Agassi, the Eternal Return

This was perhaps one of our favourite Andre Agassi headlines, taken from Le Monde's US Open coverage a few years. The interview cast Andre in Nietzchean terms, but not in the tumultous superman exerting his will-to-power over those around him, but rather in equilibirium and control. Watching Agassi take centre court Monday night you hoped desperately that Agassi could recapture the same kind of magical spark that ignited Zinedine Zidane at the World Cup. As he and Andrei Pavel traded breaks and headed into a first set tiebreak, we were on the edge of our seats, hoping that he could battle back from the points he so easily gave away. Anxiously we counted unforced forehand errors in the second set, fearing that Pavel might win three sets straight, but jumped for joy when Agassi won the next tiebreak to even the match at a set apiece. However, we were quickly brought crashing down to earth at his uninispired beginning to the third set, falling 4-1, and were baffled by his hand signals to his coach. If we were surprised with the start of the third, we were awestruck by the difference those new rackets retrieved by his coach made, allowing Agassi to storm back to take the third set. Pavel looked like the old man andready to collapse. We knew it was over. Agassi would be back. He skipped about the court like a spritely tennis spirit, rejuvenated by his surroundings.