Johan Kriek: Agassi talk of tournament

LONDON — Monday was the first day of the 2006 Championships at Wimbledon — but not much tennis happened.

Soon after play started, clouds moved in and rain came down. The big excitement was the match with Roger Federer against Richard Gasquet, and Federer started strong against the Frenchman, winning the first set 6-3.

Whew, one set down — two to go. Set 2 began and Gasquet was leading 2-1 on serve when the heavens opened. So much for Day 1. Hopes are high for better weather today.

The second big topic of conversation around Wimbledon is about Andre Agassi's announced retirement. He is calling it quits after this year's U.S. Open — and I think he is doing the right thing. He is giving himself his best parting shot by not playing the French Open this year to concentrate on his grass court game.

Andre has one of the most spectacular tennis careers in the game. He went from "tennis brat" to "tennis royalty" and he has pretty much "done it all" — including winning the Grand Slam, which has so far eluded Federer (so far, anyway...).

Andre married Brooke Shields, then dated Barbara Streisand (he was her "Zen Master") and now is married to Steffi Graf — they are working on being the "best tennis parents on the planet."

Kriek

After the U.S. Open, there will be a big void in the game. Andre was one of the last "colorful giants" in our sport, and I hope someone will come along soon to pick up the torch and carry it forward.

I first met Andre in the late 1980s at an invitational exhibition match in Tallahassee. I was supposed to be facing "a new pretty good junior." I met him in the locker room and thought he was wearing a wig (maybe two) — whole lot of fluffy hair on him in those days. He was already working on the entourage thing. He was pretty cocky, although played pretty well. (OK, I beat him in three sets.)

A few years later, he beat me in the U.S. Open in four sets, but I got the last laugh in 1989 when I beat him in Memphis in three sets before I was sidelined with a wrecked elbow.

No one saw the ball better than Andre, who is known for dishing out lightning-fast returns from the biggest servers. Last year at Queens, Andy Roddick blitzed one of his 155-mph missiles — Andre returned it and won the point. Amazing!

Maybe Andre can do another "magic act" one last time by showing the young guns how the game is played — I am certainly pulling for him. It would be the fitting finale for a brilliant career.

Good luck, Andre.

Johan Kriek holds two Australian Open Grand Slam singles titles and has won three Wimbledon "Over 45 Doubles" titles, as well as two consecutive U.S. Open Master Doubles titles. He currently works as Ambassador of Sport and Director of Tennis for WCI Communities.