It sounds like it's time for law school and the Florida real estate racket.

And not just because in his dotage VS seems to suggest he had the same talent (serving ability as Sampras; reflexes, coverage and ability to go from defense to offense as Federer) as world No. 1s. An interesting guy Spadea, but without the RH touch, he's just a journeyman nobody would be talking about now. And, crystal meth or no, he's never had Agassi's charisma.

Redhead:

   Feel bad for Vince as obviously he must really care about the game on a deep level (at least sometimes) to play this long and absolutely give him credit for sticking around this long and obviously for his late-career resurrection.

   But do you really believe V can lose 18 pounds in the next 6 weeks? I mean I just don't see that as realistic aim unless he moves into your house. No disrespect to Vince, but I would bet you could out run him (in a distance race).

   An Agassi comment from his book "Open" on losing to Vince at the '99 Oz Open: "Hours later I play Spadea, my practice partner from New Year's Day one year ago. He isn't half the player I am. There have been days in my prime where I could have beaten him with a spatula. But I've been on the road for 32 of the last 52 weeks, not to mention training with Gil. My mind is still on the phone with Brooke. Spadea beats me in four sets."

   Have to agree with A. Hack here. When you say V believes "talent wasn't as big a factor..." Come on. Let's be serious. Federer and Sampras are inarguably two of the greatest pure athletes of the Open Era. There is no way V - or most players - are on their level athletically - and that's just athletically we're not even talking about strokes, game styles, ability to excel in championship pressure, etc. I mean just take the basic athletic issue and they're not in the same league as him. Again no knock on Vince I would say that about many, many guys.

 

Tarango, Federer, Nadal, Becker, Martina, Aliyah, etc. all have these strong opinions about Agassi, and they are all right. Yet for all the bad Agassi did and does you can never take away the positives too. It's impressive how he is fearless about expressing himself. and he is fearless about stirring controversy, which most top athletes are unwilling to do. For all the wrongs he has done and what a punk he has been at times, I still like the guy.

 Sort of like Don King actually. Jack Newfield's book "The Life and Crimes of Don King" made you despise King when you learned of all the horrible things he did to his fighters, cheating them, breaking contracts, paying them one third of what the contract said, etc. But King had that uncanny charm which made you like him. He always respected the media, always gave us great material, was generous to charities and former boxers in need. Agassi is similar, he has done many wrong things, but also many right.

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Just a follow up about Don King. About ten years ago, I was visiting a friend who was a sound engineer for one of the Atlantic City casinos. I had read about King's career and knew about how he stabbed a guy to death over a  debt King thought he was owed and I knew that he used some connections to get out of the pentitentiary. But while my friend was working at his job, I wandered off to the restaurants and spotted Don King who was some of his fighters who were in Atlantic City for a fight card. So I walked over to Don King and I'm not sure but the first thing I said to him was "You'll be forever known as the guy who gave Chuck Wepner a shot at the title". King burst out laughing and asked a few questions and was completely charming (and I am just a dopey fan). And after a few minutes, King slapped me on the back and said: "Now go lose some money".

Even though I know the guy cost another human being his life, King was so charming that it was impossible not to like the guy.

Scoop:  Martina, Nadal, etc. are not right about Agassi.  He did not take performance-enhancing drugs, he just took some drugs to get high.  This hindered his ability to do well and to function in life, rather than give him an advantage.  If he hadn't done the drug, he would have done even better.    

You know, I was wrong in stating Vince doesn't think its talent that separated Sampras and Federer from him. He knows full well that he doesn't possess their talent. But what Agassi said in his book is hooey. You're seeing the older Spadea, but the fact remains that he beat Agassi in two big tournaments, Cincinnatti and Aussie Open, and Agassi did say vince had the best bh besides his own.

Vince was talking about Donald Young when he made the comparison with Sampras and Federer. He said Young doesn't have what it takes to make it b/c in his first few years as a pro he has regressed instead of forging ahead.

I said to Vince, "But don't you think Young is talented? I saw him play Robredo at the Open this year and for a set and a half, he was the better player."

And Vince said, "Yeah, he's talented, but there are other equally important factors involved like desire, traveling well, having a good coach and just refusing to give up." And then he made the remark about the first few years of his career were the same (he actually said better than Sampras's) as Sampras and Federer."

You're also right as far as the weight is concerned. Vince said he has to drop five pounds by next year, but 183 would be his perfect playing weight. Look, people talk about Spadea like he never made top-20 b/c they like to diss him. But even in the last month, weighing 201 lbs, he's taken sets off of Levine and Young. And he says these guys have talent, but they don't work hard enough to make it in the bigs.

redhead:

You know, I was wrong in stating Vince doesn't think its talent that separated Sampras and Federer from him. He knows full well that he doesn't possess their talent. But what Agassi said in his book is hooey. You're seeing the older Spadea, but the fact remains that he beat Agassi in two big tournaments, Cincinnatti and Aussie Open, and Agassi did say vince had the best bh besides his own.

Vince was talking about Donald Young when he made the comparison with Sampras and Federer. He said Young doesn't have what it takes to make it b/c in his first few years as a pro he has regressed instead of forging ahead.

I said to Vince, "But don't you think Young is talented? I saw him play Robredo at the Open this year and for a set and a half, he was the better player."

And Vince said, "Yeah, he's talented, but there are other equally important factors involved like desire, traveling well, having a good coach and just refusing to give up." And then he made the remark about the first few years of his career were the same (he actually said better than Sampras's) as Sampras and Federer."

You're also right as far as the weight is concerned. Vince said he has to drop five pounds by next year, but 183 would be his perfect playing weight. Look, people talk about Spadea like he never made top-20 b/c they like to diss him. But even in the last month, weighing 201 lbs, he's taken sets off of Levine and Young. And he says these guys have talent, but they don't work hard enough to make it in the bigs.

 

Interesting how taking sets off Levine and Donald Young (?!) is now considered the benchmark of "doing well." Oh how the bar has been lowered!  But how low can it go? 

Spadea loses to....<gulp> Donald Young....and folks are still touting him like he is relevant to pro tennis today?  Isn't there a reality TV show for Vinnie?

DMan,

You're right, the bar has been lowered dramatically for Spadea. For some reason, after 13 years in the top-100 in a 15-year span, he dropped big time, and even he admits, his career is probably over and it has been basically for the entire year. But it was also over in 2001 so miracles do happen. 

And if Young and Levine don't rise in the rankings, what's the hope for American men's tennis. These guys, along with maybe McClune and Harrison, are the only young guys who still have a chance to play within the top-50 besides Querrey. 

Vince just wants to have one more year like Michael Russell had this year. At 35, he's still plugging while most of his contemporaries retired years ago. Call it what you will, but I see it as a love expressed for the game and the battle.

Dylan, how could you possibly know AA only took drugs to get occasionally high? He did admit that he lied to Charlie Rose and to WADA, so would you accept that those were his only lies in the book? Martina and Nadal, if they are speaking untruths about AA could face legal retaliation.

 Dobey: Can you share that entire anecdote with Don King? I am working on a Don King feature compiling many different people's experiences with the man and your's would fit in nicely.

 

 

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Scoop, I sent you a private message about my meeting with Mr. King. If you didn't get it let me know and I will resend. This was my first effort at direct message so I am not sure if I did it right.   

Red,

 Your story about Vince getting bageled by Donald Young and talking about not having a coach who had racquets ready..........  Seriously I have absolutely no sympathy for Vince if that was actually the case.  He has played long enough to know how to PREPARE.

Gilbert makes it clear in his book winning ugly how important everything leading up to the match is and how players like Lendl could win matches even before they walked out onto the court.  If Vince is playing the first point knowing that he has an unprepared armamentarium......... well he SHOULD give up then.   The only thing worse than showing up for a match without appropriate racquets would be showing up without appropriate shoes.

I like both Vince and DY but if that is his best effort then there are some major troubles.  ie that was inexcusable

Dobey, please send it to my email: thereisnojoybutcalm@yahoo.com

 Red, You have to be kidding if that's how serious Vince is taking his career which is hanging by a thread. I know most guys in the USTA 35 tournaments come more prepared than that. Very disappointing. His confidence must be really down to come into a match with three racquets unstrung to what he likes. It's like having your excuses for losing all ready. Even if he drops the weight and gets in top shape, his mental state may not enable him to succeed in tight matches. Though if he did go Rambo with the workout regimen this winter, it might strengthen his mind too.

Those were funny stories from AA about Chang. He was only a kid back then, that's the way most people are at that age, having fun, cutting up others. Nothing racial about it. Basically he was calling Chang a cheapskate. No big deal. Agassi can be a funny guy, remember seeing him play a practice set with Henman on Ashe and outta nowhere he started imitating Henman's walk and stiff service return. Then he got on Tim for not keeping the hitting at an intense enough pace, basically yelling at him to pick it up. Odd to see AA treat a top 10 player in the world like a hired hitting partner but that must've been AA's way to keep a mental edge on Henman. Henman had no response at all either, it was like he obeyed the commands. He probably thought to himself, WHat a jerk, but didn't express it.

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Agassi wasn't a kid back then, unless you call a kid 25. He seemed to me to be a guy who liked to get his way and when he didn't he let you have it. Later that summer, I went to New Haven to do the story, and in the first round, I believe, Agassi almost lost to, I think, Alex O'Brien. He pulled the match out at the very end.

In the press conference afterward, I meant to ask him, "How would you take losing to a guy much lower in the rankings than you," but instead, in a rush, I said, "What kind of a loser are you?"

Now Agassi remembered the confrontation we had in Cincinnatti and he looked out at me and said with venom and a bit of a crazy high voice, "What kind of a loser am I? I'm not a loser. You're a loser..."

The room went eerily silent and the other reporters were staring at Andre, and that's when he smiled his "I'm just kidding" smile, but he clearly wasn't. Andre was a guy, and I'm sure to a certain extent he's still like this, who likes to be treated like a king and anyone who crosses him, woe upon him.

As for Spadea, I think you're right, his actions with the rackets indicate he doesn't have a lot of fight left.

Let me see, a journalist calls a player "a loser" in a post match conference but the player's hostile response means the player's a jerk. How was he supposed to know you meant to say "How would you take losing to a guy much lower in the rankings than you?"  Oh that's right, players are supposed to mind read journalists at news conferences and their failures to do so means they're idiots...Is there ever a story from a journalist where the journalist was the one who handled the situation badly? 

I admit I phrased the question wrong. And I could see where Agassi would be upset. But the hostility he unleashed in answering the question was shocking, and I believe everyone in that room felt the same way. Agassi has a big temper. Didn't he once nail a linesman with a serve when he didn't like said linesman's call?

I think the response to my question might have been a laugh and a kidding, "Hey man, I'm not a loser. You're the loser. Where did you get your journalistic degree?" Then everyone would've laughed. The question would've been diffused and no one gets their feelings hurt. But Agassi has a vindictive nature, or did then, and that doesn't make him a bad guy, it makes him a typical American in many ways. Look at the way John McCain treated Barack Obama in the first debate. He refused to call him by his first name even though that was the ground rule to the debate. He never looked him in the eye. He completely tried to unnerve and belittle him, but it ended up back-firing.