Andre Agassi is one of the all-time greats to have played the sport and entertained over a decorated career, but on Friday, the tennis world got to listen to him on commentary during the Wimbledon men’s singles semifinal. And the former Wimbledon champion didn’t disappoint with his insights and quick wit.
Eight-time Major champion Agassi, who was an enigmatic player during his carerer and opened up about the rollercoaster ride of his career from a phenom to all-time great in autobiography ‘Open’, was unsurprsingly sharp with his analysis of the match but also sprinkled in easy humour in his conversations with former Brit star Tim Henman also in the box.
While most of his insights were spot on, Agassi had a little clarification he wanted to make at the start of the second set, after Alcaraz came up with a massive service hold under pressure. “That point is much bigger than you realise. Fritz is down in his groundies and had a chance to put pressure back at Deuce. Alcaraz gets out of the game and he knows how important that was…,” then after a quick pause, he added: “Is there a way to ask your viewers if I’m talking too much? I’m serious, like, I don’t have any experience with this!”
Early on in the match, Agassi joked: “I’m so glad I’m just watching instead of playing when I see somebody like Alcaraz.”
When Alcaraz displayed his signature court coverage, moving swiftly across court, Agassi remarked: “He is only 6ft tall, but he covers the court like an octopus.” Later in the second set, Agassi brought up Alcaraz’s height again in a different perspective. The Spaniard was getting ready for a routine serve and as tennis players often do, got a few options for the right ball from the ball-kids. “Permission to talk about something off point? Look at the size of his hands, he holds four tennis balls and juggles them, he is only 6 ft tall. Carlos Alcaraz has mitts for his hands,” Agassi quipped.
One of the most remarkable observations he made during the match was when he picked up how Fritz had increased the speed of his backhand shots in the second set. “For you guys at home that haven’t picked it up, Fritz has picked up the pace of his backhand rally shot,” Agassi said. A few minutes later, BBC’s lead commentator Andrew Castle confirmed. “You said you noticed that Fritz has increased his backhand speed in this set, you don’t have the stats in front of you. 73 to 76mph in this set.” After Fritz took the 2nd set, he summarised: “He has gone up on the risk on his first serve, he has gone up on the risk on pace of his backhand. He has chosen his, sort of, poison pill; this is how he needs to play if he has to win. The question is how long can he do it?”
Throughout his sharp rise to the top of the world, Alcaraz has often been described as a combination of the Big Three who dominated tennis for all those years. Agassi referred to it but added a little twist. “It’s like Alcaraz has the touch of (Roger) Federer, the court coverage of Novak (Djokovic) and the RPMs of (Rafa) Nadal. It’s no wonder he is a little erratic sometimes.”
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The match was on a knife’s edge in the fourth set, with Fritz hanging in while Alcaraz was pushing to finish it before the deciding fifth set in the London heat, and try to same some fuel. “What’s so awesome about this game – we might be a minute and a half away from this match being over with, or we could be another hour and 15 minutes away. You have to get past the finish line. If you’re Alcaraz, you feel the energy pulling you across the line and then you feel the resistance. If you’re Fritz, you have the hope,” Agassi noted. It perhaps would have been fitting for what we witnessed between Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner just recently at the Roland Garros final, when the final kept oscillating.
Ultimately, Alcaraz prevailed in a thrilling fourth-set tiebreak, saving set points on Fritz’s serve to enter his third straight Wimbledon final. But after the players embraced and Fritz was walking off the court, Agassi was effusive in praise of his compatriot from the USA: “Taylor – well done. You’re paving the way for every American to believe they should and can expect more from themselves. You’re a hell of a competitor, you deserve every bit of this and you’re going to get yourt chances so please stay with it. Keep making good decisions and I can’t wait to watch more of you.”
And in another hilarious exchange with Henman. “I remember the days when the longer you played in the tournament the more the middle of the court got chewed up which meant every bounce was unpredictable. I mean, I am venting right now.” Henman replied, “…and you won your title in 1992 from the back of court.” Agassi agreed. “I only came to the net to shake hands.” And Henman wasn’t done yet. “The way you volleyed, that was probably pretty sensible.”
(Quotes via official broadcast and BBC live blog)
