Emotional Agassi embraces retirement

Andre Agassi kissed tennis an emotional goodbye at the US Open tonight and immediately looked ahead to a carefree future.

“I’m going to wake up tomorrow and start with not caring how I feel. That’s going to feel great,” Agassi said after he brought the curtain down on his glittering career with a third-round defeat to Germany’s Benjamin Becker.

Making his 21st straight appearance at his home championship, Agassi went down 7-5 6-7 (4/7) 6-4 7-5 to the 25-year-old qualifier, who completed the match with an ace to bring a tearful end to the American’s final journey at a tournament he won twice.

The 36-year-old had needed anti-inflammatory cortisone injections in his back following both his victories earlier in the week and those Herculean efforts in overcoming Andrei Pavel and Marcos Baghdatis took their toll as he struggled to cope with Becker’s powerful serve.

Even Agassi’s father, Mike, had suggested his son should have retired immediately after his victory over Baghdatis but Agassi said the pain was worth enduring one last time.

“If I wanted to quit I would have done it a long time ago,” Agassi said. “I didn’t come here to quit.

“After my second-round match against Baghdatis, that was the worst I’ve ever been. I just credit the doctors that I was able to get out there today.

“It’s been such a day-by-day battle. It was such a telling sign the way I felt after my last match that I didn’t expect a whole lot physically.

“Sure enough, it was real early where I wasn’t feeling so good.”

He added, with a smile: “That all doesn’t matter any more.

“Those two matches were worth a difficult year. I’m glad I did it.”

Agassi’s final moments as a professional on a tennis court were spent mostly in tears and he said the first thing he would have to explain to his children was why their father was crying.

But he explained his thoughts as he sat in his courtside chair, taking in the standing ovation from 24,000 fans that had filled Arthur Ashe Stadium, most of whom probably hoped not to witness this historic moment quite yet but were ultimately glad they did.

“I was sitting there realising that I was saying goodbye to everybody out there, and they were saying goodbye to me,” Agassi said.

“It’s saying goodbye. It’s a necessary evil, but we were getting through it together. That felt amazing.”

The applause did not stop there, though, as Agassi was also given another standing ovation by his fellow professionals as he returned to the locker room.

Both those receptions were the stand-out moments of his final professional tournament.

“I tell you, the greatest applause that any person will ever receive in their life is that which comes from their peers,” he said.

“Those were the greatest memories I’ve ever had, memories I’ll keep with me forever.”