Agassi stands against the force of youth
It is taken for granted that Venus and Serena Williams will glide through the first week of a grand slam event without ruffling a hair or disturbing their make-up, but the men's tour, short of personalities, sells itself on strength in depth. Anybody who has watched Andre Agassi's first three matches here at Flushing Meadows would be forced to the conclusion that the top men have it just as easy.
To date Agassi, the No6 seed, has conceded a mere 16 games and been detained for just under four hours, which sounds like nice work. Clearly Agassi is playing well, and is being spoken of as the champion-elect, but his career has been littered with false dawns. And since winning the Australian Open in 2001, the last of his seven slam titles, he has made only one semi-final in five attempts at the four major championships.
Nothing can ever be taken for granted concerning Agassi, who has maintained a level of fitness and enthusiasm for the game that befits someone 10 years younger. Nevertheless he will be 33 next year and the candle is burning ever lower.
"It gets tougher every year," said Agassi after his far from tough 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 third- round win over Paraguay's Ramon Delgado. "It's partly because you're getting older but guys are getting stronger, bigger and faster. Every match is dangerous."
Generally Agassi does not find himself dwelling too much on the age gap between him and the up-and-coming generation. True, he has his wife Steffi Graf and their son Jaden watching him here, although it is in the player's lounge, where the youngsters on the circuit are playing video games or spending hours on the Internet, that Agassi truly feels his age.
America as a whole, and New York in particular, is waiting for the next generation of US tennis stars to strut their stuff and push aside old man Agassi and Pete Sampras. The support for James Blake in his third-round match against Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, the reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion, bordered on the frenzied, such was the desire of the crowd in the Arthur Ashe stadium to see a young American win.
But Hewitt, although pushed to five sets, as he had been by Blake last year, once again proved why he is the world's No1. "I think Ivan Lendl at his best had the most discipline in his concentration, and [Jimmy] Connors knew how to concentrate at the right time, but Hewitt is the most phenomenal competitor," said Agassi, who is seeded to play the Australian in the semi-finals. "He has an all-round game that really has no weaknesses but his speed is his greatest weapon, added to his shot selection which is very disciplined."
Agassi's next opponent today is Jan-Michael Gambill, a 25-year-old American who was once spoken of as the future of the game here but who has been overtaken by Blake and Andy Roddick. He was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon two years ago but this is the first time he has reached the last 16 at Flushing Meadows. And like Agassi he has had the easiest of passages so far. His first-round opponent, Austria's Julian Knowle, retired in the second set and since then Gambill has dropped only nine games.
Gambill and Agassi last met in July in the final of the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles, with Agassi winning in straight sets for his 53rd career title. "The match in LA was toe to toe. It's going to be hard and he's going to have to play three-and-a-half hours of lights-out tennis," said Agassi, adding, "at least that's my goal."
Hewitt, whose next opponent today is the Czech Jiri Novak, a top-20 player, behaved impeccably in his match against Blake. Last year his victory over the 22-year-old American had been chequered, Hewitt insinuating that a black linesman had foot-faulted him because he was biased in Blake's favour. "Look at him [the linesman] and look at him [Blake]. You tell me what the similarity is," Hewitt had screamed at the umpire.
Blake, a former Harvard student, had graciously accepted Hewitt's ultimate apology but some in the crowd on Saturday had not forgottenand there were taunts of "racist". This time Blake apologised. "I think Heineken being a sponsor might have had something to do with it. But that's what you're always going to get at the US Open. It makes it a little different from Wimbledon."
Both had applauded one another's shots and Hewitt kept the tub-thumping down to a bare minimum. "We both laid it on the line and fought our hearts out," said Blake. "He came up with great shots and so did I. I hope that any kids watching could say: 'I want to be like either of those two.' It was a good game for tennis and I'm glad I was part of it." Which is not to say Blake was not deeply disappointed to have lost.
He was born with curvature of the spine and spent much of his early years in a back brace. Even now Blake cannot be certain whether it will stand up to the rigours of the professional circuit. "It could go at any time and, if I need surgery, it could be the end of my career. So I aim to have fun." It is to be hoped the back does not let him down, for these match-ups between him and Hewitt form a rivalry the game badly needs.
Rain again interrupted play yesterday, delaying the third- round matches of both Britons, Greg Rusedski against Sampras and Tim Henman against Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.