning on all four Grand Slams. And if it wasn't for Agassi, Sampras wouldn't be at his best. I basically grew up watching him and Sampras duel it out all the time, so he'll really be missed.

This is really the change of guards at the male singles, out Sampras-Agassi, in Federer-Nadal?

Indeed, it was one hell of a match though....the crowd gave him an 8 minute standing ovation as he cried in his seat after the match. It was quite depressing.

I think you're forgetting (Andy) Roddick and (James) Blake :-) good luck to both of them in the rest of the tournament.

YouTube - Andre Agassi's last match, retires from tennis
 

For those who didn't manage to see it, a very touching moment.

The Tennis Thread!!!
 

Hello everyone, I am not sure how many of you out there are tennis players or watchers, but I hope to have this thread more organized.

When I say in general about tennis, I literally mean it. Whether it be discussing the ATP tour, to the type of strings you use on your racket, to the type of forehand/backhand grip you use, I find it all acceptable in this thread.

Although since such a broad subject exists, I'll get everyone started with a template to use.

1.Are you a watcher or player of tennis, or are you both?

(Questions Below Here Pertain to Watchers)

2.Name your three favorite ATP/WTA players and explain why:

3.Who do you consider the greatest player of all time? Why?

4.How do you feel about the state of Pro Tour? Basically as in coverage, announcers, etc.

5.Since it is a current event, who do you think men&women is going to win the 2008 Australian Open?

(Questions Below Here Pertain to Players)

6.Are you a casual player, club player, or a serious player?

7.If you are a serious player, what is your ranking? (Wherever you are from)

8.What kind of forehand grip do you use? (Western, Semi-Western, Eastern, Extreme Easter, Hawaiian, Continental, etc.)

9.What kind of backhand do you have, one or two hander? What kind of grip do you use on that backhand?

10.What racket do you use?

11.What strings do you use? What tension do you string at?

12.On the NTRP rating scale, what would you rate yourself? (http://www.tennismates.com/ntrp.asp) <-- For more information

13.What style of play are you? (Aggressive base liner, counter puncher, serve-and-volleyer, etc.)
-----

I'll start off.

1. Watcher and a player of tennis.
2. Roger Federer - He's just pure perfection, what more can I say about him. GOAT.
Raphael Nadal - This player has some wicked spin and physical endurance, captivating.
Justin Henin - Her backhand is just love to a one handed player like me.
3. Roger Federer - Haven't seen anyone that can pull of his shots in a match all the time. He's been number 1 for a little over 4 years now.
4. I wish the coverage would be better, French Open doesn't get much attention. The announcers are annoying a lot of the time, they don't know what they're talking about half the time. I am very disappointed in how much the WTA has degraded, its a bunch of girls slapping balls as hard as they can now these days. Justin Henin is the only good player left in my opinion.
5. Either Roger Federer, or Novak Djokovich for mens, and Justin Henin for womens.
6.Serious player
7. Somewhere in 400s in boys 16s Souther California in the USTA. Plan to actually play a lot more USTA tournaments this year though.
8. I have a western forehand grip.
9. One handed, eastern backhand.
10. Head Liquid Metal Prestige Mid
11. Head Ultra Tour 17 at 57 tension.
12. I'm almost a 4.5 level player, my second serve is a bit too weak.
13. My style is counterpunch, I like to drive aggressive baseliners crazy :heh:

I have never been a serious follower, but before I was following quite regularly, though not a technical-based follower, more like following the enjoyment aspects of the plays (hence, the favorite games, xxx-agassi, seles-graf, sanches-graf, etc.)

- For the favorites, I will list the older generation, as I do not have a favorite right now.
ATP: Becker: Cannot say a lot. I was just enjoying him win, even though he was not the best. Something like a unique bond, I guess.
Agassi: His character was the most attractive feature. And the way he beat power tennis with his struggle-filled play (meaning running at the back, fighting for every single ball at high level) was really admirable. Of course, his marriage with Graf was a bonus.
Sampras: For me, he was the best male tennis player, ever. Even though, his play was not really entertaining (having mechanical accuracy), he was really strong.

WTA: Graf: My favorite player, ever (at the level that I had felt a guilt-filled-happiness after Seles injury, sad but true). She was powerful, yet playing in a highly artistic way.
Navratilova: I doubt there will be anyone who hadn't enjoyed her game. The best female player ever.
Seles: Before the sad injury, she was on her way to become one of the greatest female players of all time. She was so strong, even Graf, despite her powerful play compared to the rest, was not able to reach Seles's level.

Ah, a tennis thread. :D

2007 was a good time to watch tennis, but I didn't create a thread as I noticed no-one seems interested in discussing. Who could forget that epic five set Wimbledon final between Federer and Nadal? And just one month after their meeting in clay in the Roland Garros final as well.

Both are now on course to reach the final of this year's Australia Open this coming Sunday. Though Novak Djokovic may want to contest this issue.

As for the women's side, defending champion Justine Henin has just been dumped out by Maria Sharapova. :o

We live in awesome times. To think we can see two of the greatest tennisers of all times playing. =o Ofcourse we had our fair share of awesome tennisers, but Nadal and Federer are godlike. o_O

She got crushed by a power whore, now I am crying. Oh well, at least she's hot.

Cool, a tennis thread. :D I love tennis.

Is anyone watching the Austrailian Open? The tournament has been full of surprises and full of great matches. The matches on Saturday were just fantastic. Federer was taken to five sets! I can't wait for Federer vs. Blake later tonight. Should be a great match.