As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the US Open, we look back at the 50 champions who have left an indelible mark on this inimitable event.
Andre Agassi couldn’t always summon his best tennis in big moments at the US Open. In fact, he was just two-for-six in Flushing finals. (Had it not been for arch nemesis Pete Sampras, the Las Vegan might have won a few more.) But if the Open wasn’t his most successful Grand Slam event, it sure was his favorite.
When the future Hall of Famer announced his retirement at the age of 36, an eight-time major champion and one of the most compelling personalities the sport has ever known, he chose to do so in New York, where he had made his major debut more than two decades earlier.
“This is the place that's given me the most over the years, has the most memories, that has touched me in a way that I haven't experienced anywhere else,” observed a sagacious Agassi, whose career arc, wrote journalist and broadcaster Bud Collins, saw him go “from punk to paragon.”
Following the final match of his career, a 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 loss to a No. 112-ranked German named Becker (no, not Boris – Benjamin) in the third round of the 2006 US Open, Agassi, having morphed from image-is-everything, platinum-streaked blonde to bald-pated philanthropist, grabbed the mic and paid tribute to the fans who always seemed to have his back.
“The scoreboard said I lost today. But what the scoreboard doesn’t say is what it is I have found,” a tearful Agassi told the adoring Ashe Stadium crowd. “Over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty. You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed, sometimes even in my lowest moments.
“And I’ve found generosity. You have given me your shoulders to stand on, to reach for my dreams, dreams I could never have reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you, and I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life.”
Andre Agassi was a flashy 24-year-old when he first broke through in the borough of Queens in 1994, knocking off a record five seeded players to become the first unseeded entrant in the Open era to take the title, defeating Michael Stich, 6-1, 7-6, 7-5. He returned to the final the following year, this time falling to Sampras, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5. His second crown came in 1999, when he outlasted Todd Martin in an all-American, five-set final, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Agassi would have two more cracks at the US Open title, but it wasn’t to be. He came up short in the 2002 final to Sampras, losing 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, and in the 2005 final to Roger Federer, falling 6-3, 2-6, 7-6, 6-1. However, the man who famously donned acid-wash jean shorts at the Open in ’88; whose elite-eight 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 loss to Sampras in 2001 featured no service breaks and is considered one of the tournament’s all-time classics; who stormed from two sets down to defeat James Blake in an epic 2005 quarterfinal; who went 79-19 in Flushing Meadows; who seemed to embody all that New Yorkers demand at the most demanding of Slams, will forever be aligned with the greatest players to take the court at the US Open.
50 Fact: The first Agassi vs. Sampras faceoff at a Grand Slam came in the 1990 US Open final. Though Agassi, then ranked No. 4, was the favorite coming into the match, it was the 12th-seeded Sampras who would prevail in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2, becoming the lowest seed to win the event in the Open era.
