It's capped by Agassi 'transforming' into his long-haired, day-Glo-outfit persona of yesteryear and declaring, 'I'm back!' Open in 19, planned to be at Ashe as a spectator for Tuesday's night session, in connection with his new role as a spokesman for Lavazza coffee.Īs part of the arrangement, $1 per coffee sold at the brand's cafes at the two-week tournament will go to the USTA Foundation to benefit the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education.īetween matches Tuesday, the stadium scoreboards were supposed to show an ad in which Agassi is seen having an espresso in an Italian piazza, leading to a series of flashback videos of him as a kid and a pro. I hit an ace on the final point.'īecker said that day is brought up to him by others 'quite often, obviously, but I understand it,' and he referred to having 'the honor of playing him in the last match.'Īgassi, who won the U.S. Then he paused, before adding with a grin: 'But I remember I won. Open on Tuesday, losing in the first round.Īsked what he recalls most from his long-ago match against Agassi, Becker replied: 'It was a tough match, and I don't remember that much.' 'I'll give charity lessons,' he said, 'but that's about it.'īecker, who is 35, was on court at the U.S. He famously wrote in his book 'Open' that he always hated tennis 'with a dark and secret passion' because of his overbearing father, and so maybe it shouldn't come as any surprise that Agassi said he rarely picks up a racket these days.

'And I've got to say, I look back on that moment as probably the best moment I've ever had on a tennis court.' 'So when all of a sudden it was over, and there was that raw emotion - both on my end and 20,000 other people who were in the stadium - it made me realize how connected we've all been over the years,' he continued, thinking back on that occasion. I not only grew up in New York, but New York helped me grow up,' the 46-year-old Agassi said. And it put everything into perspective: the ups, the downs, the successes, the failures, the triumphs, the comebacks. 'It really brought together what it's all been about from the beginning, which is people and connection. Open against Benjamin Becker, then delivered an on-court speech in Arthur Ashe Stadium to an adoring crowd that gave him a lengthy standing ovation as he headed into retirement. 3, 2006, Agassi lost a third-round match at the U.S. NEW YORK (AP) - For all of his victories during two decades on the tennis tour, including eight Grand Slam titles, Andre Agassi looks back most fondly these days on the aftermath of a loss.ĭuring an interview Tuesday in the city where he played his last professional match 10 years ago, Agassi called the way he walked away from the sport as good a moment as he had on court during his lengthy, successful always-in-the-spotlight career

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