Hip Injury, Kafelnikov Conspire to Beat Agassi

Andre Agassi is reminded of injury every time he picks up a tennis racket. On his right wrist snakes a ropy red scar that represents two months of professional inactivity. The sight of it evokes bitter memories.

There is no scar on his right hip, at least none anyone can see. But there was an injury, and there will always be a reminder.

Early in the first set of his French Open quarterfinal match against Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia on center court Tuesday, Agassi, ranked No. 1 in the world, went after a ball and slid along the red clay court. His right leg stopped abruptly and Agassi felt a sharp pain, the straining of the hip muscle in his right leg.

That hobbled Agassi to such an extent that he nearly defaulted before losing, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. He played on, but the injury--coupled with the brilliant play of ninth-seeded Kafelnikov--ousted Agassi from the only Grand Slam event he has not won. Kafelnikov advanced to the semifinals, where he will play Thomas Muster of Austria. Muster earlier defeated Alberto Costa of Spain, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (8-6), 7-5, 6-2.

The loss ended Agassi’s 18-match winning streak at Grand Slam events dating to last summer’s U.S. Open. After winning the Australian Open in January, Agassi came here hoping to become the first American since Don Budge in 1938 to win all four Grand Slam event titles.

He began Tuesday’s match having not lost a set in the tournament he had planned his entire year around, then his injury left him devastated.

“It’s really disappointing,” Agassi said. “You come in here to play well and to give it everything. And for it to end like that is extremely disappointing. To be beaten is never the difficulty. You just want to be able to have a shot. Today, it was just unfortunate. There’s really no other way to look at it.”

The injury occurred during the first set, Agassi said.

“I slid out, and I felt my hip strain,” he said. “It surprised me. I pulled up on it and I kind of kept waiting for it to ease up. I didn’t call for the trainer until I was convinced it was getting worse.”

That occurred after the third game of the second set. Agassi asked for a three-minute injury timeout and went with ATP Tour trainer Bill Norris to the locker room. Norris gave Agassi aspirin to reduce inflammation and pain. He also sprayed a heat-producing agent on the area. Finally, Norris wrapped Agassi’s hip and groin area.

Agassi said the pain was excruciating and had the injury not occurred during a Grand Slam event, he would not have continued. “The smart thing to do is not to play, not to continue when you know it’s only getting worse,” he said.

Norris said he knew Agassi was in pain and believed Agassi should not have played, but he can only make recommendations to players.

“All I can ever say is that if you were my son, I would recommend not to continue,” Norris said.

After the injury, Agassi changed his tactics. He began trying to finish points sooner and generally tried to avoid movement to his right. His serve lost its pop--he had gotten in 60% of his first serves in the first set but that dwindled to 47% by the third.

The center-court crowd rallied to Agassi after his injury timeout. Chants of “Allez, Andre” began, and as the points grew shorter and the end drew near, fans grew more appreciative of each shot.

Kafelnikov, who had been playing well before Agassi’s injury, said he did not notice that Agassi was losing mobility.

“The first set was pretty tight, and I should have lost the first set,” Kafelnikov said. “Then something happened with me. I was running so fast around the court that I never had that feeling before. I just couldn’t explain anything else.”

Kafelnikov began the tournament having lost six consecutive matches on clay and had to be talked out of skipping this tournament and Wimbledon. “I was so frustrated coming in the French Open, you cannot even imagine,” Kafelnikov said. “My coach told me, ‘Stay cool and your time will come.’ And here is my time.”

Agassi is one of four men who played here who had won the other Grand Slam titles but not the French. The others, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg, also were eliminated in the last week.

Agassi was asked to recall other misfortunes and compare them to this. He stared blankly, then finally concluded that his heart had been broken here once before, when he lost to Jim Courier in the 1991 final.

“That was pretty disappointing to me,” he said quietly. “But it’s a different disappointment. To come close and not win and to get injured. . . . Now I’m worried about Wimbledon. I’m worried about the summer. I’m a neurotic athlete whose worst nightmare is to become injured and to have problems physically. You need your body, so it’s a pretty big disappointment for me.”