DID HE TAKE A DIVE INTO THE TANK?

Andre's dark side surfaces in swearing, lack of effort

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

PARIS, June 6 – How profane was Andre Agassi in his loss to Sebastien Grosjean on Wednesday?

Very.

Let's say that after Grosjean hit that miraculous topspin lob over his head in the eight game of the fourth set, he launched into a string of profanities against his opponent that rivaled a Mike Tyson implosion before he chomped Holyfield's ear.

One person who listened to Agassi said that the irritable Andre questioned his opponent's manhood and his opponent's nations's manhood. I'm sure Andre will deny this later, but as an ear-witness to the vicious tirade he launched against a linesperson in San Jose two years ago (where he was thrown out of the tournament), I'm not at all surprised by his outburst nor will be stunned when he says in a couple weeks time that he never uttered a word against Grosjean.

Since he said it in the heat of battle, maybe his opponent will give him a pass. The thing that bothers me about Andre is that as smart, open and warm as he can be, he also has a very dark side on court that he refuses to acknowledge. As Grosjean said, Andre tanked much of the last three sets. He was being outplayed, he grew impatient and he didn't want to grind into the fifth.

Who knows why? He had his chances and if the match did go five, there was at least a 50 percent chance that young Sebastien would grow nervous. It was obvious that Andre was out of sorts and he's a fairly controlling person who doesn't like it when the path to victory isn't clear. Agassi's a hell of a fighter when he believes the fight can be won, but if he's unsure of the result and he's getting beat, he'll often cave in.

That's too bad, because if Andre would have won the French this year and Wimbledon, one could make a terrific argument for calling him the best player of all time. That's right – three Aussie Opens, two U.S. and two each of Wimby and RG is a fine record. That's' multiple title on four different surfaces and no guy has done that before (although his girlfriend, Steffi Graf, did it four times on each surface).

In many ways, Agassi is the best thing to happen to tennis journalists since Johnny Mac. He's a terrific quote and can be very thoughtful. But he can also be a big-time jerk, especially to the foreign press. On Wednesday at Roland Garros, he completely embarrassed both a Swiss and Italian reporter who were asking him whether he was affected by the entrance of ex-prez Bill Clinton, because once the former Chief sat down, Andre lost 18 of the next 23 games.

Andre answered in the negative in disgust … but how Agassi could have missed Clinton's arrival is beyond anyone in the stadium. Clinton stood, waved and received standing ovation for a good 30 seconds, so it would have been almost impossible for him not to notice.

But Andre was ticked off over the loss so he decided to treat the press as if we were another twisting Grosjean forehand that he couldn't handle – bash it into the net, hope it cuts the cords and whacks your opponent in the knee. This is no way for a 30-year-old all-time great to act, in defeat or in victory.