At Wimbledon, He’s Little Andre the Giant

Thought for the day:

“It’s sad for him. He’ll never know how he can do here if he doesn’t try.”

--John Curry, chairman of the All England Club, on Andre Agassi, 1990.

And some others . . .

If He Wins Today, We’ll Know Who To Blame.

Little Andre had all the answers, all the excuses, all the reasons why Wimbledon was nowhere, man, for any self-respecting rock ‘n’ roll tennis rebel-with-an-ad-agency and his Ray Bans-ed, designer-labeled entourage.

The dress code? Too white.

The playing surface? Too green.

The tournament site? Too far.

The tournament officials? Too square.

Through 1990, Little Andre stayed away, content to bide his time between French and U.S. Open pratfalls with exhibitions against David Wheaton and commercial spots for camera corporations. Wimbledon didn’t seem to mind. The world’s most prestigious tennis tournament needed Agassi like it needed another week of storm clouds, yet his annual rebuff reduced Wimbledon to its knees.

Wimbledon recruited Agassi the way the NCAA Top 25 recruited Cherokee Parks. In 1990, Curry flew to Paris to sell Wimbledon to Agassi--dwell on that concept a moment--only to be rebuffed again.

Agassi said he didn’t have the time to meet with Curry. Hey, a guy’s got to eat in Paris. McDonald’s isn’t open all night.

A year later, when Agassi finally listened to the first good piece of advice he’d received during his career and relented to play Wimbledon, the piranhas in the British press were instantly transformed into Sally Fields. He likes us. He really likes us.

And today, he is on Centre Court, in the men’s championship final, three sets away from the white whale Capts. Lendl and Rosewall never could harpoon.

Whatever happens from here, Wimbledon is on its own.

So, Is There an Andres Gomez in the House?

Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andres Gomez . . . and Goran Ivanisevic?

The last man standing between Agassi and a Grand Slam title has cut him down three times before. Gomez (‘90) and Courier (‘91) stopped him in Paris, Sampras (‘90) was the impenetrable wall at Flushing Meadow.

Today, Ivanisevic protects the moat, armed with precisely the same weapons Michael Stich brought with him last year (a first serve and a second serve) and the same coach who escorted Boris Becker to the world’s No. 1 ranking (Bob Brett).

Howitzers have been rolled onto Centre Court in previous years--Roscoe Tanner in 1979, Kevin Curren in 1985--but before Stich, power alone was never enough to win Wimbledon.

USA vs. Croatia.

It could be worse.

It could be basketball.

Four Things John McEnroe Learned at Wimbledon This Year:

1. The grass is greener at 33. Faster, thankfully, as well. The points are a blur at Wimbledon, which meant shorter games and shorter sets for McEnroe, and, consequently, longer staying power.

2. Don’t get giddy and start thinking you’re Jimmy Connors. Wimbledon, in the early 1990s, has become the skewed result in the men’s Grand Slam. How else to explain Ivanisevic, Stich, David Wheaton, Slobodan Zivojinovic--all semifinalists or better in recent years? Serve till they drop only applies here.

3. Watch who you mentor. Someday, he may come back to sweep you in the semifinals.

4. Six rounds on the court beats a fortnight next to Bud Collins every time.

Why the Dream Team Is Not Just a Jingoistic, Paranoid, Breast-Beating Exercise in Exorcising Our Collective Guilt Over Our Decline in Stature Among Basketball-Playing and Automobile-Producing Nations:

Magic Johnson on the break with Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and David Robinson.

Centuries from now, archeologists will examine the videotapes, look at one another and high-five.

Top-Two Safest Bets to Make After the Tournament of the Americas:

1. The United States will win the gold medal in Barcelona.

2. Magic Johnson will return to the Lakers. Jerry West drafted Anthony Peeler as an off-guard, didn’t he?

Why Jerry Tarkanian Already Loves the NBA:

Recruiting Lloyd Daniels to play for him at Nevada Las Vegas could land the school on probation through the middle of the decade.

Recruiting Lloyd Daniels to play for him at San Antonio could land the Spurs in the Western Conference finals.

How the Eric Lindros Trade Differs From the Wayne Gretzky Trade:

1. Lindros costs more.

2. Lindros’ old team probably won’t win a Stanley Cup within two years.

3. Lindros doesn’t want to be Flyers’ GM.

4. Lindros has a chance to win a Stanley Cup in the ‘90s.

First Endorsement Offer Dan O’Brien Has Received Since New Orleans:

A new cross-trainer shoe. Reebok is calling it “The 14-5.”