Agassi Hobbles to an Early Departure

Should he stay or should he go?

Neither option was particularly attractive Tuesday for the former French Open champion, a man who appeared to be aging rapidly and tumbling into a world of hurt: Andre Agassi.

Staying meant prolonging a very public and painful loss on the same court where he completed his career Grand Slam in 1999 before an adoring French crowd.

Leaving wouldn’t be simple, either. The legs would still have to carry him to the exit.

“I couldn’t walk off the court,” Agassi said.

So, he stayed, losing 12 of the final 13 games. Qualifier Jarkko Nieminen of Finland defeated the sixth-seeded and 35-year-old Agassi, 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-0, in a first-round match lasting almost three hours at the French Open, Agassi’s 58th Grand Slam tournament, an Open-era record.

It was the second year in a row Agassi lost in the opening round here. Last year, he could not even take a set against French qualifier Jerome Haehnel.

This was excruciating on a different level. Pain was frequently etched on Agassi’s face in the final two sets. He felt pain in his back going down his right leg in the third set -- a development that has troubled him often late in his career -- but managed to win the tiebreaker, saving a set point.

Though the crowd didn’t know it would be his last hurrah, Agassi ripped a forehand return winner off a weak second serve from Nieminen to take the third.

“I almost shook hands at two sets to one up because to serve was painful, to stand, and then even to sit,” Agassi said. “It gets more irritated, more inflamed, more stiff.”

Nieminen didn’t realize until the fourth set that something was wrong with Agassi.

“It wasn’t easy to finish the match,” he said. “It was 5-0, but mentally, it’s tough to beat Agassi. I respect every player, but Agassi and what [Pete] Sampras used to be ... they are different. It’s different respect for them. I used to have posters [of him] on the wall when I was young, and now I play against him.”

One person watching knew that Agassi would not retire from the match -- Gil Reyes, Agassi’s longtime trainer and close friend.

“When you’re a boxer, you don’t want to get counted out,” Reyes said.

“If you get a decision that goes against you, that’s the way it goes. But you don’t want to see that ref standing over you counting to 10.”

This problem forced Agassi to pull out of Wimbledon last year. Agassi thought it was a hip ailment but later he learned that it was an inflamed sciatic nerve. He received relief after a shot of cortisone in February, and said it might take another to get through Wimbledon and the rest of the summer.

Agassi revealed how he has been hobbled at times, saying, “It comes quick. Listen, when I go home in the evening and I’m walking three blocks from the restaurant, you wouldn’t guess I’m a professional athlete.... The cold temperatures are much worse for it. Now I have a better understanding of why people eventually move to Florida.”

Reyes suggested a change might be in the offing.

“We might have to maybe ... make some adjustments to make sure that he goes out in the manner he deserves,” he said. “He’s earned a place in this game. He’s taken his lumps, some big punches in the nose along the way, and the guy is still here. I hope that it’s not a doctor that decides it’s time for him to finish.”

Agassi apparently isn’t willing to be escorted to retirement.

“Well, it’s what I do,” he said. “It’s what I do until I don’t do it anymore. And it’s given me a lot. I’ll assess the necessary components at the end of the year. But I can’t afford to pollute the potential of my winning matches or tournaments with sitting on the fence, with where I am, what I’m doing, why I’m doing it.”

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It took until almost 5:30 p.m. here on the second day of the tournament for an American to win on the men’s side. Qualifier James Blake finally broke through against another qualifier, defeating Tomas Tenconi of Italy, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (8).

Two more joined Blake later. Second-seeded Andy Roddick defeated wild-card Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, and Vince Spadea beat former champion Albert Costa of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-2.

“It’s the same story every year,” Roddick said. “I’m just happy the Americans find a way to play well on three out of the four Grand Slams, not vice versa. It’s unfortunate.”

Only one of four American women in action won her first-round match Tuesday. Marissa Irvin of Santa Monica defeated Nicole Pratt of Australia, 5-7, 6-4, 8-6, in 3 hours 8 minutes.

Two of the leading women survived major first-round tests. Second-seeded Maria Sharapova defeated Evgenia Linetskaya, 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-4, in an all-Russian matchup, and No. 10 Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium beat Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

French Open

Highlights from Day 2:

Selected men’s seeded winners: No. 2 Andy Roddick, No. 3 Marat Safin, No. 8 Guillermo Coria, No. 9 Guillermo Canas, No. 12 Nikolay Davydenko, No. 15 Tommy Robredo.

* Selected men’s seeded losers: No. 6 Andre Agassi, No. 13 Ivan Ljubicic.

* Selected women’s seeded winners: No. 2 Maria Sharapova, No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 7 Nadia Petrova, No. 10 Justine Henin-Hardenne.

* Selected women’s seeded losers: No. 15 Jelena Jankovic, No. 23 Ai Sugiyama.

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TODAY’S FEATURED MATCHES

* Roger Federer (1), Switzerland, vs. Nicolas Almagro, Spain

* Lindsay Davenport (1) vs. Peng Shuai, China