THE AGASSI-BAGHDATIS INSTANT CLASSIC

It's not often a post gets dedicated to tennis here, but attention must be paid to the show Andre Agassi and Marcos Baghdatis put on at the U.S. Open last night.

It's pretty hard not to go into hyperbole after a nearly four-hour, five-set marathon that had a 36-year-old legend who needed a cortisone shot just to get on the court in his potential final competitive match outlasting a 21-year-old who broke down physically toward the end, with cramping in both of his thighs.

Forgive the cliché, but that really was what tennis is all about. The stylish attire and the people drinking wine in private boxes is all a veneer for what is as much as bloodsport as boxing. You're trying to break the other person, point by point, either by bombarding them with monster serves and ground strokes, or by drop-shoting them to death and making them look like they're chained to the baseline. Then after it's all over, you acknowledge the other guy or gal for pushing you so far. At its best, it can be the most beautiful game there is, especially when both players just seem to surrender to the flow, which you had at times last night.

If you came in not knowing much else about Marcos Baghdatis other than he's No. 8 in the world and he's from Cyrpus, well, you might want to cheer for him in the future. He wasn't at his sharpest -- way too many unforced errors, but considering he was the bad guy in front of a pro-Agassi crowd of 23,700, it was understandable -- but he dug in after falling behind two sets and going down 4-0. He was endearing in defeat, realizing whatever the reason, it was just Agassi's night. At one point, talking with John McEnroe, he let an "oh, shit" drop during one of his answers. His humanity kind of slipped through here. Like any of us, he was expressing that feeling, What are you gonna do? I tried.

Watching tennis, one maxim I always make is try to remember a point that summed up the match, or made it obvious who was in command. It probably came at 3-3, 15-0 in the fifth set. On a long rally, Baghadatis was hitting some swift ground strokes and was controlling the point when he tried to drop Agassi. You could see it unfolding, that Baghaditis wanted to end the point, but he hit it a little too fat, and the ball stayed up long enough for Agassi to reach it and hammer a down-the-line winner. Agassi gunned an ace on the next point, and although there was still an eight-deuce game to come, you knew it was in the bag for him.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.