Sports: Agassi's defense

Agassi's defense

With a tough summer ending, '99 Open champ exits listlessly.

By Compiled from Times wires

NEW YORK -- There was no sadness in Andre Agassi's eyes, no regret over the loss of his U.S. Open title, no excuse that his thoughts were on his cancer-stricken mother and sister more than his tennis.

Agassi stared straight ahead, eyes clear, voice firm, and gave all the credit to Frenchman Arnaud Clement for ending his reign as champion Thursday 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

"It was just a brutal day," said Agassi, the top seed, after he followed No. 2 Gustavo Kuerten and two-time champion Patrick Rafter out the exit door.

It has been a brutal summer for Agassi after a brilliant year. From a run of four straight Grand Slam finals and three titles, he stumbled to second-round exits in the French Open and U.S. Open, and a stinging semifinal loss at Wimbledon. He hurt his back in a car accident, and he learned his mother has breast cancer, just as his sister has.

With all that, perhaps it was understandable that Agassi, 30, said "Don't be too sorry" when someone sought to comfort him on the way to the players lounge.

When Agassi saw his girlfriend, Steffi Graf, minutes after the match, he smiled and joked a bit, performed a quick dance step with her, their hips bumping, and moved on to chat with other friends.

"There are obviously things that are clearly in play," Perry Rogers, Agassi's best friend and manager, said, referring to his mother, Elizabeth, and sister, Tammee. "He hasn't had the best summer, and I don't think he came in here with the expectation that he would be able to impose his game on his opponents."

Agassi didn't even come close to imposing his game on the 37th-ranked Clement, who lost to him in the French Open and U.S. Open last year in their only previous meetings.

"He's not the same player," Clement said. "So many mistakes today. He didn't do that last year."

Clement, 22, bounced jauntily around the court, whacking 36 winners to Agassi's 19. Agassi looked leaden, his feet barely moving, his usually quick hands moving slowly, his shots lacking pace, depth and accuracy.

Each made 27 unforced errors, but Clement's usually came when he went for winners. Agassi's usually came when he missed shots he might normally make with his eyes closed.

"For sure, he didn't play a great match today," Clement said. "He did a lot of mistakes. I don't think about him. I just think about me. To win this match ... it's unbelievable because it's on an unbelievable court. Maybe 15,000 persons. Everybody is for him. It's my best victory in my career."

Agassi took a 2-0 lead in the first set, then melted in the muggy heat, losing eight of the next nine games. His body language -- head drooping, shoulders sagging, eyes wandering -- indicated his frustration.

"It's finding the balance between hitting offensively enough to control the point but not playing too big," Agassi said. "I struggle with that. Sometimes I played too big, and occasionally, I just took a little bit off of it. I never found my quality pace shot that allowed me to dictate without taking too many chances. It was a little breezy down there, tough conditions.

"Once you start second-guessing your shots, your feet don't respond as well. When the ball's moving around and your feet aren't adjusting, mistakes are going to happen."

For the first time since the open era began in 1968, the U.S. Open enters the third round without its top two men's seeds.

Asked if his heart was in it, Agassi said, "Yeah, very much." Asked if he was distracted, he said he wasn't. When asked if his back bothered him, he said no.

"Just, you know, trying to figure out how to get to him, but I couldn't do it," Agassi said. "Just got outplayed. ... You've got to give people credit where credit's due."